Bad news, Apple fans: AI just made MacBooks and iPads a lot pricier

SAN FRANCISCO, June 26 — Apple said Thursday it was raising prices for its MacBook computers, iPad tablets and other products, citing spiralling memory and storage costs sparked by the rise of artificial intelligence.

The price hikes — the first concrete change stemming from outgoing CEO Tim Cook’s repeated warnings about rising costs — sent Apple shares plummeting more than 4.7 per cent in morning trade.

On its US website, price increases ranged from US$30 (RM125) to US$300. The 14-inch MacBook Pro, which once sold for US$1,700, now retails for US$2,000, while the iPad Air increased from US$600 to US$750.

The Apple TV streaming device rose from US$130 to US$200.

For now, the price of the iPhone — the company’s main source of revenue — remained unchanged.

“The rapid expansion of AI data centres has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement sent to multiple media outlets.

“We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”

Apple did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.

The Cupertino, California-based tech giant — which notched an all-time revenue record of US$416 billion in the last fiscal year — insisted it had “shielded our customers from these increases so far” but could no longer do so.

Last week, Cook set the stage when he told The Wall Street Journal that price increases were “unavoidable.”

“There’s less supply at a time when consumers want devices and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases,” Cook said, deeming the spike in prices a “hundred-year flood.”

The rapid buildout of AI data centres has sent the cost of memory chips and RAM skyrocketing — as the components are found in nearly all electronic devices — with the chips undergoing quarterly price increases of at least 50 per cent since late 2025.

It will fall to John Ternus to handle the fallout at Apple — he will succeed Cook as CEO on September 1, just days before the new generation of iPhones is unveiled. — AFP