Apple Just Increased Prices on MacBooks, iPads, and More

[Fumblerooskie]

It’s both. Component costs rose but Apple is taking advantage of that and increasing prices significantly more than the components cost rose

Evidence? I’ve read that the memory in an iPhone is forecast to quadruple by 2027.

From WSJ-

 

[mindquest]

I had just about saved up enough to buy a new higher end M5 MacBook Pro.
Though I felt that waiting to see what the MacBook Ultra can do would be a good idea as I do not really urgently need a new MacBook yet. I can wait another 1/2 year.

But now, with the 50% price hike, I would probably need to save up a whole extra year or even two before I can even afford a similar higher end MacBook Pro. Let alone a MacBook Ultra... 🫣 🤣


Something tells me that the juice is just not worth the squeeze anymore, to be honest.
Perhaps a complete change of course will be a better solution!

Resolving the computing needs some other way and spend the whole saved up money not on any Apple product anymore but something completely different. Perhaps a nice bike or some home improvements.


I know this is all not necessarily just Apple's fault - though they probably could have prepared even better, considering that they think of themselves as the kings of the supply chain...
They had so much cash, perhaps they should have made longer prepaid contracts two years back...
It's not that it wasn't obvious that AI would start to boom at some point.


Yet with the economy being shaky, people getting skittish on expenses, raising all prices through the roof - even if everyone is doing it - will just not bode well for the whole PC industry in general.
People will start doing their computing needs on mobile phones or keep their older hardware.
I bet the PC market will shrink dramatically over the next 12 months.

Apple might get forced to support older macOS versions for many more years - as people simply cannot afford to upgrade anymore. Not everyone can get by with a MacBook Neo. Some people need more computing power - but if they are now priced out of that market? What can people do?

I can see a lot of long-term issues coming up from this...
Looking back, one day we might see that today was the turning point for Apple.


Bye-bye Apple!
Was nice knowing you...

grab one at Microcenter, they still haven't increased their prices.

 

[Kriss_De_Valnor]

Oh man, they're still fooling around with pricing on their website. Look at this fun happening right now in the Refurbished store lol... Looks like they increased prices on iPads in there but left the original MSRP and so there is no tag under each showing how many dollars you're saving by buying refurbished...

Also, refurbished USB-C Apple Pencil listing doing something strange too..

View attachment 2640904View attachment 2640905

Apple night staff was sleeping on duty and didn't do things properly 🤣

 

[poorcody]

Recent family member experience with AI bots replacing human customer service. Companies used to not trust low-level humans to authorize things that cost money. Now, companies don't trust AI-bots to authorize things that cost money, but, there is no way to ask for a supervisor.

Actually now when you ask for a supervisor the AI just changes its voice and says the same thing!

 

[irishoxford]

I was planning on upgrading my M2 Air to an M5 Air later this year. *Was*.

 

[EdwardC]

One solution to stave off the high prices would be to run older hardware with Linux and enjoy a very fast lightweight OS. I realize it's not for everyone but Linux Mint or Zorin are really polished alternatives with some decent apps now available all for no charge. Run the Apple specific things like notes or calendar on a browser. I have a ThinkPad 12th gen i5 that has user upgradable RAM, SSD and batteries and it's smoking fast running both Mint and Zorin. Give it a try....

 

[Velli]

They really should have fought to keep the Neo at $599 (and the entry iPad at $349). They didn’t have a gob of RAM/flash to even pay for and they’re absolutely the gateway drugs.

Remember the stories about Apple running out of binned chips for Neo due to demand? They are 100% hiding the price hike on Neo chips among needed price hikes on the other products.

That said, they have been holding out where others have already increased, so vs Windows PC’s Neo is still a good buy.

 

[ikramerica]

The price of everything goes up. Real incomes adjusted for inflation go down.

People are squeezed more and more. I'm sure some people aren't living that life but a lot of us are. I look at how much I make (It's not a mint, but it's respectable) and wonder where my money goes. How can I have so little when I make as much as I do.

Answer is everything is a squeeze anymore. Everyone is charging more for everything, but employers still dole out 3% raises like it's 2008.

How this doesn't end in a massive recession is beyond me. Then everything will be cheap because no one will be working and stuff won't sell.

Apple products other than a phone aren’t part of the “inflation basket of goods” as they are luxury items.

You can still buy a good laptop for far less than an Apple.

At least Apple solved their Neo problem by increasing the price and destroying the value.

 

[mindquest]

I'm not about to read through 24 pages but I assume *someone* has pointed out that you can still currently buy MacBooks at their pre-RAMpocalypse prices (and some on Prime Day sale to boot) at Amazon at least at the time of this post. I'm guessing that there are other retailers that haven't caught up yet either. I doubt that this window will stick around for long though.

Costco & Microcenter still has old prices.

 

[Kriss_De_Valnor]

What is your favorite alternative to Lightroom?

DxO PhotoLab.

 

[Populus]

I feel like they killed the great Mac mini’s value…

Now it is outrageously expensive starting at almost 1k for the base 256GB/16GB version… configure it with 1TB/24GB and it goes close to 1800€. Woah…

 

[kingspointer]

darn, I didn't realize it was coming so fast, I thought the next group of products would have the cost increase, but I screwed up. makes sense actually, raise them now and when the new products come out the price increase isn't as apparent.

 

[Velli]

One solution to stave off the high prices would be to run older hardware with Linux and enjoy a very fast lightweight OS. I realize it's not for everyone but Linux Mint or Zorin are really polished alternatives with some decent apps now available all for no charge. Run the Apple specific things like notes or calendar on a browser. I have a ThinkPad 12th gen i5 that has user upgradable RAM, SSD and batteries and it's smoking fast running both Mint and Zorin. Give it a try....

I tried. I’ll take an old Mac 8 days a week. Like you say, it’s not for everyone. Apparently I’m everyone.

 

[subjonas]

I wonder if the coinciding timing with Prime Day (week) is just a coincidence.

 

[ikramerica]

It may. MS already admitted that Windows 11 is a way too AI and they *promised* they will deliver a slimmer and faster Windows build by the end of this year. Windows 11 feedback is not great and MS does feel it. People are already fed up with this Copilot AI you can see everywhere in Windows 11.

It’s replacing (poorly) customer service everywhere.

Was at a hotel and now when you press any button on the room phones, an AI voice assistant tries to thwart you from talking to anyone at the hotel.

 

[Macalicious2011]

I feel like they killed the great Mac mini’s value…

Now it is outrageously expensive starting at almost 1k for the base 256GB/16GB version… configure it with 1TB/24GB and it goes close to 1800€. Woah…

Yupp. The mini was the bargain of the century. Kudos to people who bought 1-3 units I January to run openclaw.

Now those max minis, especially above 48gb, are worth at least 30-40% more. Some configurations aren't available any longer or have 2-3 months less time.

 

[Wags]

And good news, your trade-in prices remain the same!

They raised them like $20 few weeks ago. No wonder. They knew what doing.

 

[kingspointer]

I just bought an iPad Pro m5 from target at the old price.

 

[Compote]

It's fine I was already divesting from Apple after they decided to stop supporting my Watch and kept on acting toxic towards Europeans because they don't like competition.

Well John or whoever you are now, see how you like me using the competition on a Windows PC and not on another Mac.

 

[Velli]

Bye-bye Apple!
Was nice knowing you...

All the people claiming to leave Apple due to this price hike haven’t been following prices on Windows PC’s the last twelve months. Objectively speaking, Apple is no less competitive after this hike than they were the last time you bought a Mac. We have just been spoilt the last several months due to Apple holding out longer than competition.

 

[daran0815]

Right, the good news is that AI may hold some promise for the future of computing. The bad news is that your devices will become more expensive and you may well need to buy a subscription.

So far the quality of Software has dropped due to AI. Got somewhat cheaper, but that would probably more than evaporate if you tried to get back to former levels of quality (which admittedly wasn't exactly perfect either). But if you look at how fast the AI companies are burning money these days, I would not want to be a software company that depends on them once they mark up the 8x price hike that would just pay for their cost. Not to consider those AI companies intend to get rich for their risk...

 

[Kriss_De_Valnor]

I had just about saved up enough to buy a new higher end M5 MacBook Pro.
Though I felt that waiting to see what the MacBook Ultra can do would be a good idea as I do not really urgently need a new MacBook yet. I can wait another 1/2 year.

But now, with the 50% price hike, I would probably need to save up a whole extra year or even two before I can even afford a similar higher end MacBook Pro. Let alone a MacBook Ultra... 🫣 🤣

I'm in the same position...

 

[Pjrufus]

I’ve been waffling about a new Macbook (which one,) just priced them on Apple.com yesterday. After seeing this, I jumped on a M5 13” Air, 24 mem, 1T drive, on Amazon. Over $400 less than Apple. Today, Amazon still has orig. prices plus prime day discount.

 

[Momento_Mori]

ohhhh ****.....i need to decide to buy the 17 pro, base 17 512 gb now or wait for 18 pro....wtf this is so shocking to actually see

I’d upgrade now if I were you. iPhone 18 will more than likely be an incremental upgrade and Apple will more than likely increase the prices sooner than later.
The real impact will be seen when the price of the iPhone increases, as it remains the primary driver of Apple’s profit margins and stock performance.

 

[TVreporter]

I get refurb alert emails - received one for a MBA for $1,939 (CDN) at 3:40 am this morning.

Click on the link for it and it’s now $2,319

Thanks Tim!