It just got more expensive to buy a Mac. In some cases a lot more expensive.
Apple’s online store went briefly offline this morning, and when it came back up, prices across most of Apple’s product families had increased. As Bloomberg reported, the increases, teased by Tim Cook last week, are in effect globally. As Cook explained to the WSJ, the culprit is a global shortage of DRAM and NAND Flash memory, driven in large part by the explosive growth of AI data centers competing for the same chips that go into consumer electronics.
Cook called the increases “unavoidable” and described the memory shortage as a “hundred-year flood,” adding, “I’ve never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years.” He pointed specifically to high-bandwidth memory allocations being diverted to AI servers as a key pressure point: “There’s less supply at a time when consumers want devices and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases.”
Here’s a full look at what prices increased and by how much.
MacBooks
The MacBook lineup absorbed some of the steepest increases, particularly at the higher end.
MacBook Neo
- New price: $699 (previously $599) — +$100
Apple’s most affordable Mac notebook is still the entry point to the lineup, but that entry point just got $100 higher.
MacBook Air (M5)
- 13-inch: $1,299 (previously $1,099) — +$200
- 15-inch: $1,499 (previously $1,299) — +$200
The MacBook Air line sees a flat $200 increase across both the 13-inch and 15-inch configurations. For many Mac users, the Air represents the sweet spot for everyday productivity. A $200 jump on the entry model will likely give many customers pause and possibly give the MacBook Neo a closer look.
MacBook Pro (M5)
- 14-inch (base): $1,999 (previously $1,699) — +$300
- 16-inch top configuration: $9,999
The MacBook Pro takes one of the larger per-unit hits in the laptop lineup. The base 14-inch model climbs $300, and the highest-end 16-inch configuration with the M5 Max chip, 128GB of RAM and 8TB of storage now reaches $9,999. If you opt for the nano-textured screen, the prices climbs to $10,149!
Mac Desktops
Desktop Macs tell a more complicated story, particularly the Mac Studio, which carries some of the largest absolute dollar increases Apple rolled out today.
iMac (M4)
- New price: $1,499 (previously $1,299) — +$200
Mac mini
- 256GB (M4): $799 (previously discontinued; base model had been removed from the lineup)
- M4 Pro: $1,599 (previously $1,399) — +$200
The Mac mini situation has an added wrinkle. Apple removed the 256GB $599 model from the lineup earlier this year, quietly making the $799 (then $599 with 512GB) model the new entry point. Today, the 256GB configuration has returned…but at $799. The M4 Pro configuration is up $200 to $1,599.
Mac Studio (M4 Max)
- New price: $2,499 (previously $1,999) — +$500
Mac Studio (M3 Ultra)
- New price: $5,299 (previously $3,999) — +$1,300
The Mac Studio absorbs the most dramatic price increases in the Mac lineup by a wide margin. The M4 Max model jumps $500, while the M3 Ultra — which ships with 96GB of unified memory — climbs a staggering $1,300. The sheer scale of that Ultra increase reflects just how acutely high-memory configurations are being affected by the shortage.
iPad
Every iPad model received a price increase today, across all sizes and tiers.
iPad (base)
- New price: $449 (previously $349) — +$100
iPad mini
- New price: $599 (previously $499) — +$100
iPad Air
- 11-inch: $749 (previously $599) — +$150
- 13-inch: $949 (previously $799) — +$150
iPad Pro
- 11-inch: $1,199 (previously $999) — +$200
- 13-inch: $1,499 (previously $1,299) — +$200
HomePod, Apple TV, and Vision Pro
Price increases also extended beyond Mac and iPad to Apple’s home devices and its spatial computing headset.
HomePod mini
- New price: $129 (previously $99) — +$30
HomePod
- New price: $349 (previously $299) — +$50
Apple TV
- New price: $199 (previously $129) — +$70
Apple Vision Pro
- 256GB: $3,699 (previously $3,499) — +$200
- 512GB: $3,899
- 1TB: $4,199
What Didn’t Change
The iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods lines were untouched by today’s pricing update, as were the Studio Display and Apple Pencil. Apple hinted, however, that further pricing adjustments to additional products may come later, so iPhone and Apple Watch owners shouldn’t necessarily take today’s reprieve as a guarantee.
Why Is This Happening?
AI infrastructure is consuming memory at a pace the industry wasn’t built to absorb. According to industry tracker TrendForce, DRAM prices surged as much as 98% in the first quarter of 2026 and are expected to rise an additional 58 to 63 percent in the current quarter. Some analysts have taken to calling the situation “RAMageddon.” Memory chip suppliers like Nvidia are signing long-term allocation deals directly with hyperscalers building AI data centers, leaving the consumer electronics market to compete for whatever supply remains.
As a result, Apple is far from alone in being forced to raise prices . Microsoft, Samsung, Lenovo, HP, and Dell have also raised prices in response to the same pressures. Memory chip supplier Micron has indicated it expects the shortage to persist through 2027, meaning today’s prices could represent a sustained new baseline rather than a temporary spike.
What This Means for Mac Users
For anyone who was weighing a Mac or iPad purchase, today’s news was certainly eye-opening. While many hoped that we wouldn’t see increases until these products were refreshed, we got pretty much the worst case scenario instead: prices went up mid-cycle and in a big way. That’s an unusual move for Apple, which has historically absorbed component cost swings rather than passing them on to customers. Even more troubling, there’s no guarantee that the next refresh will bring prices back down.
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