Apple, Microsoft have increased prices more than the price of the chip | Modern

The tech giants are releasing lower prices amid a shortage of memory chips used to power AI.

Apple and Microsoft have released price hikes for some of their best-selling products, blaming the rising cost of AI memory.

Apple on Thursday raised prices on all models of Macs and iPads, with many of its most popular models seeing increases of 20 percent or more.

Recommended Articles

list of 4 itemsend of series

The entry-level MacBook Air now retails in the United States for $1,299, up from $1,099, while the entry-level MacBook Pro has gone up from $1,699 to $1,999.

The starting price of the iPad Air rose from $599 to $749, while the iPad Pro jumped from $999 to $1,199.

Apple’s entry-level MacBook Neo is now priced at $699, down from $599.

The Mac Studio M3 Ultra desktop computer saw a price increase across the board, jumping from $3,999 to $5,299.

Apple said that while it had protected consumers from price hikes until now, “it has come to a point where we have to start raising prices”.

“The rapid growth of the AI ​​data center has led to massive increases in memory and storage,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement.

“We’ve never seen commodity prices go up like this, so fast.”

Apple’s stock fell more than 6 percent following the price hike, its biggest drop since US President Donald Trump announced a “liberation day” in April last year.

Trevor Long, a consumer technology researcher and commentator in Australia, said he expected the price hike to affect Apple’s sales.

“Some products, like the latest, the MacBook Neo, although very good as a product, were also good because of the price,” Long told Al Jazeera.

This is getting very difficult. It’s still a good deal but it’s also closer to the prices of other competing products.

Long said he expects the coming year to be tough for major players like Apple.

“The most important thing will be the next iPhone and how to sell it at the final price,” Long said.

“I would expect a price increase of $50-150 on all models, depending on the models.”

Microsoft also cited chip price increases in an announcement confirming that it will raise the price of the 512 GB and 1 TB models of its gaming Xbox by $100 and $150, respectively.

“We believed that further price increases would not be necessary, and have spent the past several months working with vendors on options,” Microsoft said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, storage and memory prices have increased more than 2.5x and we expect another doubling in the fall of 2027,” said Redmond, a Washington-based tech.

“All the consumer electronics companies are dealing with the current crisis, but the results are the most difficult in the crisis.”