“Apple has finally started passing the AI chip squeeze to customers, and the first hit is landing on MacBooks, iPads and some of its home devices.”
Apple has increased prices for several MacBook and iPad models after saying it can no longer absorb the sharp rise in memory and storage chip costs caused by the AI industry’s aggressive data center expansion. The move does not affect the iPhone, but it does hit some of Apple’s key laptops, tablets and home devices, showing that even the world’s most powerful consumer electronics company is now feeling the pressure from the global memory crunch.
The biggest headline change is the MacBook Neo, Apple’s lowest-priced laptop aimed at competing with affordable Windows and Chromebook devices. Its starting price has now risen from $599 to $699, just months after launch. Apple also increased the price of the MacBook Air with 512GB storage from $1,099 to $1,299, and the MacBook Pro with 1TB storage from $1,699 to $1,999. On the tablet side, the iPad Air with 128GB storage has gone up from $599 to $749. The company also raised prices for both versions of the HomePod smart speaker and the Apple TV set-top box.
Apple said it had held off for as long as it could, but the pace of the increase in component prices had become impossible to ignore. In a statement, the company said it had “never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly,” and that it had so far tried to shield customers from the impact. That, Apple now says, is no longer sustainable.
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The deeper problem is not Apple’s pricing strategy itself. It is the way the AI boom is reshaping the semiconductor market. Memory makers such as Micron have been prioritising supply for AI-focused customers, especially companies building the infrastructure behind large AI models. That includes firms like Nvidia, which are locking in long-term deals for high-performance memory as they race to expand data center capacity. The result is that less supply is available for electronics companies that build consumer products like phones, laptops and tablets, driving prices sharply higher.
Industry figures show just how severe the surge has become. According to TrendForce, prices for DRAM a type of memory used in most modern devices rose by as much as 98% in the first quarter of 2026 and are expected to rise by another 58% to 63% in the current quarter. Some analysts have even dubbed the current spike “RAMageddon.” Reuters also reported that Micron has secured $22 billion in long-term commitments from customers trying to lock in memory supply, underscoring how tight the market has become.
Apple had already warned investors about this in April. The company said existing inventories had helped it keep margins above Wall Street expectations, but it also warned that higher memory costs would start to catch up by the end of June. Chief executive Tim Cook said at the time that Apple expected “significantly higher memory costs” and that the effect on the business would grow beyond the June quarter. Thursday’s price increases are now the clearest sign that the warning has turned into action.
The MacBook Neo is a particularly important part of this story because it had been one of Apple’s more aggressive attempts to win share at the lower end of the PC market. At $599, it gave Apple a strong price advantage over many rivals. With the increase to $699, that edge has narrowed sharply. Reuters noted that the Neo has now lost a $100 advantage over Dell’s new XPS 13, and it is also more expensive than some Chromebook models from Lenovo and Asus.
The broader concern is that Apple may not be the only company forced to act. Analysts say the rising cost of memory is likely to weigh on device sales this year, with research firm IDC forecasting the smartphone market’s biggest-ever annual decline of nearly 14%, while the PC market is expected to fall 11.3%. If Apple, with one of the strongest supply chains in the world, is raising prices, there is growing concern that other electronics makers may soon have to follow.
