Sony has announced yet another round of price increases for the PS5 digital and disc versions, and the higher-powered PS5 Pro. Alongside them, the PlayStation Portal remote player will receive its first price hike too.
PS5 and PS5 Pro price increase details
Per a recent PlayStation Blog post, these bumped PS5 and PS Portal prices are set to go into effect from April 2 onwards. Here’s the revised PlayStation hardware pricing:
- PS Portal: $249.99 / £219.99
- PS5 Digital: $599.99/ £519.99
- PS5: $649.99/ £569.99
- PS5 Pro: $899.99/ £789.99
Following this price hike, the base PS5 digital will be a whopping $200 pricier than it was at launch. The PS5 disc edition, meanwhile, will officially become the most expensive standard PlayStation console, surpassing the infamous $599 launch price of the PS3.
As for the PS5 Pro, the incoming $150 price hike will push it to $900 – unprecedented territory for a console. The PS Portal’s $50 price bump is the tamest here.
Why has Sony levied this PS5 price increase?
Sony cites “continued pressures in the global economic landscape” as the reason behind the latest round of PS5 price increases, with no further elaboration. The rampant global inflation, tariffs, and the declining forex value of the Japanese yen have been key challenges for Sony over the past few years.
However, it isn’t difficult to deduce that the culprit behind this latest PS5 price increase is most likely the global RAM shortage, which was induced by a deal ChatGPT maker OpenAI struck with Samsung and SKHynix in late 2025 to secure 40% of the world’s total RAM supply.
Sony isn’t the only one being affected by this RAM crisis, either. Prices for Xbox Series X and Series S were increased twice last year, and PC components like RAM sticks, GPUs, and SSDs have also skyrocketed in cost over the past few months.
Oddly, Sony did confirm in its last investor call (less than two months ago) that it had banked enough RAM chips to carry PS5 stocks through holiday 2026, suggesting that a price hike was unlikely. It remains to be seen if Sony will elaborate on the latest PS5 price increase in its next investor call, which is scheduled for May 13, 2026.
Will there be more PS5 price increases?
The situation surrounding the RAM shortage is volatile and expected to last well beyond 2026, so it’s difficult to say whether more PS5 price increases are on the horizon.
That said, the severity of this latest PS5 price increase ($100 more for disc and digital versions, $150 more for the Pro) could be an adequate buffer to shield against further price hikes, at least for 2026.
Still, it’s quite clear that the best time to buy a PS5 was when it originally launched, which is very unusual. Consoles historically underwent price drops throughout the course of their lifecycles, but the PS5 generation has been the complete opposite in this regard.