Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads

The Studio I looked at yesterday jumped from $2600 to $3400 (30%). I was saving for it and was about 1/2 way there. I was expecting these increases in 2027, so planned to buy late in the year. Apple moved faster than I expected after the price increase announcements.

On the flip side, this makes PC options with GPUs more attractive.

I’m interested in running local AI models.

I got a Mac Mini on Amazon in July 2025 for 575€, the exact model is currently 969€ in the Apple Store.

With all the inflation going on and the AI boom affecting things like memory prices, I was surprised that eg. MacBook neo was priced where it was.

3 months ago "mac mini, neo, and air prices are to good to be true"

and then the monkeys paw curled

The configuration I’m interested in (I’m waiting until new M5 models are launched) just increased $1000 :-/

With memory manufacturers running gross margins in excess of 80% how long until we see upstarts come online to eat away at that or is that unlikely to happen in the near future?

I can't imagine a margin that large is allowed to exist unchallenged for more than a few years.

As an app developer, having to eat an ever increasing Mac hardware cost upfront may push people like me to just focus on Android.

Man, if there was anyone that could weather the storm with their thick memory margins (at least on upgrades), it should have been Apple.

Apple soaked up all the good press about the PC-killer Macbook Neo's price point, waited until those articles seeded search results, influencer videos and AI queries, then jacked up the price by 17%.

Did any sci fi books predict an AI world where computer hardware was soaked up by AI mega corps and compute was undemocratized?

Some of the price increases seem disconnected from the component cost increases.

e.g. The HomePod and HomePod Mini share the same amount of RAM, but the HomePod is up $50 while the HomePod Mini is only up $30.

Forgive me because I do not understand the supply chain for memory. With Micron et al effectively scalping their customers with an oligopoly on probably the lowest intellectual IP in the chain, does this not guarantee 10 years from now a) We are either overbuilt as hyperscalers cut capex, or b) hyperscalers vertically integrate. Or is it truly that hard to make memory?

And if that is not true, perhaps it isn't really a commodity at all.

Apple doesn't like to be held hostage, it has the cash coffers, so it wouldn't surprise me if they're somehow buying dedicated production capacity for the future.

Not that they will start making memory themselves, but they have bankrolled production expansions in their suppliers before in exchange for guaranteed supply.

In any case, if my guess is right, it would take years to take effect.

> We have shielded our customers from these increases so far

Shielding is one way to describe it. Another is that you were overcharging so much earlier that you could absorb it.

I bought a full spec M5 Max MBP. Yesterday.

I'm relieved.

Oof, that’s a ~20% increase across the entire lineup. Ram and storage are particularly expensive, as can be expected: mbp m5 pro $1700 -> $2000, m3 ultra $4000 -> $5300. To be expected, there’s only so much margin apple is willing to lose and everybody else already increased prices.

I’m surprised that iphones didn’t get a price raise while neo did. Neo seems like a clear market share attempt so that they can upsell on services, I would’ve expected either both of those or neither to get dinged.

If you don’t need the lastest models, I recommend https://eshop.macsales.com/ for refurbished that I can trust. Their prices seem reasonable to me. I have been buying from them since I was a kid in the 90s and it was a (the) mail order catalog for the Mac ecosystem. I bought a beefy 3 year old mini for a home server earlier this year from them.

Back to old expensive apple pricing

What we want to really know is the cost of Ultra Mac Studio 512gb if that will happen or 256gb.

RAM impacts engineers' machines. We learn to build smaller again. More breakthroughs happen around less-memory intensive local inference. Model provides' bottom lines are impacted. They bail on RAM contracts. The market floods. Private inference becomes flush with resources. The third-wave of local models begins, but RAM trauma keeps things lean. Nature heals?

I put a iPad Air in my bag on Apple's store yesterday. It went up $135 overnight. Cancelled. I'm not sure I do specifically iPad things on it (YouTube, web). Will look at some Android tablets I think. I don't think an iPad Air is worth 835.

I guess the days of engineers getting to be so casual about memory footprint and CPU cycles is over.

I was eyeing a 24GB macbook air configuration that used to go for ~1250 USD in my region, which was a fairly good deal. This went up by 500. I guess I'll be going with a frame.work instead. Was willing to pay the premium for repairability anyways and now this has made the price difference a no-brainer.

Wild that they increased the ipad prices as well; the entire point of the ipad is that it's a handicapped tool to avoid cutting into macbook marketshare.

I was expecting this. Glad I just upgraded my wife and myself in December.

One fix for this problem: Allow US companies to buy memory chips from China. I saw an article about a month ago, that if my memory is correct in this, said that China is ramping up high-end memory manufacturing.

Fix number two: my country (USA) should cease and desist with the craziness that is data center buildouts for AI.

Clearly ‘BIG MONEY’ always needs a new thing (cloud -> crypto -> AI) and the powerful get what they want.

If the US Congress acted to benefit regular people rather than special interests (both party's are corrupt, disbelieve that if you want to live in a fantasy land) then anti-dumping laws would be passed.

If all companies and individuals paid the real price for tokens, then we collectively would work more efficiently. As is, the filthy rich get even filthier, and regular people will get screwed.

The Macbook Pro jump is probably the most meaningful, as it now puts the 16GB/1TB configuration of the 14" at $1999. That is now more than a Framework 13 Pro with Intel Core Ultra 3, 16 GB/1TB, whereas the Framework looked more expensive when it was originally announced.

And in a few years, all the manufacturers will be wondering why those customers don't consume as much any more.

Mac Studio M3 Ultra: $5299 (+$1300)

Oof. That and October delivery. I wonder if the intent here is basically just to signal to the market where the M5 Ultra Studio is going to start.

The price increases are absurd for some configurations. Glad I placed my order for a new mb pro a couple days ago.

The increase to the old Apple TV or Homepod is egregious.

So this is how Apple makes up for the margins on the Neos.

Well I guess that changes the keep vs sell calculation on my 128GB Studio. Have already been thinking about downsizing; seeing what the prices are now I may go ahead with that.

Absolutely awful timeline where the value of a PC goes up with time.

Bring back upgradeable RAM and storage.

Damn it, I was just about to buy a mac mini with 24gb ram yesterday, but waited until today to figure out some shipping logistics. Definitely didn't expect the price would go up so much in one day.

Weird that it’s the Neo that is affected why it famously has hardly any ram.

Just stop buying new gadgets for 18 months and then see what happens

Still no 256GB or 512GB Studio models at any price. 96 is the max for any Studio configuration on apple.com right now.

What a beautiful way for Tim Cook to end his career at Apple. supply chain genius can’t overcome market forces so they can keep a healthy profit margin.

Outsourcing was a great idea for making America, your home, lose. Oh well.

Ternus can’t come fast enough to revamp their corrupt management system and actually innovate again.

Thanks AI!

Wow the top end MacBook Pro with 128 GB memory went up $1600 overnight!

I guess it was inevitable. Is it only RAM related ?

Different article, but accessible to non-subscribers: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3ryj81ywlro

They seem to confuse hard drive and ram memory on these articles

Apple was already on the edge of "too expensive". Now it's obscene. I think this really opens the door for the new intel framework 13 pro.

Nano texture display option also got a price increase. Thankfully, AppleCare+ didn't.

After these increases, will Apple be maintaining the previous profit margin?

Or are they also sharing the pain with the customer and partially increasing prices only?