Apple reveals price hikes for MacBooks and iPads

Apple is hiking prices in response to the ongoing memory shortage. On Thursday, the company adjusted the price of its new MacBook Neo, which will now start at $699 instead of $599, while the base MacBook Air will jump to $1,299 from $1,099, as reported earlier by Bloomberg.The 14-inch MacBook Pro is getting an increase as well, going from $1,699 to $1,999. Meanwhile, the iPad Air will now start at $749 instead of $599, while the iPad Pro is increasing to $1,199 from $999.As spotted by Bloomberg, Apple is even raising the prices of its HomePod, which now costs $349 instead of $299, as well as raising the price of the HomePod mini to $129 instead of $99. The Apple TV also now costs $199 instead of $129.Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted at incoming price changes during an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on June 17th, saying Apple has tried to “shield” customers from price increases, but “the situation has become unsustainable.”In the months leading up to the price increase, Apple has started adjusting some of its Mac lineups. It stopped selling the Mac Studio with 512GB of RAM in March, and later dropped the $599 Mac Mini option, meaning the device now starts at $799 with 512GB of RAM.The price of memory and storage has surged over the past several months as AI companies buy up RAM and SSDs for the data centers powering their models. Memory suppliers, including Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, are struggling to keep up with the demand for the components needed in everything from desktop computers, phones, laptops, consoles, and even cars.We’ve already seen the impact of the shortage with recent price increases across Microsoft Surface devices, Xbox S / X consoles, the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Framework’s modular PCs, Meta Quest 3, and the Raspberry Pi 5. Though memory suppliers are trying to increase DRAM production, the shortage is expected to linger for years.Developing...Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Emma Roth