Apple has raised prices on MacBook and iPad devices by around 20% worldwide, in one of the largest price increases in its history, in an attempt to offset a sharp rise in the cost of memory chips and storage units, which are experiencing an unprecedented shortage as a result of the global boom in artificial intelligence infrastructure investment.
The move triggered a negative reaction in financial markets, with the company's share price falling 6.1% during trading on Thursday, wiping out approximately $263 billion in market capitalisation — the second-largest single-day market cap loss in the company's history and its steepest share decline since April 2025.
Apple confirmed that the consumer technology industry faces an exceptional challenge amid the rapid rise in memory chip prices, noting that the continued increase has made it necessary to pass part of the costs on to consumers.
The company's chief executive, Tim Cook, had warned last week that raising prices during the current year had become "inevitable" due to the "unsustainable" rise in memory and storage prices. Even so, the company has so far left iPhone prices unchanged, despite the device accounting for roughly half of its total revenues.
In a statement, the company said that "the rapid expansion of AI data centres has led to an unprecedented surge in demand for memory and storage," adding that it is working to find solutions to mitigate the crisis's impact on consumers.
Broad increases covering most devices
The increases covered almost all MacBook and iPad devices. The price of the MacBook Air with 512GB of storage rose from $1,099 to $1,299, while the price of the iPad Pro with 256GB rose from $999 to $1,199.
The MacBook New — launched by Apple in March as its most affordable device — also rose in price by 25%, reaching $749 instead of $599.
The increases also extended to HomePod devices, the Vision Pro headset, and Apple TV streaming devices, while iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods have so far been excluded.
An unprecedented crisis in the memory market
Apple considers the current memory crisis to be the most disruptive to its supply chain compared with crises it has faced in recent years, including the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the US trade war.
The primary cause of the crisis is the enormous demand from major artificial intelligence companies for high-performance memory chips used to power data centres, which has reduced the supply available for consumer electronics and driven prices to record levels.
The DRAM chip market is dominated by US company Micron and South Korean firms SK Hynix and Samsung, all of which have benefited greatly from the AI boom, with each company's market capitalisation rising to more than $1 trillion during the current year.
NAND memory manufacturers such as SanDisk and Kioxia have also seen strong gains in their share prices, in tandem with growing global demand for storage units.
Other companies raising prices
Apple is not the only company that has been compelled to raise its product prices. Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Asus have already announced similar increases, while Samsung raised the prices of two of its new Galaxy S26 handsets in the US market by $100 per device.
A recent study by Morgan Stanley showed that memory chip prices have risen sixfold over the past 12 months, driven by intense competition from artificial intelligence companies for available supplies.
JP Morgan analysts, meanwhile, forecast that the contribution of DRAM and NAND chips to the manufacturing cost of an iPhone will rise from around 10 to 15% currently to more than 45% by 2027.
Despite mounting pressure on production costs, Apple managed to raise its product profit margin to 38.7% in the first quarter of the year, compared with 35.9% in the same period last year, with quarterly profits reaching $29.6 billion.