Apple raises prices on a wide range of products and the tech giant loses billions in valuation
Thanks to heavy demand for storage and memory chips, Apple is forced to hike price on several devices.
Apple hikes device prices | Image by PhoneArena
Apple CEO Tim Cook warned you last week that the rising prices for memory and storage chips, both facing shortages due to the expansion of AI data centers, would force Apple to raise prices. We've heard that the starting price for the iPhone 18 Pro could rise by $50 to $300, which would put the cost of the device in a range between $1,149 and $1,399, compared to the iPhone 17 Pro's starting price of $1,099.
Certain Apple devices have received a price hike
Today, Apple announced price hikes on certain iPads, Macs, HomePods, and even the Vision Pro. The iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods escaped for the moment along with the Apple Pencil and the Studio Display. The price changes are as follows:
- HomePod mini: $129, up from $99 (+30%)
- HomePod: $349, up from $299 (17%)
- Apple TV: $199, up from $129 (+54%)
- iPad: $449, up from $349 (+29%)
- iPad mini: $599, up from $499 (+20%)
- iPad Air: $749, up from $599 (+25%)
- iPad Pro: $1,199, up from $999 (+20%)
- MacBook Neo: $699, up from $599 (+17%)
- MacBook Air: $1,299, up from $1,099 (+18%)
- MacBook Pro: $1,999, up from $1,699 (+18%)
- iMac: $1,499, up from $1,299 (+15%)
- Mac mini (M4 Pro): $1,599, up from $1,399 (+14%)
- Mac Studio (M4 Max): $2,499, up from $1,999 (+25%)
- Mac Studio (M3 Ultra): $5,299, up from $3,999 (+33%)
- Vision Pro: $3,699, up from $3,499 (+6%)
The range of these price increases is 6% to 54%. Knowing full well how consumers will take this news, Apple said, "We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions." According to Counterpoint Research, as chip production has focused on the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used to power AI servers, both memory, and storage chips have quadrupled in price over the last three quarters.
While the iPhone was spared today, Counterpoint expects to see a $150-$200 increase
Even though iPhone prices were untouched today, Counterpoint research director Tarun Pathak computed that the higher component prices could add $200 to the cost of parts used to build an iPhone. He believes that Apple will raise the price of iPhone models by $150 to $200.
The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge. The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly [and has] reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products.
Apple spokesperson
All iPhone 18 series models are expected to sport 12GB of RAM
By IDC's computations, 54% of the iPhone models shipped since 2022 do not support the full Siri AI experience, which requires 12GB of RAM. Only the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max were shipped with enough memory to enjoy the complete Siri AI experience. The entire iPhone 18 line, including the base iPhone 18, is expected to sport 12GB of RAM.
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Apple's shares plunge in major sell-off
Only iPhone models with 12GB of RAM can use Siri AI's expressive voice customization and enhanced dictation. Other than that, there shouldn't be any difference between using Siri AI on my iPhone 15 Pro Max and using it on someone's iPhone 17 Pro Max.
How much will Apple hike iPhone prices later this year?
Today's price hike announcement has resulted in a major sell-off, with Apple's shares plunging $17.88 with less than fuive minutes left in the trading day. The 6.10% decline has dropped the stock down to $275.20. On June 2, earlier this very month, Apple had set an all-time closing high at $315.20. Today's decline dropped the comoany's valuation by over $260 billion.
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