Apple is hiking the prices of MacBooks and iPads due to the memory chip shortage

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Apple raised MacBook and iPad prices due to memory chip shortages.
• The Neo MacBook now costs $699, and the iPad Mini is $599.
• Apple shares fell 6.1% as CEO Tim Cook warned of unavoidable increases.

NEW YORK CITY — Apple has hiked prices on some of its most popular products, including the MacBook and iPad, because of the rising costs of memory and storage chips sparked by the AI boom.

Beginning immediately, the price increases affect the Neo, its entry level MacBook that's now priced at $699 (up from $599), its cheapest iPad, which costs $449 up from $349, and the iPad Mini, which is getting a $100 increase to $599.

Other increases include the Apple TV ($199 from $129), the Apple Vision Pro headset ($3,699, a $200 increase) and the HomePod speaker ($349, up from $299).

The prices went live on Apple's online store Thursday, but some third-party websites, like Best Buy and Target, still display the old prices.

In a statement, Apple said that growing number of AI data centers has "created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage" and that it has "never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly."

"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," an Apple spokesperson said. "We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions."

Apple shares (AAPL) fell 6.1% Thursday, their worst day in more than a year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook last week warned of an upcoming sticker shock and that price increases were "unavoidable" because of memory chip shortages. Prices of chips, as well as demand, have increased because of the massive number of AI datacenters being built, prompting companies like Micron to post blockbuster earnings.

"We're doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we've been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable," Cook previously told the Wall Street Journal.

Even Apple, one of the world's most profitable companies with a solid supply chain, can't avoid the surge in prices for memory that has reverberated across the consumer electronics industry.

Notably, prices for iPhones and AirPods remain the same.

Contributing: Lisa Eadicicco and John Towfighi

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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