Okay, we have another Xbox price hike coming, and this one lands with the kind of thud nobody in the console business wants to hear.
Microsoft says the new pricing kicks in on August 1, 2026, with bigger jumps on the 1TB models and a smaller, but still painful, hit on the 512GB versions. The company is also ending the 2TB model, which narrows the high-end options even further.
What is changing on August 1
Microsoft’s new pricing applies worldwide, but the clearest breakdown is the U.S. pricing it published for the start of August. Here’s the shift we’re looking at:
| Model | Old price | New price | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xbox Series S (512GB) | $399 | $499 | $100 |
| Xbox Series S (1TB) | $449 | $599 | $150 |
| Xbox Series X (1TB Digital Edition) | $599 | $749 | $150 |
| Xbox Series X (1TB) | $649 | $799 | $150 |
That is not a subtle adjustment. The cheapest Xbox Series S now sits at $499, which pushes it into a much more uncomfortable place for anyone comparing consoles on raw entry price.
Why Microsoft says it is raising prices again
Microsoft points to the same pressure Valve cited around its own hardware pricing, namely memory and storage shortages. The company says console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5 times, and it expects another doubling by fall 2027.
That matters because consoles do not exist in a vacuum. We have seen Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft all inch hardware prices upward as component costs stay ugly. The result is a market where the sticker price keeps drifting away from what a lot of us still think of as the “normal” console number — and that drift is showing up alongside other noisy market moves, both in gaming and broader tech and finance coverage, so it’s not an isolated headache for hardware buyers. XRP price risks 50 drop despite 9 day ETF inflow streak is a reminder that volatility is the throughline right now, even if the specifics differ.
How much this hurts, model by model
The 512GB Xbox Series S takes the cleanest punch in the gut in percentage terms, even though the absolute increase is smaller than the 1TB models. The 1TB Series S and both 1TB Series X models all jump by $150, which is the kind of increase that makes a new console purchase feel like a harder sell than it did a few months ago.
Here is the simplest way to think about it:
- Series S (512GB): still the entry point, but at $499 it loses a lot of its budget appeal – that’s roughly a 25.1% increase over the previous $399 price.
- Series S (1TB): now costs $599, which is firmly into premium territory for a smaller machine – about a 33.4% jump from $449.
- Series X (1TB Digital Edition): climbs to $749, making the all-digital route less of a bargain than before – roughly a 25.0% rise from $599.
- Series X (1TB): lands at $799, which is a tough ask for anyone looking at the top-end Xbox option – about a 23.1% increase from $649.
We do not need to pretend the market will collapse because of this one move. But it absolutely changes the conversation around value, especially for people who were already on the fence and waiting for a decent time to buy.
The part that makes this feel worse
This is the third time Microsoft has raised Xbox prices since 2025. The first increase came in May 2025, then another followed in October 2025, and now we are getting a third hike in August 2026. That kind of cadence does real damage to the idea that hardware pricing is stable enough to plan around.
It also creates a familiar headache for anyone shopping in the console space: do we buy now, wait for a bundle, or hold out and hope the numbers settle? Usually, the answer used to be simple enough. Not this time. Social channels have lit up with complaints about timing and value, and you can hear the same frustration repeated in comment threads and community posts: people feel like the rug is being nudged, then pulled.
What this means for us as buyers
If we were already close to buying an Xbox, the clock matters now. Microsoft says these prices take effect on August 1, so anyone eyeing a Series S or Series X probably wants to check retailer stock and see whether current pricing is still available before the new numbers hit.
For everyone else, this is another reminder that console ownership is getting more expensive across the board. The machines are still the same boxes, but the value equation keeps shifting under our feet. We’ve been tracking the broader industry rhythm — from hardware announcements to major game reveals — and it’s worth keeping those bigger headlines in mind when we decide whether to buy now or wait. For a snapshot of how the site has been covering other big moments, see how major reveals are landing with readers, like the Alien Isolation 2 trailer.
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| When do the new prices start? | August 1, 2026 |
| How much are prices going up? | $100 on 512GB models, $150 on 1TB models |
| Which model is being discontinued? | The 2TB model |
| Why is Microsoft doing this? | It says memory and storage costs have risen sharply |
We have seen this story play out with enough hardware already to know what comes next: more grumbling, more waiting, and more people holding onto older consoles a little longer than they planned. Honestly, that may be the most rational move available right now.
And if this trend keeps going the way Microsoft suggests, we may be having the same uncomfortable conversation again next year.