Apple Products Could See 'Noticeable' Price Rises Amid Increased Chip Costs

[jdsingle]

Apple either absorbs the costs this year, or a lot of people will not be buying their kit during this years upgrade cycle

I’d like a new iPhone this year, but could easily wait a year if they jack up the prices

Hit the nail on the head here. I have been waiting for a new MBP, but if the price hike is noticeable I’ll be delaying another year.

I get it’s a business decision, and inflation impacts prices, but Apple needs to find a happy balance between reducing costs to keep consumers in the same ballpark on costs. I’m much happier to pay the same price YoY than paying $2,600 one year and $2,900 the next.

 

[nexusrule]

Sounds like nothing more than a convenient cover to raise prices & enrich themselves even more

yes the pandemic, the disruption of economy and labor force, the resultant scarcity of elements needed to fabricate chip were really just a ruse so that Apple could increase this year’s iPhone price…

 

[hoorayforhollywood]

Not my field at all, but is there anything to stop Apple setting up its own chip foundry themselves? Surely money isn't an issue. Would it be skilled labour preventing that idea?

 

[justperry]

Hey Siri, define “noticeable.”

Siri:
15%

 

[jbachandouris]

In other news, the sky is blue. /s

 

[jazz1]

Apple either absorbs the costs this year, or a lot of people will not be buying their kit during this years upgrade cycle

I’d like a new iPhone this year, but could easily wait a year if they jack up the prices

I doubt subsequent years are going to be any kinder price wise. As they say, "They've got us coming and going". But, I agree. I can certainly wait, or go for a lesser model when I do have to replace my devices.

 

[TheGenerous]

Steve Jobs wouldn't allow this

 

[justperry]

Makes sense and not surprised.

I'll continue to buy Apple products; a new Mx Mac Mini and a Watch for the near term.

Longer term...maybe an Apple Car.

I prefer a porsche. 🤔




Note:If the price is the same
Or a BMW i8

 

[krfr]

Looks like they’re trying to price people out of their market. Seems like they want to lose market share.

 

[Jarman74]

Apple either absorbs the costs this year, or a lot of people will not be buying their kit during this years upgrade cycle

For some reason, in the end those people never seem to amount to “a lot” after all.

 

[02275629]

nothing to see here folks. There is no "inflation." It's all either imaginary or transitory right? That's what the govt tells us. And what the govt tells us is always 100% true.

Nevermind your rent and/or home prices have skyrocketed in the last 2 years. But hey, when rent / mortgage isn't part of the inflation calculation the govt uses, then there is no inflation!

 

[justperry]

If prices do rise on already expensive product it starts to become out of reach for a lot of customers. You will find more and more people not upgrading on a yearly basis and keeping their existing products for much longer.

I want to upgrade my iPhone this year from an iPhone XS Max which I haven't upgraded for the last two year because of the cost of the phone and didn't really think there was much difference in the last two phones. But now being three years old it would be good to change, but if it becomes more expensive due to chip shortage I'll have to think twice, especially as production costs for the next iPhone will already be in place and the increase in chip costs is coming later in the year.

The XS is still a beast, why upgrade, I for one won't, for what, it does all the things an iPhone must do.
The new one might be a bit faster, have a slightly better camera, slightly better battery life, slightly smaller FaceID...that's it.

 

[jlocker]

Well if we had more US chip fab factories and not have given everything away over the last 40 years, we could have lower chip prices.

I am going to keep using me 2019 MacBook Pro until it dies and then I might find a late 2021/2022 MacBook Pro unit with a i9 processor. The M1x or what ever they call it, still has to many limiting factors for my taste.

 

[Anthony Sullivan]

Another reason to Stick with Intel on Mac

Plus you get to run the NEW and AWESOME WINDOWS 11

Only 3.8GB in size compared to 12.5GB for macOS Monterey.

Who cares about OS install size though?

 

[TechRemarker]

Or in some cases they just may keep the prices the same (rather than reducing them), since often new models end up actually being lower price than a previous model.

 

[justperry]

Hit the nail on the head here. I have been waiting for a new MBP, but if the price hike is noticeable I’ll be delaying another year.

I get it’s a business decision, and inflation impacts prices, but Apple needs to find a happy balance between reducing costs to keep consumers in the same ballpark on costs. I’m much happier to pay the same price YoY than paying $2,600 one year and $2,900 the next.

The next MBP will have a fast but much cheaper CPU in it, yet Apple will almost certainly raise prices, the way they will probably blur the lines is that the body will be made of titanium again, for no reason at all, similar to the OLED Touch Bar.

 

[justperry]

Who cares about OS install size though?

He might think size is important.

 

[loekf]

As if they don't already earn enough profit?

No. Normal company:

Product costs * 1.3 margin + VAT = costs for consumer

Apple:

Product costs * 1.5 margin + VAT = costs for consumer

So the higher the costs for the parts increase the more expensive Apple products get.

 

[Maconplasma]

Another reason to Stick with Intel on Mac

Plus you get to run the NEW and AWESOME WINDOWS 11

Only 3.8GB in size compared to 12.5GB for macOS Monterey.

LMAO W11 is far from awesome. FAR FROM. In fact if it has any awesomeness it's because it "resembles" macOS Big Sur. 😂. Every reviewer and beta tester says the same thing, after a few clicks though menus it's the same old crap Windows. And there are ton of bugs in W11 so if lots of bugs are awesome then you're right. 🙄

 

[djlythium]

Or, arguably, the highest-valued company on the planet could just take the hit on profit potential.

 

[loekf]

Well if we had more US chip fab factories and not have given everything away over the last 40 years, we could have lower chip prices.

I am going to keep using me 2019 MacBook Pro until it dies and then I might find a late 2021/2022 MacBook Pro unit with a i9 processor. The M1x or what ever they call it, still has to many limiting factors for my taste.

No, because it's not just chip manufacturing, you also have to take into account packaging and testing. With more and more multi-die "chips" (stacked) and ball grid arrays,high change a a wafer or chip even produced in the US still to be shipped to the Far East (Korea or Thailand) for final assembly. That's a reason for doing stuff in Asia.

On the other hand, chip manufacturing costs are heavily dominated by equipment not labor.. and subsidies of course.

 

[827538]

If Apple raises prices this year then you know it’s BS.

Apple negotiates chip contracts years and years in advance, this year is not a new node, it’s a refined N5P vs N5 node. They would not have reduced their order at any point so any production constraints would be elsewhere.

Sure N3 might see a noticeable cost increase but not N5P which should have better yields than N5.

 

[Maconplasma]

Smells like BS. Samsung dropped their prices on their two latest Fold devices.

Yeah that tends to happen when sales suck from a useless gimmick.

 

[Karllake]

If prices do rise on already expensive product it starts to become out of reach for a lot of customers. You will find more and more people not upgrading on a yearly basis and keeping their existing products for much longer.

I want to upgrade my iPhone this year from an iPhone XS Max which I haven't upgraded for the last two year because of the cost of the phone and didn't really think there was much difference in the last two phones. But now being three years old it would be good to change, but if it becomes more expensive due to chip shortage I'll have to think twice, especially as production costs for the next iPhone will already be in place and the increase in chip costs is coming later in the year.

I don’t disagree but predict that apple will sell everything they make, from a business point of view when supply is constrained and you have product to sell you raise prices. In fairness to apple they may have had to pay a premium to secure the supply so passing this on makes sense.

 

[skitidetdu]

As if they don't already earn enough profit?

Everything that use semiconductors will go up in price because of the shortage. Many car manufactures have already flagged this as an example. If they lower the profit margin they will do worse financial quarters/years which won't make majority owners happy.