The $49.99 Echo Dot now costs $79.99. Amazon blames memory costs.

Thirteen devices moved, per a tally The Verge published August 22, 2026: the Fire TV Stick 4K Max to $84.99, the base Kindle to $149.99. Ring cameras and the Echo Studio were not on the list.

Amazon's cheapest smart speaker, the fifth-generation Echo Dot, now lists at $79.99, up from $49.99. That 60 percent jump is the steepest of 13 price increases tallied by The Verge on August 22, 2026. The list covers the Echo, Fire TV, Kindle and eero lines, in a story the outlet credited Fortune with breaking. Amazon's statement did not say how long the new prices hold, or whether other lines follow.

The devices that moved most are the ones people buy without much deliberation. A speaker for the kitchen counter, a streaming stick for the back bedroom, an e-reader bought as a gift. In the tally, the cheaper the device, the bigger the percentage.

The five steepest changes, as published by The Verge:

• Echo Dot (5th gen), $49.99 to $79.99, up 60 percent.
• Fire TV Stick 4K Max, $59.99 to $84.99, up 41.7 percent.
• Echo Spot, $79.99 to $109.99, up 37.5 percent.
• Kindle (16GB), $109.99 to $149.99, up 36.4 percent.
• Kindle Paperwhite (16GB), $159.99 to $199.99, up 25 percent.

The remaining eight, from the same tally:

• Echo Show 21, $399.99 to $499.99, up 25 percent.
• Echo Dot Max, $99.99 to $119.99, up 20 percent.
• Echo Show 15, $299.99 to $349.99, up 16.7 percent.
• Fire TV Stick HD, $34.99 to $39.99, up 14.3 percent.
• eero 7 (3-pack), $349.99 to $399.99, up 14.3 percent.
• eero Pro 7 (3-pack), $699.99 to $799.99, up 14.3 percent.
• Echo Show 11, $219.99 to $249.99, up 13.6 percent.
• Echo Show 8, $179.99 to $199.99, up 11.1 percent.

In a statement to The Verge, Kristy Schmidt, senior communications manager of Amazon's Devices & Services division, cited “significant increases in memory and storage component costs” facing the consumer electronics industry. “After absorbing these increases for as long as we could, we recently adjusted pricing across our product lines,” Schmidt said. The statement described no regional exceptions and named no other cause. The company said its commitment to accessible prices had not changed.

Two hardware categories were not on the list. Amazon's Ring cameras and video doorbells appear unaffected, the outlet reported. So does the Echo Studio, the higher-end smart speaker, which stays at $219.99.

Competitors have moved on their own schedule. Apple raised the HomePod Mini to $129 from $99.99 this summer, also citing rising costs, the outlet reported. The Google Home Speaker remains $99.99.

The Verge is tracking the increases as part of its running coverage of a global memory shortage, filed under the heading “RAM price hikes.” That framing matters for anyone shopping in Los Angeles, or anywhere else Amazon ships. The stated cause is a component market, not a promotion cycle. Amazon has not published an end date for the new pricing.

One limit on this account is worth stating plainly. The percentages and the before-and-after figures here are The Verge's, drawn from the outlet's published table and Amazon's statement. The LA Globe made no independent capture of Amazon's product pages. No archived listing was pulled to check the older prices line by line. Nothing in the reporting addresses whether retailers other than Amazon are charging the new list prices, or whether discounts will narrow the gap.

Source: theverge.com, retrieved August 23, 2026.