My phone was on its way out so I got something with better translation features and support for my move to Germany. Was it expensive? Yes. Is it less expensive than it will be? Also yes.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this causes scalpers to start hoarding goods again like they did during the pandemic. Artificial scarcity but still cheaper than the official price on Amazon or whatever.

Companies are pre-buying goods and laying off workers already, so why wouldn’t the citizenry?