Xbox consoles are getting significantly more expensive, and Microsoft says the memory market is the reason.
Starting August 1st, 512GB Xbox models will cost $100 more and 1TB models will cost $150 more. The Series S will now start at $499.99, the discless Series X at $749.99, and the disc-drive Series X at $799.99. Microsoft is also discontinuing its 2TB Series X. The company acknowledged it had hoped to avoid another round of increases after raising prices by $20 to $70 last October, but says console storage and memory costs have already climbed more than 2.5x and are expected to double again by fall 2027.
The scale of these hikes matters. A Series S at $499.99 is no longer a budget proposition — it now costs what the Series X launched for in 2020. That positioning shift undercuts the entire point of the two-tier lineup, which was to give price-sensitive buyers an entry point. If memory costs do double again as Microsoft projects, another price increase before 2028 looks likely.
Sony hasn't announced equivalent PS5 hikes yet, which could hand PlayStation a meaningful window — though the same component market affects every console maker sooner or later.