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Jun 26, 2026
Analyzed by Llama- 4 Scout 17B 16E Instruct

Apple Raises iPad and MacBook Prices Amid AI-Driven Chip Cost Surge

AI Summary
Apple has increased prices for its iPad and MacBook products, citing rising chip costs driven by the AI industry's data center buildout. The price hikes, which do not affect the iPhone, reflect the company's struggle to shield customers from soaring memory and storage chip costs.

The Price Hike

Apple raised iPad and MacBook prices on Thursday, saying it could no longer shield customers from soaring memory and storage chip costs driven by the AI industry’s data center buildout.

Impact on Products

The move does not affect Apple’s cash cow, the iPhone. But it would take the starting price of the Neo, its lowest-priced laptop, from $599 to $699 mere months after launch.

  • MacBook Air with 512 gigabytes: up $200
  • MacBook Pro with 1 terabyte of storage: up $300

The Data Analysis

Memory makers such as Micron have, in recent months, prioritized orders from AI chipmakers such as Nvidia. The move has helped the memory makers to record profits, but has left little supply for electronics makers. Those, in turn, have been forced to increase prices.

Shares of the company fell nearly 5%, while rival Dell was down more than 8%.

The Impact Analysis

The increase shows that even the world’s most valuable consumer electronics company, with supply-chain relationships that are the envy of the industry, is not immune to a memory price surge that has dulled the outlook for smartphone and PC sales.

“We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly,” Apple said in a statement. “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 a number of products, including today’s increases for iPad and Mac.”

The Prediction

Analysts expect prices for the iPhone to go up next. “The iPhone isn’t spared. Its hike is coming,” said Nabila Popal, a senior research director at IDC. “It was incredibly strategic for Apple to make the price hike announcements prior to the iPhone fall launch, so the headlines at launch is not the price hikes but the value the new phones bring.”

Prices of dynamic random access memory, used in virtually all modern tech gadgets, rose as much as 98% in the first quarter of 2026 and are set to jump by another 58% to 63% in the current quarter, according to industry tracker TrendForce.