Apple Raises Mac and iPad Prices Amid Global Memory Shortage Driven by AI Buildout

Amid a worldwide memory shortage driven by the AI buildout, Apple is raising prices of its Mac and iPad lineups, as reported by Bloomberg. For the moment, there is no rise in iPhone prices, but there is a possibility that it could arrive later in the year.

The new entrant to the MacBook lineup, MacBook Neo, will now cost $699 instead of $599. The company also raised the base MacBook Air’s price from $1,099 to $1,299 and the MacBook Pro’s price from $1,699 to $1,999. The desktop-class Mac Studio now costs $2,499, up from $1,999.

iPads also received a price bump: The Air now costs $749, up from $599, and the Pro now costs $1,199, up from $999. The base iPad model with the A16 chip now costs $449 instead of $349, and the iPad Mini with the A17 chip costs $599 instead of $499.

Apple’s smart home devices are costlier as well. The standard HomePod is up from $299 to $349, HomePod Mini is up from $99 to $129, and the Apple TV box is up from $99 to $129.

The company’s Vision Pro headset is now priced at $3,699, from its already costly tag of $3,499.

“The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge. The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly,” the company told CNBC in a statement.

“We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions,” it added.

Last week, Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal that price hikes for Apple’s products were “unavoidable,” as memory and storage component prices keep rising because of the AI boom. During the company’s earnings call in April, Cook alluded that for iPhones, the company was facing constraints on the main processing chip rather than memory. He also said that it “may take several months to reach supply-demand balance” for Mac Studio and Mac Mini.

Apple discontinued the base 256GB $599 Mac Mini in May, and made the $799 base model with 512GB storage the base model. The M4 Pro configuration is now $1,599, up from $1,399.

In March, analyst firm Counterpoint noted that smartphone DRAM prices have jumped by 50%, and NAND Flash storage prices have jumped by over 90% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2026.

“We have reached a point where absorbing memory price hikes is impossible unless one wishes to run a business at a major loss. Memory prices have increased more than fourfold since Q4 2025, and this single component has eroded the profit margins of most consumer electronics players. Apple has done well to hold prices steady until now, though it hinted at increases last week,” Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint, told TechCrunch.

“The growing demand for AI infrastructure has fundamentally changed the memory supply chain, meaning higher BOM (Bill of Materials) costs are now a lasting challenge. We also expect other PC and tablet OEMs to follow Apple’s example. They may raise prices on select products, cut discounts, or adjust their product lines to focus more on premium devices,” he added.