Apple raised prices on Macs and iPads early Thursday, pushing some models up by $200 or more after Chief Executive Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal that memory and storage costs were leaving the company little room to keep prices steady.
The changes appeared after Apple briefly took its online store offline, a move the company often makes before product updates. When the store returned, Mac prices were about 15% to 20% higher, while iPad prices were up about 15% to 25%, according to the Journal.
The new pricing is not subtle. The base MacBook Air rose by $200 to $1,299. The base MacBook Pro increased by $300 to $1,999. The entry-level MacBook Neo moved up $100 to $699. On the tablet side, the iPad Air rose $150 to $749, and the iPad Pro climbed $200 to $1,199.
Apple left iPhone prices unchanged for now. In a statement cited by the Journal, the company said it had “reached a point” where it needed to start raising prices and said it had not seen component costs rise so far so quickly before. The word “start” is doing some work there, though Apple did not announce additional specific increases.
Memory is the choke point
Cook’s explanation is the same one now echoing across the hardware business: DRAM and NAND have become more expensive. DRAM is the working memory a device uses while apps and operating systems are running. NAND is the flash storage that holds files, apps and the operating system when the device is powered down. Modern phones, PCs, tablets, consoles and cars all need one or both.
Research firm TechInsights says prices for both DRAM and NAND have quadrupled over the past 12 months. The firm attributes the surge to demand from AI hyperscalers, the cloud operators buying enormous amounts of memory for AI infrastructure. TechInsights also expects prices to keep rising into next year, according to the Journal.
That leaves consumer-device makers competing with AI infrastructure buyers for parts that used to be boring in the best possible way. Apple can tune chips, industrial design and software all it wants, but a MacBook still needs memory and storage before it becomes a MacBook rather than a very expensive aluminum promise.
Cook told the Journal last week that price increases had become “unavoidable” because suppliers were passing through large increases while device demand remained present and supply was tighter. Apple’s Thursday pricing move turns that warning into checkout-page math for customers.
The broader effect is not limited to Apple. The Journal reported that many consumer electronics using DRAM or NAND have already seen sharp price increases tied to the same component squeeze. Apple’s decision stands out because of its scale and visibility, not because the underlying pressure is unique to Cupertino.
This story draws on original reporting from The Wall Street Journal.
