Xbox hardware on track for more price-hikes as 'RAMpocalypse' worsens

Xbox users should expect another price increase in the near future, as a new report suggests new Xbox Series X/S consoles are still being sold at a loss.

Xbox users have been hit with a lot of price rises in the last few years, with the Xbox Series X launching at $499.99 but later being priced at $799.99 as of August 2026.

Similarly, the Xbox Series S was released at the fairly cheap price of $299.99, but will cost $499.99 from August.

It’s now being reported that even after taking the August 2026 price hike into account, Microsoft is allegedly still losing money on all new Xbox Series X consoles sold.

This is according to Windows Central’s Jez Corden, who writes about the projected prices of Xbox Helix, Microsoft’s next-gen platform.

“If Xbox Helix is indeed an ‘open’ PC, Xbox would have no choice but to price it like an ‘open’ PC,’ Corden explains. “The Xbox Ally also costs $999.99 because ASUS cannot make their money back on the software sales, given that they have no real distribution platform of their own.”

What’s interesting is that Corden adds that “Thanks to the RAMpocalypse, those wafer thin margins get even trickier. I've been told Xbox is losing around $150~ per Xbox Series X|S sold recently due to memory price increases, and will continue to lose money per device even after the planned August 2026 price hike.

He also explains: “Now imagine 50% or more of those Xbox Series X|S users bypassed the Xbox ecosystem and went straight to Steam to buy games. The margins would be even worse, without any form of software sales subsidy. Xbox wouldn't have a business at all.”

Read More: PlayStation PC exodus may have crippled Xbox Project Helix, new report suggests

Xbox consoles have been selling at a loss for years, but the company was able to make it back on digital Xbox purchases

Granted, this isn’t necessarily new information. Back in 2022, Phil Spencer revealed that Xbox loses as much as $200 on every Xbox it sells, so if anything it’s closing the gap if Corden’s report is accurate.

However, it does signal that more price hikes may be coming in the future, especially if the Xbox Helix is going to support other PC stores such as Steam or Epic Games.

Not only would it be losing money on selling Xbox hardware, it would also not be making that money back in Xbox digital sales.

This report comes as more price hikes are expected to hit across various tech products, thanks to AI datacenters chewing up all the supply of RAM and GPUs to run their models.

Taiwan’s Economic Daily News reports that Nvidia is planning to raise the price of its GPU packages by as much as 20–30%, which will be the company’s third major price increase in 2026.

What makes matters worse is that this price increase will allegedly hit a wider range of graphics cards manufactured by Nvidia, as opposed to the previous increase which only affected RTX 5090 cards.