5 Everyday Items That Could Be More Affordable in 2025

In the new year, many are braced for prices on a number of everyday items — from groceries to shoes to new cars — to increase as a result of the many tariffs President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose on China, Mexico and Canada. Those tariffs are expected to cause the same price increases on products that the tariffs of Trump’s first administration did.

That said, inflation rates by the end of 2024 (2.6%) were lower than those of 2023 (3.7%). That trend of lessening inflation could allow for prices on a select few items to decrease, even if tariffs create price hikes elsewhere. According to a recent article by Reader’s Digest, there are a handful of items expected to be cheaper in 2025.

See more on how tariffs could impact you.

Holly Andrews, managing director of lending company KIS Finance, suggested to Reader’s Digest that we can expect a price drop with smartphones and laptops in 2025. The manufacture and production of such tech items has become more efficient, and older, more antiquated elements of these products have been replaced by more streamlined tech. As a result, smartphone prices have dropped more than 50% since 2019, and that price drop is expected to continue through 2025.

Much like smartphones and laptops, as the technology behind electric vehicles (EVs) progresses, the cars become increasingly inexpensive to manufacture — specifically their battery tech. The influx of more inexpensive batteries that are easier to produce is expected to bring down costs of EVs overall.

While the production of new cars is expected to become more expensive thanks to tariffs on manufacturing items (even American-made cars utilize imported products), used cars are projected to become more affordable.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, production of new cars slowed due to supply-chain issue, causing an increased demand for used vehicles. Now that supply chains have opened up and the production of new cars has normalized (and before their prices increase due to tariffs), the prices of used cars have stabilized as a result.

With each passing season, it seems that a new studio or boutique label or production company has a streaming platform with exclusive film and TV content. As a result, the streaming market has become flooded — and, like any oversaturated market, platforms are expected to lower prices to try to beat the competition.

As with smartphones and EVs, solar tech has evolved greatly over the last few years, making the production of solar panels far more efficient and inexpensive. Further, the use of solar panels is aided by government incentives. Those incentives, coupled with lowered production costs, make solar panels a far easier — and far more everyday — item for consumers to procure.