Latest news with #AndyJohnston
The Verge
6 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
Razer's Blade 18 laptop price jumps $300, to $3,499.99
Razer's powerhouse Blade 18 portable gaming desktop replacement is launching today with a surprise price hike from its originally advertised $3,199.99 tag. The company has quietly raised the cost of the base spec, which features an RTX 5070 Ti graphics card, to $3,499.99 — a $300 jump from its CES reveal earlier this year. The Blade 18's top RTX 5090 graphics spec is also getting a heavy $400 price increase from $4,499.99 to $4,899.99. Razer is also now offering a new RTX 5080 configuration option that starts at $4,099.99. As to why Razer has increased the Blade 18's prices, the company has not responded to our request for comment at the time of publication. In April, Razer had temporarily halted direct sales for its laptops just a day before the Trump Administration announced tariffs that would increase costs of tech coming from countries like China and Taiwan, where many laptop components are made. At the time, Razer Public Relations Manager, Andy Johnston, told The Verge Razer had no comment regarding tariffs. Over a week later Razer un-paused sales, including for its just launched Blade 16 laptop. You can order the new Blade 18 on Razer's website now, with deliveries starting June 2nd, even for a maxed out configuration that features 4TB storage and 64GB RAM for $5,199.99 (RazerCare warranty not included).
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Razer Pauses Laptop Sales Amid Tariffs
If you're shopping for a laptop on Razer's website, know that you're not the only one who can't find a Buy button. As of this morning, you can add Razer to the list of companies that are curtailing their product offerings while they wait to see how the tariff saga will play out. Razer joins Nintendo, which completely canceled preorders for US customers last week. Framework, which sells DIY-friendly computers and laptops, nixed sales of some laptop models for now. Businesses in other industries are also pausing sales or shipments, including Jaguar Land Rover Automotive. When you visit the Razer website's laptop section, you're faced with laptop accessories, rather than laptops. If you dig around enough, you can find the customization tools for laptops, such as the Razer Blade 16, but adding them to your cart is another thing. Those we found were marked Out of Stock and displayed Notify Me buttons in the place of Buy buttons. The Verge asked Razer recently about its stance on tariffs, to which Razer's public relations manager, Andy Johnston, replied, 'We do not have a comment at this stage regarding tariffs.' The PC maker hasn't provided any further details. Credit: Razer The Trump administration announced today that it's pausing most tariffs for 90 days. The news gave the stock market an upward jolt, but whether businesses will resume sales of products that they've taken off the market is an open question. In the case of Razer, pausing laptop sales is a dramatic step. The company makes and sells computers and accessories aimed at gamers. Taking its gaming laptops off the table, even temporarily, has to come at a significant hit to the company's bottom line. Although companies sometimes take political stances, they typically involve messaging rather than stopping product sales. Given the stakes, it seems likely that Razer (and Nintendo and others) view these product removals as being in their own best interests. Larger businesses with plenty of stock stateside may not need to pause sales as quickly as businesses that assemble products on demand for customers. Regarding companies that build custom PCs, tariffs likely offer a particularly difficult challenge. The US government's on-again, off-again approach to tariffs further complicates things. The 90-day break adds some stability for the next three months, at least. Now, we'll see if businesses start bringing back the products they shelved.
