Apple has increased the price of MacBooks and iPads by nearly 20%, saying the electronics industry is facing an "unprecedented challenge" due to an "extraordinary surge" in demand for chips to power AI data centres. "We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly," the company said, adding it was working to find solutions. The price rises take the starting price of Apple's lowest-priced laptop, the Neo, from $599 to $699 just months after launch. A MacBook Air with 512 gigabytes went up $200, while a MacBook Pro with 1 terabyte of storage will become $300 more expensive. Apple also raised prices for both versions of its HomePod smart speaker and Apple TV set-top box. Shares of the company fell nearly 5%.
Not long after Apple's announcement, Xbox said it had decided to significantly raise the price of its popular gaming console for the second time in less than a year due to the current "components crisis". The Microsoft-owned company said the price of its basic console will go up by $100 (£75) to $499, while the price of a console with more memory will go up by $150, to $749. New prices take effect from August. Xbox previously hiked prices in October by $20-$70, meaning a new console will be 30% to 40% more expensive than a year ago. "The entire consumer electronics industry is struggling with the current components crisis, but the effects are particularly hard on consoles," Xbox said. The company added that while the cost of memory and storage has already more than doubled, it expects costs to double again by 2027.
“Apple hikes iPad and MacBook prices nearly 20%, blaming soaring memory chip costs driven by AI data centre demand.”
The price hikes come amid what some experts have dubbed "Ramageddon" – a surge in the cost of random access memory (RAM) driven by the AI boom. Tech analyst Paolo Pescatore said Apple's price rises showed the "AI boom was now affecting consumer electronics". Memory makers such as Micron have prioritised orders from AI chipmakers like Nvidia, leaving little supply for electronics makers. According to industry tracker TrendForce, prices of dynamic random access memory rose as much as 98% in the first quarter of 2026 and are set to jump by another 58% to 63% in the current quarter.
Nintendo has said it would raise the Switch 2's price globally from September. Valve recently raised the cost of its handheld Steam Deck by 40% in May. Apple's share price tumbled following its announcement, while rival Dell was down more than 8%. Analysts expect iPhone price hikes next. "The iPhone isn't spared. Its hike is coming," said Nabila Popal, a senior research director at IDC. "It was incredibly strategic for Apple to make the price hike announcements prior to the iPhone fall launch, so the headlines at launch is not the price hikes but the value the new phones bring."
The world's largest chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), has also said inflation is pushing up the cost of doing business. Wendell Huang of TSMC did not rule out its own price rises amid spiking costs. For consumers, the days of falling gadget prices appear over. As one Xbox user wrote on X: "My favorite hobby is cooked."