The French company Withings raises the prices of several smart products. The background is an “unprecedented global context”.
Withings is making several of its smart scales, the BPM Connect blood pressure monitor and smartwatches more expensive. The French company is pointing out the upcoming price increase on September 19 in its store. Among other things, the 38mm models of the Scanwatch are affected, which will cost 20 euros more in the future than before.
The price of the blood pressure monitor BPM Connect increases by 30 euros, the sleep analyzer is 20 euros more expensive. Withings will charge 180 instead of 150 euros for the body cardio scales in the future. the step the company explains on its website with an “unprecedented global context”.
Transport costs tripled
“Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the cost of our raw materials, as well as electronic components and transportation, has increased significantly,” Withings writes there. The price of the microcontroller built into the Body Cardio scale has risen by 20 percent, and transport costs have even risen by over 200 percent since the start of the Covid 19 crisis.
“Given an already existing semiconductor shortage, which is expected to last at least until 2023, we are now forced to increase the selling prices of some of our products,” writes Withings. The “targeted price increase” is intended to guarantee that the company’s own promise of quality and the longevity of the products can be maintained. Until September 19, the products mentioned can still be purchased at their previous prices.
Withings isn’t the first company to announce price increases in recent weeks. At the end of August, Sony caused a stir when the Japanese company increased the price recommendation for the Playstation 5 by 50 euros in the European Economic Area. Sony cited high inflation rates and unfavorable currency trends as justification. On the other hand, Withings is not only raising its prices in Europe: the affected products are also becoming more expensive in the USA.
