Apple Just Increased Prices on MacBooks, iPads, and More

[*~Kim~*]

Similar thing happened in the early 90s. We’ll get through this one too.

Happened in 2022 as well. Starting price on an iPad mini 6th gen was £479 and £569 for an M1 Air, before they then went +£100. Starting price on Mini 7th Gen was £499 and £599 for an Air (not sure if they all were as the Air has had frequent refreshes in the last couple of years.)

 

[kemo]

Saw that coming. I ordered maxed-out M5 Max 16", except storage, while the price lasted through the EDU store, including the EDU Apps bundle. Well, a month later the situation is what many anticipated. While unavoidable, it is a rough price bump.

Mentioned config went from ~€6,400 to ~€8,230 - crazy world where selling old electronics can yield you a profit. Similar happened when I was putting a PC together: 4090 selling it after a few years actually becomes profitable..

 

[Goldfire]

I feel sick to my stomach. Been saving up all year for a new 16" M5 Max to replace my M1 Max in July (I do indie game dev, so I routinely max it out). It was already a nearly impossible purchase at $6k, now it's completely out of reach at $8k. There's no world where I can justify that price even if I could afford it.

 

[skaertus]

I feel sick to my stomach. Been saving up all year for a new 16" M5 Max to replace my M1 Max in July (I do indie game dev, so I routinely max it out). It was already a nearly impossible purchase at $6k, now it's completely out of reach at $8k. There's no world where I can justify that price even if I could afford it.

That is really sad, I am sorry. Does it make sense buy an intermediate MacBook Pro now, not the maxed-out, and have it replaced in a couple of years when (hopefully) prices are back to normal? Would that make economic sense? You could also have the added bonus of the expected redesigned version.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I am with you. But for different reasons.

I have a lot of data. I need 8 TB minimum storage. Well, 6 TB would be sufficient but Apple does not offer 6TB.
The MacBook Air tops out at 4 TB, which is not enough for me. My current data volume is 4.5 TB and I want a solution that still has some headroom.
So I am "forced" due to Apple's "upselling strategy" to buy a MacBook Pro.

But I can also tell you here and now, that with the new prices, Apple priced me out of an 8 TB machine altogether.
I will not be able to afford it anymore. I cannot afford a laptop for US$ 10,000.

Sadly no, I do not want to lug around an external 8 TB SSDs with a laptop. That risks data loss if it gets disconnected while using it in the middle of a bus, train or car trip...

To be honest, I have no idea what I will do now.
But it will have to be a radically new solution.
Yet something will come up, I am sure.

And I am totally open to leaving Apple behind as well now.

Every time I've done an SSD swap on my 2015 15" MBP it makes me angry all over again that the SSD's aren't slotted on the current Macbooks. It's SO nice to be able to adjust that component as your needs change on a machine.

 

[skaertus]

You should look at the flip side of this. At least most of you live in the U.S., where prices are still lower than everywhere else.

Here in Brazil, after the raises, the prices are simply astronomical. Here are a few, so you can rejoice from my disgrace:

iPad - starts at US$ 1,150
iPad Air - starts at US$ 1,900
iPad Pro - starts at US$ 3,300
MacBook Neo - starts at US$ 1,600
MacBook Air - starts at US$ 3,100
MacBook Pro - starts at US$ 4,800
Mac mini - starts at US$ 1,800
iMac - starts at US$ 3,500
Mac Studio - starts at US$ 6,000

Apple has been raising prices very constantly in Brazil for the last 15 years, following unfavorable exchange rates and tax issues, and its products, which have never been cheap, have increasingly become out of range for everyone except the top 1% richest (and, after these price raises, it will be difficult to justify even for those).

 

[boomom999]

I was imagining that price increases meant the next gen, not what's already on the site... 😩

 

[dizmonk]

I am so sorry for you guys.. I have no idea what the exchange rate is.. but yuck... Good luck.

You should look at the flip side of this. At least most of you live in the U.S., where prices are still lower than everywhere else.

Here in Brazil, after the raises, the prices are simply astronomical. Here are a few, so you can rejoice from my disgrace:

iPad - starts at US$ 1,150
iPad Air - starts at US$ 1,900
iPad Pro - starts at US$ 3,300
MacBook Neo - starts at US$ 1,600
MacBook Air - starts at US$ 3,100
MacBook Pro - starts at US$ 4,800
Mac mini - starts at US$ 1,800
iMac - starts at US$ 3,500
Mac Studio - starts at US$ 6,000

Apple has been raising prices very constantly in Brazil for the last 15 years, following unfavorable exchange rates and tax issues, and its products, which have never been cheap, have increasingly become out of range for everyone except the top 1% richest (and, after these price raises, it will be difficult to justify even for those).

 

[rjjacobson]

Didn’t expect this half kidding comment to be a little too on the nose

It sure is how ironic and truthful unfortunately

 

[JTK Awesome]

More true every day

 

[rwh63]

noticed an uptick in people scrounging through my town's transfer station electronic disposal shed, probably looking for memory to resell.

 

[rjjacobson]

They're likely not pricing their products according to memory costs today but for what their team of analysts are anticipating over the next few years. And since every other manufacturer is doing it, in the grand scheme of things Apple won't lose customers and will only see an expected slowdown in upgrade purchases commensurate with what other brands are seeing. And I'm sure Apple and everyone else will lower their prices once the memory crunch is over and the AI bubble bursts ;-) Anyhow, if you're eyeballing an upgrade right now, I'd highly suggest checking out Amazon's Prime Day deals (Or Walmart, BestBuy, Costco etc. who are roughly matching prices) before they all follow suit and bump everything up to "Apple levels". Crazy stuff. Glad I pulled the trigger on the discounted MacBook Air and iPad Pro in the past month. Each of those increased $200ish a piece!

Well I am keeping my M2 16 incher with 16 GB as backup and had been thinking of the touch MacBook Pro, but instead I scored an open box 24 GB 16 inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro at our local Best Buy that for my use will last me years — and scored as member “free’ two years of apple care on it which I will keep going now. Yes go check Amazon, Costco, Best Buy even Walmart you can score good deals if you were thinking of upgrading.

 

[rjjacobson]

This.

Amazon, B&H, etc. already raised their prices this morning. I ordered M5 Air 16/512 via Best Buy, but realized that Microcenter had it for $935 with same-day pickup, so I ordered that instead. Which is only $135 more than the new price of the 512GB Neo.. wild!

Well day before increase was looking at open box deals on M4 Pro and M5 16 inch MacBook Pro’s. Yesterday they were down to one left in local store so I made my M2 16 GB 16 incher a backup for wife to use, and got the remaining 24 GB M4 16 inch open box they had with nearly $800 savings (with help from my Best Buy membership we do not have local Apple Store here all 2 hours away). And on top of that got a “free” two years Apple Care Plus which when it expires in 2 years I will keep renewed through my Best Buy membership as i am now doing with my 13 inch M4 2TB iPad Pro — paying monthly to keep apple care going.

I was looking last night and I noticed in the local store they had 1 new 16 inch M4 MacBook Pro and 3 M5’s left. I imagine when that stock is gone and they sold all the other open boxes before I got mine (after the annoucement yesterday) that these will be gone soon and new ones will have the new price

 

[SmugMaverick]

Old meathead Gurman says it's hilarious that anyone thinks they'll lower prices in the future.

I actually agree with the fraud for once.

 

[Mainsail]

For those that track this sort of thing, are these price increase in the realm of reasonable? For example, is it likely that the cost of memory and storage for an MBA have increased by $200 due to recent supply shortages? Does it pass the sniff test?

 

[david0128]

So, Apple sells you a MacBook Pro M5 for £3,329, they give you "up to £620" if you want to use it as a trade-in, and then sell the refurbished MacBook Pro M5 for £200 more than they sold it for the first time. That's a great business model. No wonder they make 25% profit!

 

[BigMcGuire]

So, Apple sells you a MacBook Pro M5 for £3,329, they give you "up to £620" if you want to use it as a trade-in, and then sell the refurbished MacBook Pro M5 for £200 more than they sold it for the first time. That's a great business model. No wonder they make 25% profit!

Companies are in the business of making money. You don't reach a $4.305T+ valuation by giving away stuff at a loss or at cost.

 

[ChrisFromNEPA]

Guess I won't be buying anything for awhile...

 

[BigMcGuire]

Guess I won't be buying anything for awhile...

That's how I'm viewing it. For a long time.

 

[Core.2]

I'm curious if the new pricing was structured to slide into the next product versions without a additional 2nd hike when we get there.

 

[BSDnostalgia]

Claude Opus has helped us figure out this overly obscure and frustrating bug in our enterprise solution in several hours while we were looking at the issue for a few days.

Exactly what I would expect from focused AI-based tools. I note that there is a cost to this also, though, because "that person" on your staff who is unusually good at solving these problems eventually won't be there. All the same, this is a normal flow of improved tools.

A shoe company moving to AI and everybody starts salivating? People are the problem, not AI directly.

Back in the late 90's, some people made big money creating a "website" and selling into an overly exuberant investment market. Stocks of certain companies were driven up far beyond what was justified by future earnings. People wanted to invest in "the internet". Now they want to invest in "AI".

 

[jakebrosy]

I was seriously considering upgrading our original M1 Studios. But an extra $500 each across 5 machines is an entire Mac Studio price jump. 😱

Will definitely hold off until pricing comes back in line.

 

[theappleloverguy]

Thanks Apple, I will gladly hold onto my iPhone 16 Pro Max 512gb Black Titanium

 

[theappleloverguy]

The 18 Pro is meant to be also seeing a hefty price rise. I was going to get one but now if true I’ll get a 17 Pro now or just stick with my 13 Pro another year.

Let me know what you end up doing

 

[555gallardo]

European price increases are even worse. The most ridiculous one is definitely the 128GB Apple TV which I was able to buy a few months ago for 150€ and it’s MSRP has now literally doubled to 299€.