Apple is slapping $100 to $400 price hikes on its latest MacBook Air and Pro models as memory costs surge industrywide.
The 13-inch MacBook Air now starts at $1,099 instead of $999, and the 15-inch model rises to $1,299 from $1,199.
Meanwhile, the price of the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the base M5 chip increases to $1,699 from $1,599, while higher-end Pro and Max versions jump by $200 to $400, pushing the most expensive model to $3,899.
Apple is attempting to soften the blow by doubling base storage across much of the lineup.
The MacBook Air now comes standard with 512 gigabytes, up from 256 gigabytes in the prior generation.
On the MacBook Pro side, Apple has made 1 terabyte the new floor for most configurations, compared with 512 gigabytes on many earlier models.
The highest-end M5 Max versions now start with 2 terabytes of storage.
The price increases come as memory costs have surged.
Analysts warn that DRAM and NAND flash prices are climbing sharply as chipmakers divert supply toward higher-margin AI data center demand.
Michael Kan, senior reporter at PCMag, noted The Post that while Apple is raising starting prices, the company is also boosting what buyers get out of the box.
“It’s true Apple is raising the starting price of the MacBooks, but the company has also doubled or increased the base storage for the various models,” Kan said, adding that the higher price “seems fair in that respect.”
He also pointed out that Apple claims the new machines deliver “two times faster” SSD read and write speeds.
Kan said Apple is unlikely to face major backlash at the entry level, arguing that the MacBook Air remains within reach for many buyers.
“The starting price for the MacBook Air isn’t rising too much, making it still attractive for consumers and college students,” he said. “I think the company is betting Apple fans won’t mind the increase and will just absorb it.”
Still, he acknowledged that “the MacBook Pro M5 Pro and M5 Max models are clearly really pricey.
Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged in January that the company had been seeing “market pricing for memory increasing significantly,” and warned that the impact would intensify through 2026.
He said memory costs were manageable in the December period but would become a bigger headwind through the first half of fiscal 2026.
Apple is not alone.
Across the PC industry, the same memory cost pressures are forcing brands to raise prices or cut specifications.
Dell has warned distribution partners to expect hikes of up to 30% on its laptop lineup. HP disclosed that its memory costs rose about 100% in recent months, and Lenovo advised partners in late February to lock in orders before March to avoid future price increases on DRAM and NAND components.
Acer and ASUS have also confirmed they will pass higher memory costs on to consumers.
The underlying cause appears to be a structural shift in how memory is made and allocated.
Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron — the three companies that dominate global memory production — have redirected a growing share of their manufacturing capacity toward high-bandwidth memory for AI data centers, where margins are far higher.
TrendForce, a Taiwan-based industry analysis and consulting company, projects that AI-centric memory will consume 70% of global memory hardware production in 2026, starving the supply available for conventional consumer devices.
A 32GB DDR5 kit that sold for $100 to $200 last October was already trading at around $350 by February of this year, with projections pointing toward $550 to $600 by mid-year.
The ripple effects are expected to reach every price tier. Gartner estimates that memory will account for 23% of a PC’s total bill of materials in 2026, up from 16% in 2025, and projects that average PC prices will rise 17% compared to last year’s levels.
The Post has sought comment from Apple.
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