GoKawiilIf you've been shopping for an Amazon Kindle or smart speaker in the past week, you might've noticed some brand-new prices. That’s right: Amazon has hiked prices by $20 to $100 on its popular devices like the Echo, Eero, and Fire Stick.
It's not alone in this move. We've seen similar increases from other tech companies like Apple and Kobo, both of which raised prices this summer. Amazon declined to comment to WIRED as to why it made these price hikes, but one Amazon spokesperson commented to CNET that it was due to rising prices in memory and storage components.
It's still hard not to feel like companies are raising prices simply because they can—and as a way to make upcoming Prime Day and Black Friday sales look better than they really are. The new prices spread across all of Amazon's hardware categories, hitting its Kindle e-readers, Echo smart speakers, Eero routers, and Fire TV devices—especially the more affordable and popular products in those categories.
In fact, many devices are already “on sale,” but the sale prices are around what used to be the base price. That means discounts will look good this holiday season, but you'll just be paying what the item cost a couple of months ago.
Here are all of the price changes on Amazon's devices, and my rundown on which devices remain a good buy.
New Kindle Prices
The third-gen Kindle Scribe (left) and Kindle Scribe Colorsoft. Photograph: Nena Farrell
If you're looking for a Kindle, all of these models have faced a price increase of at least $30, if not more.
The only category untouched is, interestingly enough, the more powerful of Amazon's e-reader and digital notebook devices: the Kindle Scribe line. All of the Kindle Scribe models currently available (both the second and third gen and the color version) have remained the same price-wise. You'd think those would have risen too since the price hikes are supposedly due to storage and memory costs, but it's Amazon's e-reader-only devices that all increased in price instead.
New Echo Prices
... continue reading