Buying Amazon's popular smart gadgets will now cost noticeably more. The tech giant has raised prices across several of its hardware lineups—including Echo speakers, Kindle e-readers, Fire TV sticks, and Eero Wi-Fi routers—by up to 60 percent.
The largest price jumps affect Amazon's least expensive products. The budget-friendly Echo Dot smart speaker saw the biggest percentage increase, rising from $49.99 to $79.99. Meanwhile, the basic 16GB Kindle e-reader went from $109.99 to $149.99, a nearly 37 percent increase. Streaming devices were also affected, with the Fire TV Stick 4K Max jumping over 40 percent from $59.99 to $84.99.
Amazon explained that the price changes were caused by rising production expenses across the tech industry. Kristy Schmidt, senior communications manager for Amazon's Devices & Services division, stated that consumer electronics companies are facing higher costs for memory and storage components. She noted that Amazon absorbed these cost increases for as long as possible before adjusting retail prices across its product lines.
Not all of Amazon's devices are changing in price. The company's Ring security cameras and video doorbells, as well as the higher-end $219.99 Echo Studio speaker, have kept their previous prices.
Amazon is not the only company feeling the pressure of component expenses. Apple raised the price of its HomePod Mini speaker to $129 earlier this summer due to rising costs, while Google's standard smart speaker remains at $99.99 for now.