DealHunterPro
16 hours ago
Saw the news this week that global phone shipments dropped about 20% in the last quarter, the lowest for a third quarter in more than a decade, and the reason given is the memory shortage. What I take from it is simpler than the headline: it is the cheapest models that get squeezed first, so the affordable phone I was eyeing may not stay at that price for long. Same story on the laptop side. A shop near my office already told me the next batch of their entry model is coming in at a different price tag, and they did not sound like they were being dramatic about it. So what is the plan? Some people I know are buying their phone or laptop this month instead of gambling on the November sales, on the logic that if the shelf price climbs, a small voucher does not help much. Others say the crunch will pass and the stock and the prices will look better by year end. Curious how everyone here is reading it. Are you upgrading now, holding out for the campaigns, or just repairing what you have until things settle? And if anyone here deals with this for a living, tell us which models are actually moving up first.
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Honestly this is the first year I am worried the November sale price ends up higher than what is on the shelf today. I am leaning towards just picking up the mid-range phone this month instead of waiting.
Laptops are in the same boat. The shop near my office said the next batch of their cheapest i5 model is landing with a new price tag, so I took the display unit they still had at the old one.
Anyone else notice the budget models barely move in the big campaigns anymore? The discount looks smaller than last year while the shelf price quietly crept up, so the gap is mostly gone.
If you can hold out, a two-year-old business laptop is the sweet spot now. The lease returns are everywhere and most of them still have plenty of life left in them.
Memory cards and flash drives are climbing as well, not just the RAM inside the machines. I picked up a couple of spare cards for the camera before the next batch of stock lands with new pricing.