I keep coming back to one line from this week's earnings season. Micron's CEO told investors that next year and the year after will be tighter for memory than this one. If you've been telling yourself you'll buy a PS5, an Xbox or a Switch 2 "once prices calm down," that's worth hearing before you decide to keep waiting.
Plenty of sites will give you the headline. What I wanted to give you is the part that helps you decide: a price ladder built from the official numbers, a count of how much warning each console maker gave before raising prices, and my own buy, hold or wait guide for four kinds of players. One honest note up front. One price-tracker site claims Sony cut the PS5 back down in August. I couldn't find that in any Sony announcement. The PlayStation Blog notice I found lists the April prices, and I saw no later one, so I'm going with Sony. Where I couldn't verify something, I say so.
What to Know
- Micron's CEO said on the company's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call this week that he expects demand to exceed supply in both 2027 and 2028, with tighter conditions than 2026.
- Xbox said in June that console memory and storage prices are up more than 2.5x and that it expects them to double again by fall 2027.
- US prices now: PS5 $649.99 (April 2), Xbox Series X $799.99 and Series S $499.99 (August 1), Switch 2 $499.99 (September 1).
- My math: since launch, the Series X is up 60% and the PS5 disc is up 30%. The Switch 2 is up 11%.
- My take: buy for a game you'll play this month, hold if you already own a current console, and treat any price cut as a bonus, not a plan.
What Micron's CEO actually said
Micron is one of the three big makers of DRAM, the memory inside nearly every console, phone and PC. On its fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 earnings call this week, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said the company expects demand to exceed supply in calendar 2027 and again in 2028, and that both years look tighter than 2026. He added that Micron has no clear line of sight to when supply and demand return to balance. His own summary was that the environment is "only getting tighter."
Samsung is saying something similar. TweakTown reports that executives at both companies expect the constraints to last through at least 2028. Neither Sony nor Microsoft has announced prices for its next generation, which is exactly why this matters now. The people building the next consoles are shopping in the same market you are.
Why a data-center chip shortage lands on your console
This is the part that took me a minute to understand. The AI boom runs on a special, expensive kind of memory called HBM, short for high-bandwidth memory. It's made from the same silicon wafers as the ordinary DRAM in a console. TweakTown points to a figure attributed to Micron: making HBM3E takes roughly three times the wafer area of DDR5 for the same number of bits. Every wafer that becomes HBM is a wafer that doesn't become console memory.
Think of a bakery whose best customer suddenly wants wedding cakes by the thousand. The bakery will still sell you a cupcake, but cakes use more flour and pay better, so you can guess where the flour goes. TweakTown also notes that HBM is expected to take roughly 30% of industry memory production in 2027, which is a lot of flour.
New factories don't fix it quickly, either. Mehrotra said that even after a new plant makes its first wafer, output ramps up only gradually. That's why I don't read this as a bad quarter. I read it as the weather for the next two years.
The 2026 price ladder
Here's every major console price in the US, compared with its launch price. The list prices come straight from the makers' notices, and the percentages and monthly figures are my own arithmetic. I left out the PS5 Digital Edition because its hardware changed over the years, which would make the comparison muddy. For the record, it's $599.99 now.
Look at the top of that list. A console that gets more expensive in year six would have sounded like a joke a few years ago. Now the cheapest way into the Xbox family costs what a Series X cost at launch, and even the Switch 2, the gentlest hike, sits $50 above where it started.
How much warning did we get?
This is the number I couldn't stop looking at. If you're planning to wait and buy before the next hike, it helps to know how much notice you'd get. Here's what each maker gave this year, counting from the announcement to the day the new price took effect.
Announced March 27, effective April 2. If you blinked, you missed it.
Announced June 25, effective August 1. About five weeks to decide.
Announced May 8, effective September 1. Nintendo even put reminders on store demo kiosks.
The day counts are my arithmetic from the announcement and effective dates. The takeaway is simple: the warning ranged from under a week to nearly four months. Nobody can promise you a heads-up, so "I'll wait and watch" works better in theory than in practice.
Three takes I'm tired of hearing
That was the usual pattern for consoles, and this generation broke it. The PS5 disc is $150 above its launch price, and the Series X is $300 above. With Micron expecting 2027 to be tighter than 2026, I'd treat a price cut as a pleasant surprise, not a plan.
I'm not here to defend an $800 box, and companies make choices. But Xbox itself says memory and storage costs have more than doubled, and a reported loss per console even after the hike suggests the cost side is real. Both things can be true: the costs are real, and the pricing still hurts.
You might get a bundle or a gift card, and I'd happily be wrong. But I found no announced console price cut, and the trade is lopsided: you're hoping to save $50 or so while risking a hike that could land on six days' notice.
My buy, hold or wait guide
This is my own take, built from the price list above, so adjust it to your life. I'm using the US list prices and assuming you're deciding whether to spend money in the next few weeks.
You have no console and want GTA VI
GTA VI arrives November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. If that's your reason, I'd buy this month and stop refreshing price trackers.
The cheapest way in is the Series S at $499.99, which Xbox itself pitches as the lowest-cost way to play this year's biggest games. If you can stretch to $599.99, I'd lean toward the PS5 Digital Edition, since it's the more powerful machine at the same price as the 1TB Series S. I haven't seen GTA VI's install size, so I'd think twice about the 512GB model.
You already own a PS5 or Series X
Keep it. I know that's not a fun answer, but a memory crunch makes the console you own more valuable, not less, and nothing on the schedule needs new hardware.
Put the money you're not spending toward games, and let someone else pay the 2026 premium.
You want a Switch 2
At $499.99 it's the smallest 2026 hike and the cheapest of the big three. Nintendo said the market conditions behind it should last over the medium to long term, which isn't the language of a temporary bump.
If you want a bundle anyway, the Mario Kart World bundle is $549.99 and the Switch Sports Resort bundle is $529.99, per VideoCardz. Compare what the extra $30 to $50 gets you before you grab the plain box.
You're waiting for Project Helix or the PS6
I wouldn't wait. Neither company has announced a price or firm date, and Xbox's CEO has said memory costs will affect Helix's price and availability.
Estimates run from S&P Global Market Intelligence's $600 to $800 range, which assumes the crunch eases by 2028, to analyst guesses of $900 and up. Those are guesses. If you want to play this holiday, waiting is a gamble and buying is a plan.
The part that gives me some hope
I don't want this to read as doom, because I don't think it is. When hardware gets more expensive, people hold on to it longer, and developers build for the machines people actually own. That's not a bad deal for players. A longer generation means more polished games, bigger backlogs and a console that doesn't feel obsolete after four years.
There's also a good argument that the shortage nudges the industry to make games that run well on what we have. Some of the best games of the last couple of years run on hardware that's already in your living room. If this shortage teaches studios to respect that, I'll take some silver lining.
What nobody has told us yet
- Whether another price hike is coming.I found no announcement from Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo, but given the notice windows above, that tells you less than you'd think.
- What Project Helix will cost.No price and no firm release date. Everything you read is an estimate.
- What the PS6 will cost.Sony hasn't announced pricing. Memory costs will be part of the story, but how big a part is anyone's guess.
- Whether holiday deals will return.I couldn't find anything announced, so I wouldn't plan around it.
If you have a game in mind and the money ready, buy now and enjoy it. If you already own a PS5 or Series X, hold and let the shortage pass you by. If you're waiting for a price cut, I'd stop. Micron's CEO is telling us the next two years look tighter, and the makers have shown they'll raise prices with little notice. The worst way to buy a console is in a panic. The second worst is waiting on a discount that may not come.
Quick answers
When will the RAM shortage end?
Nobody can say for sure. Micron's CEO told investors this week that he expects demand to exceed supply in both 2027 and 2028, with tighter conditions than in 2026, and that he has no clear line of sight to when the two will balance. TweakTown reports that Samsung and Micron both expect constraints through at least 2028.
Why are console prices going up in 2026?
Memory and storage have become much more expensive. Xbox said in June that console memory and storage prices are up more than 2.5x, and the wider shortage is tied to AI data centers buying huge amounts of high-bandwidth memory, which competes with ordinary memory for the same silicon wafers.
How much does a PS5 cost now?
Sony's official US prices since April 2, 2026 are $649.99 for the PS5, $599.99 for the Digital Edition and $899.99 for the PS5 Pro. I couldn't find any later official price notice from Sony, but check your store, since retailers and bundles vary.
How much does an Xbox Series X cost now?
Since August 1, 2026, the Xbox Series X is $799.99 with a disc drive and $749.99 digital in the US. The Series S is $499.99 for 512GB and $599.99 for 1TB.
How much is the Nintendo Switch 2 now?
$499.99 in the US since September 1, 2026, up from $449.99. Nintendo's own notice says the market conditions behind the change are expected to last over the medium to long term.
Will console prices go down in 2027?
I wouldn't count on it. Micron expects 2027 to be tighter than 2026, and Xbox has said it expects another doubling of console memory and storage costs by fall 2027. A holiday deal is possible, but I found no announced price cut, and a lasting drop looks unlikely while the shortage lasts.
Should I buy a console before GTA 6 comes out?
If GTA VI is the reason you want a console and you'll play it in the first week, I'd buy now rather than wait. It launches November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. If you already own one of those consoles, I'd hold.
What will Project Helix and the PS6 cost?
Neither Sony nor Microsoft has announced a price or a firm release date. Xbox's CEO has said memory costs will affect Project Helix's pricing and availability, and analyst estimates range widely, so treat any number as a guess.
