Apple price hikes are coming for iPhone, Mac and iPad, as CEO Tim Cook calls them ‘unavoidable’
Yet more bad news for consumers
☹️ Tim Cook has confirmed Apple is raising prices soon
📈 He stated that the situation had become “unavoidable” after rising memory costs
💰 We don’t know exactly when they’re likely to take effect, or to which products
📱 Research indicates the next iPhone Pro model may cost $270 more if Apple maintains its current margin
Outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that price rises for the iPhone, Mac and iPad are unfortunately coming.
As per an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Cook described them as “unavoidable” to offset the surging cost of both memory and storage chips.
He stated Apple was “doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us” and that the company had been trying to shield customers from the increases, but said the situation had become “unsustainable.”
Cook didn’t specifically state which products would be affected, nor when the price increases would likely take effect. However, Apple intends to launch new hardware across iPhone and Mac categories later this year, so it could take effect with rumored new releases such as the iPhone Fold and MacBook Ultra.
Apple recently raised the starting price of the Mac Mini last month, so you could also argue that it’s already started in earnest.
The Wall Street Journal shared that research firm TechInsights has estimated that if Apple were to keep its current profit margin with the next iPhone Pro model, it’d have to put the price up by $270, resulting in a substantial increase.
Of course, this was perhaps to be expected, given what’s happened elsewhere in the hardware sector. Everyone else has drastically raised hardware prices owing to memory issues, from Samsung and Asus on laptops to game console manufacturers.
For instance, Sony recently introduced a hefty price rise for the PS5 that took the PS5 Pro up to $900, and the Disc and Digital editions of the console up to $650 and $600.
Nintendo has also announced a $50 price rise for the Switch 2 that takes effect in September, while it’s also rumored Microsoft’s new Xbox Series X25 Limited Edition could see a higher price tag than expected owing to memory pricing issues.
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Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.