Apple Hikes Mac and iPad Prices by Up to $400
Apple raised the price of its base MacBook Pro by $400 on Thursday, the steepest single jump on any device in the lineup.
Five product lines went up overnight, and Apple says more increases could still be coming.
What Actually Got More Expensive
The base 14-inch MacBook Pro rose to $1,999 from $1,699, a $300 increase, according to CNBC's reporting on Apple's announcement.
The MacBook Air with 512GB of storage climbed to $1,299 from $1,099. The entry-level MacBook Neo, Apple's budget laptop launched just months ago, rose to $699 from $599.
iPads weren't spared either. The iPad Air jumped to $749 from $599, a $150 increase, while the iPad Pro rose to $1,199 from $999. Apple also raised prices on the HomePod, HomePod mini, Apple TV 4K, and the Vision Pro headset, which now starts at $3,699.
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The One Product Apple Didn't Touch
iPhone prices stayed exactly where they were.
That's notable given Apple's own admission that rising memory costs are squeezing margins across the board, and Counterpoint Research estimates the component cost burden could add roughly $200 per iPhone if passed through.
Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal last week that price increases had become "unavoidable" because of higher component costs, warning specifically that "the memory guys are passing along huge price increases." The iPhone's exemption, for now, suggests Apple is treating its flagship line as the one product it will protect longest, even as it raises prices everywhere else.
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Why Memory Got This Expensive This Fast
The root cause has almost nothing to do with Apple's own supply chain decisions.
Memory and storage chip prices have risen roughly fourfold over the last three quarters, driven by chipmakers like Micron and SK Hynix shifting production toward high-bandwidth memory for AI data centers run by companies like Google, Meta, and Amazon.
Micron reported gross profit margins topping 80% in its most recent quarter, and its shares jumped nearly 18% in premarket trading the same week Apple announced its price hikes — a direct illustration of money moving from consumer electronics buyers into AI infrastructure suppliers. Micron's chief business officer told the Journal that "a couple of the customers who were being very aggressive with pricing" were "not constructive," a comment widely read as a veiled reference to Apple itself.
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What This Did to Apple's Stock
Investors didn't treat the announcement as routine.
Apple shares fell as much as 5% on Thursday, their worst single-day decline since February, after the price changes went live and the company's online store briefly went offline before reappearing with updated pricing.
That reaction reflects a deeper concern than the price hikes themselves: that Apple, despite having supply chain relationships the rest of the industry envies, is no longer insulated from a memory crunch reshaping the entire consumer electronics sector.
What Happens From Here
Apple's own statement left the door open for further increases, saying the company has "reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products" and describing the speed of the component cost surge as something it has "never seen."
Industry analysts expect rivals to follow. Ben Bajarin, CEO of Creative Strategies, said Apple's supply chain strength means "there is concern the rest of the industry may have to raise prices even more than Apple" — meaning Thursday's hikes may be the first move in a broader repricing across PCs and tablets industry-wide.
Key Takeaways
- Apple raised prices on Macs, iPads, HomePod, Apple TV, and Vision Pro on Thursday, with increases up to $400 on some models.
- The base MacBook Pro rose $300 to $1,999; the iPad Pro rose $200 to $1,199.
- iPhone prices remained unchanged, though Apple has not ruled out future increases.
- The price hikes stem from a memory and storage chip shortage driven by AI data center demand, with prices up roughly fourfold in three quarters.
- Apple shares fell up to 5%, their worst day since February.
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Business & Finance Editor
Sarah Collins reports on markets, Wall Street, corporate news, and the global economy. She specializes in making financial news accessible to everyday readers.
