00:00 josh
This year’s Black Friday tech shopping has become even more complicated as tariffs and supply pressures have quietly pushed up prices on everything from accessories to video game consoles. If you’d like to learn more, we welcome Dan Howley, Yahoo Finance’s technology editor. Dan.
00:10 Dan Howley
Yeah, Josh, we have a bit of a complicated Black Friday situation here.
00:15 Dan Howley
Oh, there’s a good way and there’s a bad way. We clearly have generative AI. Ah, finally, you’re starting to take off your clothes a bit. Apparently everyone uses it, and it’s not just my dad who doesn’t know his iCloud password, but I digress. It’s very useful when you’re looking for a gift for someone, in that you can make a more personalized request. For example, my nephew is 8 years old and likes Legos, action figures, and sports. So you can put everything into something like chat GPT. Well, now there is a shopping function.
00:50 Dan Howley
Um, offering, they just recently introduced it to, uh, Microsoft’s Bing, uh, co-pilot. Gemini will give you a very good idea of what to buy. I didn’t know they made Lego sports sets, but apparently they do and I found out about it while shopping. That’s part of the good side of things. On the downside, Black Friday also has to contend with tariffs. So, in addition to these gifts, there will also be customs duties
01:20 Dan Howley
If you have a tree on Christmas morning, it’s probably under your tree. As a result, electronic devices have been particularly hard hit. As you can see, video game console prices increased in August and May earlier this year. Microsoft was particularly hard hit. They had to increase the price of their gaming consoles twice. Sony had to raise the price of the PlayStation 5 by $50. Well, Nintendo, by the way, this is the original Nintendo Switch released in 2017.
01:50 Dan Howley
They raised the price on it. So, look, your gaming console is nearly 10 years old, but for some reason it’s worth more now than it was back then. That is, outside of things like depreciation. So we’re seeing these tariffs impact a lot of different things. In addition, computers and displays are also exempt from tariffs, but not from broader issues seen in the market, such as data center expansion and memory.
02:16 Dan Howley
Now it’s getting even more expensive. It’s not exactly clear whether prices will be before or after the holiday season, but keep that in mind when shopping. If you find a really good deal, take advantage of it. And for the price of these video game consoles, obviously they’re usually big sellers during the holiday season. In fact, I saw the PlayStation on sale for $100 off at Best Buy. If I don’t have one yet, I think I’ll buy one for myself.
02:31 josh
Now, what our viewers want to know is, Dan, of course, what are you buying? What’s on the Howley radar right now?
02:44 Dan Howley
So yeah, some of the biggest gifts are usually things like headphones, uh fitness trackers, smart watches, Apple Watch is obviously a big seller, AirPods, big sellers, uh Pixel Buds for Google sets, things like that. Well, all sorts of relatively inexpensive but necessary accessories you can get. good keyboard. I know it’s boring, but since you’ll be typing all day long, you’ll probably want something comfortable. Well, I think it’s something along those lines.
03:19 Dan Howley
Usually the most highly valued. Well, we have a friend who just had a birthday. Of course, this is separate from the vacation, but we gifted him a cell phone charger in the shape of the Star Trek uh logo. He loves Star Trek and watches it every year without fail. I really appreciate it because it wasn’t something he would get himself and he needed it because a rat seemed to be chewing on the charger he was using. I’m surprised he didn’t start a fire. but
03:49 Dan Howley
Small things like that are some of the things that people really want to have and otherwise wouldn’t necessarily buy for themselves. So I think those are the big things. And obviously, if you have kids or you’re a kid at heart, I think it’s a love bath. I don’t even know what’s actually going on with them. Well, I remember Beanie Babies, but I didn’t buy them back then, and I don’t think I would buy Love Baths now either. Well, producer Dan compared them to Pokemon. That’s not true at all.
04:09 josh
Dan, it’s always nice to see you. Happy Thanksgiving, my friend.
04:14 Dan Howley
Happy Thanksgiving!
