Here’s All The Tech You Should Upgrade Sooner Rather Than Later

American life has become incredibly expensive over the past few years. Whether it’s food, gas, healthcare, or just basic goods, it feels like no matter where you turn, you’re paying more for what you need. Perhaps no other industry has been impacted by drastic price increases than tech. So today I’m gonna break down why tech prices are increasing so significantly and what tech you should try to upgrade as soon as possible. 

Why Are Prices Increasing? 

The proliferation of AI data centers has been nothing short of a net negative across the board. Beyond being eyesores that consume too much water, displace people from their homes, and create large amounts of light and noise pollution, they’re also a primary driver of tech price increases. AI companies have been buying massive amounts of RAM, which is the memory essential for making devices operate. The RAM shortage has only gotten worse throughout the year, with manufacturers reporting that the entire supply of RAM for 2027 is sold out. 

As demand for RAM has increased, so has the price, making it far more expensive for companies to manufacture the devices we’ve become accustomed to using. Exacerbating the issue, companies such as Micron have ended RAM manufacturing for consumer use and are exclusively selling RAM to AI companies. So not only has demand increased, but companies are willingly reducing the supply. We, the consumers, ultimately pay the price. 

Three years ago, I purchased a one-terabyte external SSD for $80. Today that same SSD is going to cost me $250. Which sucks because I do a lot of video work and my output is only going to increase this Fall, so more storage is a necessity for me. 

Having seen the writing on the wall, I spent most of last year upgrading my tech, so I’m going to share what I upgraded and why I think you should prioritize these purchases if you need to upgrade your

First Upgrade: Computer or Laptop

I’d say the most essential upgrade to focus on right now is a new PC or laptop if you need one. I waited for a good Black Friday deal through Micro Center last year, and managed to get a PC with 2TB of storage, 64GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 graphics card for just over $2,000. Today, that same PC is over $3,000. 

While I needed all that power because I do a significant amount of video editing, you may not need all that beef. Looking at both Best Buy and Micro Center, I found PCs with solid performance in the $1,000 range. As companies like Sony push gaming to an all-digital future, and tech companies further their embrace of subscription models, it wouldn’t surprise me if more companies begin pushing programs where you lease a PC without ever fully owning it. 

This isn’t even paranoid speculation; companies like NZXT are already offering these kinds of subscriptions. As someone who experienced Adobe’s pivot from selling their editing software outright to charging a monthly subscription to access it, I cannot tell you how much I miss owning my software. If you want to avoid that potential fate with hardware, I would definitely prioritize upgrading your PC or laptop during the Fall sales. 

Second Upgrade: Smartphone

Price hikes are also expected to hit smartphones, with former Apple CEO Tim Cook revealing over the summer that the company planned to increase prices in the near future. If you’re still rocking a phone with a cracked screen or one that’s at risk of not getting any updates, I’d take advantage of any good upgrade deals you see right now. For better or worse, smartphones have become a fairly essential part of modern life. While we’ve gotten used to cell service providers offering steep upgrade deals, like adding a line and getting a free iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, those are probably going to be dying out in the upcoming years due to how expensive it’s becoming to manufacture these phones. 

I usually upgrade my phone every three years, but the iPhone 16 was so unfinished that I wound up upgrading to an iPhone 17 last year. The timing worked out, because smartphones are already stupid expensive. I plan to ride this phone out for at least the next five years, because I just can’t support a phone costing the same as a high-end PC. 

Third Upgrade: Gaming Console 

Last year, I bought the Nintendo Switch 2 at launch. Not because I’m a massive Nintendo fan who absolutely needed to play Donkey Kong Bananaza (though it is admittedly a banger), but because I predicted the launch window would be the cheapest the console would ever be. 

My friends gave me crap about it at first, and then Nintendo went and proved me right this summer when it announced it would increase the price of Switch 2 by $50 at the start of September. 

Now look, game consoles aren’t an essential, so I’d put this lower on the list of upgrade priorities. That said, if you still need to upgrade to a PS5 or a Nintendo Switch 2, I would do it sooner rather than later, because this is the first generation in which game consoles have gotten more expensive over time. 

Sony has already raised prices twice this console generation, with a potential PS6 in a holding pattern due to the RAM shortage. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see yet another price increase on both the PS5 and Switch 2 next year due to the RAM shortage. 

The sad fact is that today’s price is probably the lowest price, which is arguably one of the worst developments in modern gaming. 

Look, as I said before, I know everything is more expensive these days. It doesn’t help that wages are lagging so far behind inflation. If you can’t afford to upgrade your tech now, there is no shame in that at all. If you do have a little extra change to spare, I highly encourage you to future-proof your tech so that you’re not staring down an even bigger bill a few years down the line. 

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