There's a global trade war underway, and prices of tech products are increasing.
Sony just increased the price of its PlayStation 5 gaming console in Europe, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
The prices, effective starting April 14, are as follows:
Europe: PS5 Digital Edition: €499.99
UK: PS5 Digital Edition: £429.99
Australia: Standard PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – AUD $829.95
PS5 Digital Edition – AUD $749.95
New Zealand: Standard PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – NZD - $949.95
PS5 Digital Edition – NZD $859.95
The prices represent a roughly 15 percent increase across the board.
The good news is that the Disc Drive for PS5 will get slightly cheaper (€79.99 in Europe, £69.99 in the UK, AUD $124.95 in Australia, and NZD $139.95 in New Zealand). Also, the PS5 Pro still costs the same in all of these markets.
Sony says the price hikes are due to a "challenging economic environment, including high inflation and fluctuating exchange rates." The increased U.S. tariffs for China, where Sony produces the PS5, aren't mentioned, and prices in the U.S. haven't changed — yet. Given that tariffs on Chinese goods have sharply risen (and fluctuated, seemingly at President Trump's whim) in the past week, it's reasonable to expect similar, if not higher, price hikes in the U.S. as well.
In the wake of Trump's tariffs, numerous tech products have become more expensive. We're tracking them all here, but the list includes Asus laptops, Nvidia GPUs, and Sony TVs.