Apple, Microsoft hike prices over surging chip costs | Technology
Apple, Microsoft hike prices over surging chip costs | Technology
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/6/26/apple-microsoft-hike-prices-over-surging-chip-costs
Publish Date: 2026-06-26 00:18:00
Source Domain: www.aljazeera.com
Tech giants roll out steep price increases amid shortage of memory chips used to power AI.
Published On 26 Jun 2026
Apple and Microsoft have rolled out steep price hikes for some of their best-selling products, blaming soaring memory chip costs amid the boom in AI.
Apple on Thursday increased prices across its range of Macs and iPads, with many of its most popular models seeing hikes of 20 percent or more.
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The base model MacBook Air now retails in the United States for $1,299, up from $1,099, while the lowest-spec MacBook Pro rose from $1,699 to $1,999.
The base price of the iPad Air increased 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, up from $599.
The Mac Studio M3 Ultra desktop computer saw the steepest price rise of any product, jumping from $3,999 to $5,299.
Apple said that while it had shielded consumers from rising chip costs until now, it had “reached a point where we need to begin raising prices”.
“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.
“We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”
Apple’s stock price fell more than 6 percent following the price hikes, its steepest fall since US President Donald Trump’s announcement of his “liberation day” tariffs in April last year.
A view of an Apple logo at an Apple store in Paris, France, on April 23, 2025 [File: Abdul Saboor/Reuters]
Trevor Long, a consumer tech analyst and commentator based in Australia, said he expects the price increases to affect Apple’s sales.
“Some products, like their newest product, the MacBook Neo, while excellent as products, were also outstanding because of price,” Long told Al Jazeera.
“This hits that hard. They are still a decent deal but push closer to other competitive product prices as…
