Retailers Claim Second Wave Of Radeon RX 9070 Cards Will Have Higher Prices
"It is inaccurate that $549/$599 MSRP is launch-only pricing. We expect cards to be available from multiple vendors at $549/$599 (excluding region specific tariffs and/or taxes) based on the work we have done with our AIB partners, and more are coming. At the same time, the AIBs have different premium configurations at higher price points and those will also continue."
As we pointed out in our review, one of the key points working in the favor of the new Radeon RX 9070 cards is their relatively aggressive pricing strategy against NVIDIA. But what if the cards weren't actually available at those prices, and instead ran similar pricing to their GeForce competitors? Would you still be eager to buy one?
That question may be more relevant than you think. According to Inet in Sweden and OCUK in the UK, only this very first batch of Radeon RX 9070 and RX 9070 XT cards will be available at the MSRPs advertised by AMD. After this first run, prices will apparently go up as AIBs are given leverage to set their own pricing for the GPUs.
This is pretty surprising, especially considering that the pricing is one of the main ways that the new cards are competing with NVIDIA's latest offerings. It's not clear how much the prices will go up at this time, and it's also not clear why this is happening. Did AMD enforce MSRPs for the initial launch? Swedish retailer Inet says:
Our second delivery from PowerColor is already waiting, and we cannot offer it at MSRP prices. This means that we will first sell the Reaper models at the MSRP price and the stock balance will tick down as usual until the first delivery is sold out. Then, with a certain delay, the stock will be filled with new cards and we will then release the Reaper cards for ordering again – but not at MSRP price.
— Johan Backelin, Inet.se
It's not the same situation, but the circumstance smacks of the pricing controversy around the AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 from back in 2017, where the standalone card at $499 sold out almost immediately, leaving only bundle "packs" that cost $100 to $200 more. This lead to accusations of the $499 price being a misleading "introductory" price.
Over at OCUK, that retailer's Andrew Gibson explained that "MSRP is capped quantity of a few hundred, so prices will jump once those are sold through," although he didn't say why. He did continue, though: "Re-stocks and pricing is unknown going forward, nobody really knows what April will bring due to instability in world with USA starting to rage a trade war, we are all hopeful it won't impact computer stuff, but who knows."
The Radeon RX 9070 XT is a powerful GPU for $599, and if you can get your hands on one at that price, it's a fantastic deal. Hopefully the increased pricing isn't more than a couple of Andrew Jacksons, as is often the case with AIB "OC" edition cards.
Thanks to Videocardz for pointing out this story.
