What the Tech: Hard to find tech gifts

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Black Friday is less than two weeks away which is always a time millions of people start or even finish their holiday shopping. It’s the perfect time to find the best deals of the year on popular items.

There are some tech gifts you may want to buy right now - if you can find them.

One of the hottest gifts this year is an iPhone 14 Pro. If it’s on someone’s wish list, you shouldn’t wait to get it. For two reasons: Apple products rarely go on sale and if they do, it isn’t a very big discount. But more importantly, Apple has halted production of the iPhone 14 because of COVID-19 which is still affecting parts of China. Your best bet is finding a 14 Pro with maximum storage which typically sells slower than the 128 GB model.

Gaming systems are hard to find the closer we get to Christmas. The Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 are always in demand. Right now, if you try to buy any PlayStation 5 on Amazon, you must ask for an invitation. For real.

The selection of laptops, TVs, and digital cameras will be significantly sparse after Cyber Monday. Some digital cameras are already unavailable. One of this year’s hottest toys, the interactive Little Live Pets Mama surprise is only available on Amazon from third-party sellers that offer the toy for about $50 more than retail. And the popularity of vinyl records now will lead to fewer mid and upper-range turntables, the ones that cost around $200.

Amazon makes millions of Echo devices and deeply discounts them on Cyber Monday. In recent years, they’ve sold out - particularly the Echo devices that are bundled with home security cameras and Ring doorbells. While some of the items are already unavailable or in short supply online, you may them in stores. And if you only shop at Amazon, you may miss better deals at Best Buy, Walmart, Target, and other stores.

The availability of tech products is heavily due to the continuing worldwide computer chip shortage and delays in the supply chain to get those products from China to the United States.

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