Apple Inc raised prices on its MacBook, iPad, iMac, Apple TV, Vision Pro and HomePod mini lineups on June 25, citing an unprecedented surge in memory and storage component costs, while leaving the iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods and AirTag unchanged. Prices for the MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, iMac and iPad product lines all rose, in some cases by as much as $200.
The increases took effect immediately at Apple’s online store.
Memory chip shortage driven by AI demand forces “unsustainable” price hikes, Apple says
Apple attributed the hikes to AI-fuelled demand for memory chips that has sent prices soaring, a dynamic some have called “RAMageddon.”
In a statement, the company said, “We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly. We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on several products, including today’s increases for iPad and Mac.” Apple added that it was working to find solutions to the situation.
iPhone, Watch, AirPods left out of price hikes
The increases did not extend to Apple’s cornerstone iPhone, with the base iPhone 17 still priced at $799, nor to the Apple Watch and AirPods. According to AppleInsider, Apple applied the increases to selected hardware rather than the entire lineup, so customers buying an iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods or AirTag will pay the same prices as before.
Analysts noted that keeping iPhone prices steady avoids a change to Apple’s flagship product just months ahead of its usual autumn refresh.
Scale of the price increases
Specific increases cited by Macworld include the 11-inch iPad Air rising $150 to $749, the MacBook Neo increasing $100 to $699, and the Vision Pro now priced at $3,699. Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani wrote in a client note that the increases were broad-based, ranging from 17% to 25% across the core Mac and iPad lineup on base-model configurations, with steeper percentage increases on smaller-ticket devices such as the Apple TV, which rose 54%.
Cook had flagged hikes as “unavoidable”
The price changes follow comments last week from outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook, who told the Wall Street Journal that price increases were unavoidable, and that the situation had become unsustainable, adding he had never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years.
Cook is set to step down as CEO in September, handing over to John Ternus, currently head of Apple hardware engineering.
Wider industry impact
The component shortage is not limited to Apple. Microsoft also announced price increases, citing more than doubled console storage and memory costs, with Xbox prices for 512 GB and 1 TB models rising by $100 and $150, respectively, effective August 1. Research firm IDC had earlier flagged that the memory market was at an “unprecedented inflection point,” with the shortage potentially extending into 2027.
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