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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Apple has raised prices on its MacBook and iPad lineup.
- You’ll now pay anywhere from 15% to 25% more.
- Higher costs and shorter supply of memory chips are to blame.
Looking for a new MacBook or iPad? You’ll now have to shell out more money. On Thursday, Apple raised the prices on its entire MacBook and iPad lineup. Depending on the device you want, you’ll pay anywhere from 15% to 25% more than you would have yesterday.
Also: Why your RAM options cost 4X more now than last year – even legacy tech prices aren’t immune
You can see for yourself what you’ll now pay by visiting the online Apple Store, which was down earlier this morning as Apple updated it with the new prices. But here are a few examples:
- A basic iPad with 128GB of storage now starts at $449, up from $349.
- An iPad Air with 128GB of storage now starts at $749, up from $599.
- An iPad Pro with 256GB of storage now starts at $1,199, up from $999.
- A MacBook Air with 512GB of storage now starts at $1,299, up from $1,099
- A MacBook Pro with 1TB of storage now starts at $1,999, up from $1,699.
- A MacBook Neo with 256GB of storage now starts at $699, up from $599.
You get the picture. So why has Apple raised prices so dramatically? Blame it on the memory chip market.
AI’s appetite for memory
AI companies have been scooping up much of the available stock of DRAM (dynamic random access memory) and NAND flash storage for their hungry systems and data centers. That’s led to a severe chip shortage for everyone else, triggering price increases on the remaining supplies.
Also, the three major memory manufacturers — Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology — have shifted their limited resources and budgets toward higher-margin, enterprise components, leaving mere scraps for the consumer market.
Also: Best Amazon Prime Day tablet deals: Up to $300 off Samsung, Apple, and Microsoft
Companies like Apple try to anticipate higher costs by purchasing enough memory in advance. But as that supply dwindles, they eventually have to pass along the increases to customers in order to sustain their profit margins.
“The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge,” Apple said in a statement shared with CNBC. “The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”
The company explained that it “reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products. We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook himself recently warned of impending price increases. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Cook confirmed that the company would raise prices on its products due to the shortage of memory and storage chips and their higher costs.
Also: Older iPhones have an unfixable security flaw – why it can’t be patched, and the models affected
“Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable,” Cook told the WSJ. “We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.”
What can you do if you are looking for a new MacBook or iPad? Here’s one option. Tomorrow marks the final day of this week’s Amazon Prime sale. Look for your desired Apple device on Amazon, and you should find the price a lot lower than at Apple.
For instance, I wanted to buy a basic iPad as a gift for someone. At Apple, I’d have to pay $449 for it. But with the current sale price at Amazon, I was able to snag it for just $299.
On the bright side, for now, the iPhone was spared from today’s price increases. That’s because this product is Apple’s cash cow and faces stiff competition from Android phones.
Also: Need a MacBook? Don’t buy it from Apple while these Amazon deals are still live
“Sparing the iPhone shows exactly where Apple’s priorities sit,” said Francisco Jeronimo, VP of Client Devices at market research firm IDC. “IDC forecasts the average selling price of the iPhone, excluding the expected iPhone foldable, at $1,157 in 2026, up 8.2% YoY (year over year), compared with $330 for Android, up 18.9% YoY, also excluding foldable devices. As the iPhone represents over 50% of Apple’s business, the company will protect iPhone volume while it works out how hard it can push prices on the September line-up, including a foldable expected at around $2,500.”
Still, with the ongoing pressure on the chip market, Apple may have little choice but to raise prices to some degree for the existing iPhone 17 and the upcoming iPhone 18 lineup.
