Black Friday 2026 falls on 27 November. Normally, that date on the calendar means one thing for anyone thinking about a new PC: wait, and you will pay less. This year, we think that assumption deserves a second look.
We are not saying this to talk you out of buying a PC, or to talk you into buying one from us right now. We are saying it because the market conditions behind this year's component prices are genuinely unusual, and they point towards a Black Friday that behaves differently from the ones you might remember.
The component market behind this year's prices
We covered this in detail earlier in the year, but the short version is worth repeating. RAM and SSD storage have both seen sharp cost increases through 2026, driven by a genuine supply crisis rather than the usual seasonal wobble.
In June 2026, a class-action lawsuit was filed against major memory manufacturers, alleging price collusion. Whatever the outcome, the lawsuit itself is a signal of how unusual this period has been. Analyst consensus at the moment does not expect meaningful relief before 2027 to 2028.
That timeline matters. It means the cost pressure retailers are dealing with right now is not a short-term blip that eases off just in time for the shopping season. It is a structural issue that is expected to stick around.
Further reading: the RAM and SSD price crisis update
Why this changes the Black Friday equation
Black Friday discounting has always worked on a simple principle: retailers build in enough margin during the year that they can afford to cut prices for a weekend and still turn a profit, using the volume of sales to make up the difference.
That principle depends on retailers having room to cut from. When component costs are elevated and expected to stay that way, as they are now with RAM and SSD storage, there is simply less room. A retailer discounting from an already-inflated cost base cannot cut as deep without cutting into money they do not have.
None of this means there will be no deals at all on 27 November. It means the scale and depth of discounting that shoppers have come to expect from Black Friday, particularly on PCs and PC components, is less likely to repeat in the way it has in calmer years.
What we would suggest instead of waiting and hoping
Our advice is not about deal-chasing. It is about deciding whether you actually need a new PC based on your own situation, not on a date in the calendar and an assumption that might not hold up this year.
Ask yourself honestly:
- Is your current machine an actual bottleneck for what you do, whether that's gaming, work, or creative software, rather than just feeling a bit dated?
- Is your hardware ageing and unreliable, to the point where it's costing you time or causing you stress?
- Do you have new software requirements, a game, an application, or an operating system change, that your current setup genuinely can't handle?
If the answer to any of those is yes, and the need is real and immediate, then waiting purely because Black Friday is coming could mean living with a frustrating machine for longer than you need to, in exchange for a saving that may not show up this year.
If none of that applies and your current PC is doing its job, there is no harm in waiting. That is a different decision, made on your own terms rather than on a marketing date.
If you do want to buy around Black Friday
Some people will still want to buy in that window, and that is entirely reasonable. If that is you, our advice is to look past the headline discount and check what is actually being offered.
- Look at the percentage off, but don't stop there. A discount is only meaningful relative to where the price started.
- Compare the advertised price against recent pricing for the same or similar specification, not just the retailer's own reference price.
- Where you can, check it against the underlying cost of the components involved. If RAM and SSD prices have been rising all year, a PC built around them should reflect that, discount or not.
A percentage off an inflated starting price is not automatically a genuine saving. Sometimes it is. Sometimes the starting price was set with the discount already built in. The only way to tell the difference is to look at what is underneath the headline number.
Our honest angle on this
We would rather tell you now that this year's discounting may be underwhelming than have you delay a genuinely needed upgrade chasing a deal that might not come.
We also price our builds based on real, current component costs throughout the year. We do not inflate prices in order to discount them later. That means our pricing already reflects the market conditions described above, rather than pretending they do not exist until a sale event, and then pretending they do.
It is a less exciting message than a big red banner and a countdown clock. But it is the honest one, and we would rather you make a decision based on what you actually need than on a date that may not deliver what it used to.
Build it with us
Whenever you decide the time is right, have a look through our PC configurator and put together something that matches what you actually use your machine for. Every system we sell is hand-built to order in our Stevenage workshop, stress-tested before it goes anywhere near a delivery van, and backed by our 5-year warranty. Shiv is always happy to talk through what you need before you commit to anything.