All Your Favorite Gadgets Are Getting Way More Expensive … Again
All Your Favorite Gadgets Are Getting Way More Expensive … Again
你心爱的电子产品又要涨价了……再一次
If you’re in the market for anything with a memory chip in it, now might be the time to snag it. Another round of price increases for consumer electronics seems to be underway. In June, Apple announced increased prices for its MacBooks and iPads. Xbox consoles are also getting more expensive starting in August. This is on the heels of already-raised prices on such products as Sony’s PlayStation 5 Pro and, you know, oil, which has raised gas prices and added to the cost of shipping something to you.
如果你正打算购买任何带有内存芯片的产品，现在或许是入手的好时机。消费电子产品似乎正在迎来新一轮的涨价潮。今年6月，苹果公司宣布上调 MacBook 和 iPad 的价格。Xbox 游戏机也从8月起开始涨价。在此之前，索尼 PlayStation 5 Pro 等产品的价格已经上调，再加上石油价格上涨推高了汽油成本，也增加了商品的运输费用。
This fresh bout of price increases—following last year’s tariffs—is driven by many factors, but the chief culprit is the ongoing memory shortage, i.e., software component producers making it a priority to manufacture chips for AI data centers over other tech that requires them. If this were a short-term issue, the companies affected would likely have absorbed the costs. But the memory shortage does not seem to be disappearing anytime soon, and the AI bubble has not exactly popped yet. Too much demand for too little supply usually means the inevitable—companies pass their costs on to consumers via upward-creeping prices.
继去年的关税影响之后，这一波新的涨价潮由多种因素驱动，但罪魁祸首是持续的内存短缺。简单来说，软件组件生产商优先为人工智能（AI）数据中心制造芯片，而非其他同样需要芯片的技术产品。如果这只是短期问题，受影响的公司很可能会自行消化成本。但内存短缺问题短期内似乎不会消失，AI 泡沫也尚未破裂。供不应求通常意味着不可避免的结果——企业通过不断上涨的价格将成本转嫁给消费者。
“In the past, you maybe could have waited out little blips like this,” says Shawn DuBravac, chief economist at the Global Electronics Association, which reports on the memory shortage and the industries it affects. “I don’t think that’s the case here. Waiting is not a strategy right now and probably won’t be for the foreseeable future.”
全球电子协会（Global Electronics Association）首席经济学家肖恩·杜布拉瓦克（Shawn DuBravac）表示：“过去，你或许可以等待这类小波动过去。但我认为这次情况不同。现在‘等待’并不是一种明智的策略，在可预见的未来可能也不会是。”
DuBravac says the move to avoid price hikes is to buy refurbished gear, but if you need something new, then keep an eye out for what price increases have already hit. If something hasn’t seen a price hike yet, it may soon. But even if prices have increased, this may be the best base price you’ll see in a while.
杜布拉瓦克建议，避免涨价的方法是购买翻新设备；但如果你非要买新品，那就得留意哪些产品已经涨价了。如果某样东西还没涨价，它可能很快也会涨。即便价格已经上涨，这可能依然是你近期能看到的最低基准价。
“They are very intentional in their pricing, and there’s a lot of coordination that goes along with all of that,” DuBravac says. “If you’re looking at products that have already had a price increase, you probably have a little bit of time to think about it.”
“企业在定价方面非常有预谋，这背后存在大量的协调，”杜布拉瓦克说，“如果你关注的产品已经涨价了，你可能还有一点时间来考虑是否购买。”
Just buying everything you want right this second is not realistic for people who feel financially strapped. People are feeling the pinch as the specter of back-to-school and holiday product cycles looms.
对于感到经济拮据的人来说，立刻买下所有想要的东西并不现实。随着返校季和假日购物季的临近，人们正感受到财务压力。
“People are worried that they’re going to have to pay a lot of money for the next device or the next purchase,” says Thibaud Hug de Larauze, the CEO of the secondhand marketplace Back Market. “The bad thing about that is just pushing people to upgrade more rapidly because they’re scared of inflation, basically.”
二手交易平台 Back Market 的首席执行官蒂博·雨格·德·拉鲁兹（Thibaud Hug de Larauze）表示：“人们担心下一次购买设备时需要支付高昂的费用。糟糕的是，这反而促使人们更快地进行升级，因为他们本质上是在担心通货膨胀。”
The bright spot on all this mess might be that refurbished and secondhand markets built to support and resell used products are booming. Buying refurbished tends to be more ethical and eco-friendly than buying something new. And now is a particularly good time to look into the secondhand market for devices like phones.
这场混乱中的亮点或许是，旨在支持和转售二手产品的翻新与二手市场正在蓬勃发展。购买翻新产品通常比购买新品更符合道德且更环保。现在正是关注手机等设备二手市场的好时机。
Sean Cleland, the vice president of Mobility tech at the recommerce company B-Stock, says used smartphones are selling for 10 to 20 percent more than they were in December 2025. In a normal year, those numbers would have likely been flipped, with used phones depreciating. But demand for refurbished products has gone up.
二手电商公司 B-Stock 的移动技术副总裁肖恩·克莱兰（Sean Cleland）表示，二手智能手机的售价比 2025 年 12 月高出了 10% 到 20%。在正常年份，这些数字很可能是反过来的，即二手手机会贬值。但现在对翻新产品的需求已经上升。
“The supply chain will correct eventually,” Cleland says. “Secondary market pricing will go back to normal depreciation, but it will continue being a step above what it was in 2025. It just never comes all the way back.”
“供应链最终会得到修正，”克莱兰说，“二级市场的价格会回到正常的折旧水平，但它仍会比 2025 年的水平高出一个台阶。它永远不会完全回到从前了。”
A more vibrant resale market means more people are giving refurbished devices a shot. It might be out of necessity, but it’s led to a booming industry that helps secondhand devices find new lives instead of heading to the landfill. Manufacturers have also leaned into their own resale programs, offering buyback or trade-in programs for phones, computers, tablets, watches, and headphones. Selling that gear on third-party marketplaces is also likely to earn more as long as these shortages keep up.
一个更活跃的转售市场意味着更多人开始尝试翻新设备。这或许是出于无奈，但它催生了一个繁荣的行业，帮助二手设备重获新生，而不是被送往垃圾填埋场。制造商也纷纷加入自己的转售计划，为手机、电脑、平板电脑、手表和耳机提供回购或以旧换新服务。只要短缺持续，在第三方市场上出售这些设备也更有可能获得更高的收益。
“You’re going to get way more from that phone than you ever would before,” Cleland says. “Take advantage of it; there’s trade-in and resale value in all that stuff.”
“你的手机现在能卖出的价格比以往任何时候都要高，”克莱兰说，“好好利用这一点吧；这些旧设备现在都具备很高的以旧换新和转售价值。”