GoKawiilIf you’ve been shopping for a new computer this year and are on a budget, it may feel like the news keeps getting worse and worse.
As with other types of electronics, including smartphones and tablets, the price of computers has been consistently rising due to shortages of certain components and steep price increases for components like RAM and storage devices like hard drives and SSDs. Motherboards have been rumored to see price hikes soon. But it’s not just hardware: Reports suggest the cost of Windows licenses for manufacturers is rising by up to 10%.
Several sites that closely follow Microsoft news, including Windows Central and Windows Latest, have published articles citing a report from Taiwan’s Economic Daily News that claims some PC manufacturers are seeing a 7% to 10% increase in the cost of Windows 11 licenses.
PC makers pay for Windows as part of their OEM, or original equipment manufacturer, costs. Because they buy licenses in bulk, they get a sizeable discount over what a consumer would pay for a new copy of Windows 11. But given the existing cost pressures from other components, a big Windows 11 price hike could lead them to pass on some of the added cost to PC buyers. According to the EDN story, PC makers could raise prices by about 5% over the next quarter due to the reported Windows price hike.
A representative for Microsoft declined to comment on the report.
Variable pricing
A translated version of the Economic Daily News article contains information from an unnamed PC brand executive. It says that while Microsoft typically raises licensing costs every year by single-digit percentages, that hike has reached 7% to 10% this year, a significant increase.
As this article points out, OEM pricing for Windows varies by company and even by the type of processor being used in the computer. Two of the largest PC makers in the region, Asus and Acer, already confirmed PC price increases earlier this year. In the case of Asus, the PC price increase was 30% for Taiwan.
Framework cited “an increase in Windows license costs” in a blog post explaining price hikes for its laptops in July.
While Windows 10 users were given Windows 11 as a free upgrade, for consumers who aren’t OEM manufacturers, the cost of the operating system is $139 for the Home version and $200 for the Pro version.