Apple has increased the prices of some Macbook, iPad and HomePod. Price increases apparently exclude iPhone.
The news comes amid a week of sales at major retailers, like Amazon’s summer Prime Day event, and just ahead of the back-to-school shopping season. This could make life difficult for buyers looking for deals on Apple devices.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report the price increase. On Thursday morning, Apple’s online store was briefly down and when it came back online, prices soared. The Journal reported increases on base models of the MacBook Air, MacBook Neo, MacBook Pro, iPad Air and iPad Pro. We’re also seeing price increases on some HomePods.
In a statement to CNET, Apple confirmed the price hike, attributing an increase in demand for memory and storage driven by the rapid expansion of AI data centers.
“We have never seen the price of a component increase so much and so quickly,” Apple said in the statement. “We have now reached a point where we need to start raising prices on a number of products, including today’s increases for the iPad and Mac.”
Last week, Apple CEO Time Cook said the Wall Street Journal that the RAM shortage — also known as ramageddon – would make price increases “inevitable”.