Summer is typically the peak season for sales of the "back-to-school three essentials"—phones, laptops, and tablets. However, as global storage chip prices continue to surge dramatically, major manufacturers are raising product prices. Those who chose to wait and see haven't found discounts, but instead face a wave of price hikes.
According to reports, a Wuhan resident named Mr. Si helped his sister, who just finished the college entrance exam, pick out a computer for her upcoming university studies. In June, he purchased a Lenovo Xiaoxin Pro16 laptop, configured with an R7-H255 processor, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB hard drive, at a price of about 5,769 yuan. Recently, when Mr. Si checked the price of the same model again, he found it was out of stock at the original store, JD's 1st Member Store. On JD's Lenovo official flagship store, the same product was listed at 7,819 yuan (after national subsidies). "Good thing I bought it early; otherwise, the price increase would have been huge," Mr. Si said. He also noted that an HP Shadow Elf Max he bought in February for 8,199 yuan now costs 11,781 yuan on the same platform.
Some students are opting for "stripped-down" versions of computers, planning to upgrade memory later when prices drop. One social media user exclaimed, "The price surge is insane! Why are computers so expensive? It's ridiculous!" According to reports, due to the price increases, some prospective college students have adjusted their plans for buying the "back-to-school three essentials." A prospective student from Anhui named Hu told reporters that he has already chosen his desired computer but is mainly concerned about the price. "My family wants me to wait until Double 11, but I don't think prices will drop much, so I plan to buy before school starts," Hu said. He explained that his major, Electronic Information Engineering, may not require high-performance devices in the first year, but for future projects or competitions, he might need upgrades. He originally planned to buy a 32GB RAM version but found that some manufacturers don't offer that configuration or it's sold out, so he will buy a 16GB version and upgrade memory sticks later.
Following price hikes for memory and hard drives, graphics card prices have also surged. In early August, a visit to the Shenzhen Huaqiangbei market revealed significant price increases for consumer-grade graphics cards. For example, the RTX 5060 Ti 8GB now sells for 3,400 yuan, up over 1,000 yuan from its previous price of 2,350 yuan. The higher-end RTX 5070 Ti series has risen to over 8,000 yuan, while the top-tier RTX 5090 series has jumped from around 20,000 yuan to about 35,000 yuan. Multiple Huaqiangbei merchants reported that the price increases for graphics cards started in the past two weeks, with varying degrees of impact across different models. "The RTX 5060 16GB now costs over 5,000 yuan, up more than 1,000 yuan from two weeks ago. It was previously under 4,000 yuan. Now, one RTX 5070 Ti costs what used to buy an RTX 5080 Ti, at over 9,000 yuan. The RTX 5090 series is around 35,000 yuan," one merchant said. "We can't write price lists—prices change daily." Merchants added that hardware is prioritized for AI computing, driving up costs, and major factories are sealing warehouses, pausing bulk shipments, catching everyone off guard with the sudden price surge. "The spot market is unstable. We don't even want to sell at these prices. Who would have expected such a rise? We're also hesitant to hoard inventory in this volatile market," a Huaqiangbei merchant noted.
Chen Yixin, Managing Director of CIC Zhuoshi Consulting, explained that the current price increases are essentially cost-driven, with memory suppliers raising quotes for Nvidia. This cost is directly reflected in bundle price hikes, which have expanded from flagship segments in May to all price ranges. Additionally, channel hoarding has further inflated prices. This report is compiled from Jimu News, Daily Economic News, and 21st Century Business Herald.
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