The best tech purchases in 2026 aren’t new anymore

Apple’s price increase announcement comes as no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention. We’ve seen Samsung and Motorola charge more for their smartphones, and it was only a matter of time before the laws of financial gravity caught up to our friends in Cupertino — no matter how many chips they stockpiled before the shortages hit. MacBook Airs and Mac Minis have quietly been among the best deals in tech, but computer prices are going up.

Unfortunately, smartphone and PC markets aren’t the only ones being hit. Microsoft recently increased Xbox prices — again. And it’s one of the few times I can remember the price of six-year-old tech increasing so dramatically within the same generation. PlayStations aren’t exactly easy on the wallet, making gaming expensive. Thankfully, it’s not all doom and gloom, and rising costs have caused me to take a hard look at my current tech setup. As it turns out, we left a lot on the table with previous generations.

You really don’t need to spend $1,300 on a smartphone

I’ve spent plenty of column inches over the last few years singing the praises of midrange smartphones. It wasn’t that long ago that any phone under $500 was a disaster, with a cheap plastic build, awful LCD screen, and pathetic software support (if any). That’s completely changed. Even a $200 phone like the Galaxy A17 has a respectable OLED display, a capable chipset, and six years of promised One UI support.

Still, it’s not midrange phones I want to focus on to help get us all through the current pricing crisis. Older flagships are the sweet spot. Phone manufacturers did us a rare solid by extending software support on devices over the last several years. It’s turned the pre-owned phone market on its head. As people upgrade, a flood of gently used, affordable devices with premium features becomes available for purchase.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is a fantastic phone. It has a gorgeous display, a premium build, and an S Pen with Bluetooth functionality. It’s not exactly cheap pre-owned at around $550, but it’ll get five more years of software support, and you won’t feel like you’re compromising. The Galaxy S25+ is also a great choice for Samsung fans, with an excellent screen and thin frame for around $500.

There are plenty of prime choices for Pixel buyers as well, and I still love the Pixel 8 Pro. Its Super Actua display still looks amazing, and you’ll enjoy decent battery life and performance with a premium look and feel — all for around $350. It’ll vary depending on how much you’re willing to spend, but it’s clear you don’t need to shell out $1,500 to Samsung or Motorola to have a decent smartphone that’ll last until this crisis subsides.

Microsoft and Sony are forcing us to look at the last gen

It’s absolutely outrageous to spend the kind of money Microsoft and Sony are looking to charge for the current-gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles. I understand component pricing is out of hand due to the current AI boom, but that doesn’t mean I have to participate. I can’t tell you how many fantastic games I missed out on in the last generation, and my backlog of unplayed titles would account for years’ worth of playtime.

I’d absolutely look into picking up a cheap PlayStation 4 off of eBay. It has plenty of excellent console exclusives that you can pick up cheap, and it’s physical media — something that doesn’t feel like it will be around much longer. You can also pick up a PS Plus subscription, giving you access to a bunch of titles for one price. The games still look good, and the replayability is there. Fun isn’t always tied to graphics, and the PS4 had a bunch of memorable titles. Decent working PS4s can be had for as little as $130 if you shop around, giving you a great chance to keep gaming without spending $700 or more.

Picking up an Xbox One gives you similar benefits, with Xbox Game Pass unlocking plenty of titles with a subscription. Microsoft gets the nod for backward compatibility, as you can throw in most Xbox 360 discs to play. Servers are still running, and you can get hours of enjoyment from titles you never got a chance to play when the consoles were new.

I’ve seen a bunch of videos recently of people modding their Sony PSPs and Vitas to give them new life in 2026. They are really fun consoles to use with great hardware and screens. If you can add some custom software to get extra use out of them, I’m all for it. I haven’t modded my PSP and Vita just yet, but it’s a project I plan to chronicle here on the site.

You don’t need to spend a ton to get a functional PC

PC building feels like a build-your-own adventure right now. Sure, DDR5 RAM prices are out of control. I built my wife’s new PC in September 2025 and managed to get 32GB of DDR5 RAM in dual-channel for around $105. When I upgraded my PC in November, the price was closer to $500. Instead, I went with a slightly upgraded system with DDR4 memory. It’s not ideal, but paired with an Nvidia RTX 5070 GPU, I get fantastic frames on high settings in most games.

However, you don’t need to spend that much to get a solid gaming rig. DDR4 RAM prices may still be reasonable, but supported chipsets are becoming more expensive as a result. Bundles are definitely your friend right now, even for older hardware. I’m also seeing plenty of videos online of people taking even 10-year-old machines and making them usable again with RTX 1080 GPUs. I’m not saying you have to do anything that extreme, but they are excellent examples that you don’t need the latest and greatest to play certain current-gen titles with decent frame rates.

For productivity needs alone, eBay is your friend. I recently picked up a cheap, new-old-stock ThinkPad T14 Gen 2. It does everything I need, with solid battery life, a phenomenal keyboard (I’m writing this on it right now), and snappy performance. I dual-boot Windows for a few programs I need, but it really comes alive when I switch to Linux. I spent around $350, and I can easily get a few years of use out of this machine, and there are plenty of examples just like it.

It’s fun to get a little creative

No one loves the current situation, except for companies like Micron and AMD. However, it’s also a bit freeing to feel disqualified from buying the latest and greatest tech. There’s nothing wrong with hitting the pause button and looking side to side to get the most out of what is around us. I know I’m guilty of constantly jumping to the next generation of devices, long before I’ve tapped the full potential of what I have. If we get anything from this current period in the marketplace, hopefully, we can learn to make better use of the tech we spend good money on.