Ouch: Apple’s Mac and iPad price hikes are brutal

As CEO Tim Cook warned a few days ago, Apple raised prices of Mac, iPad, HomePod and Apple TV 4K on Thursday. The changes take effect immediately, with most devices now costing $50 to $100 more. But other hikes are even higher.

That said, Apple left iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods prices unchanged. For now, anyway.

MacBooks and more get steep price hikes

Over the past several months, all major tech companies have increased the prices of their products. Apple was the only exception, sticking to the same MSRP for most of its products.

Cupertino’s traditional way of increasing prices is to launch new versions of products with a cost increase. For example, it raised prices for the M5-powered MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models by $200 in March, but they also came with more storage to offset the hike. This time around, Apple is raising prices for already available Macs, iPads, HomePod and Apple TV.

The MacBook Neo, Apple’s most affordable notebook, now starts at $699, up from $599. Likewise, the Touch ID variant is $100 more expensive and costs $799. Apple is imposing steeper increases on the MacBook Air lineup, with prices rising from $1,099 to $1,299.

The jump is even more dramatic for the MacBook Pro. The base M5 MacBook Pro now costs $1,999, a hefty $400 increase over its previous price. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro chip starts at $2,499, while the 16-inch model costs $2,999.

If you opt for the M5 Max configuration with 36GB of RAM must now pay $4,399.

For comparison, Apple launched the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro chip at $2,200 and $2,700, respectively, in March this year.

Adding RAM and storage also gets more expensive

As if that’s not enough, RAM upgrades are more expensive, too. Going from 24GB to 48GB on the 16-inch MacBook Pro will now cost $600 more, with the jump to 64GB costing another $400 — a $200 increase. A fully maxed-out 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Max chip and 128GB RAM will now set you back $9,999.

Mac Studio is also getting a similar treatment. Prices now start from $2,499 — $500 more than before.

“Have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly. We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products, including today’s increases for iPad and Mac,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg.

HomePod and iPad are now more expensive, too

It’s not just Macs being affected. iPad Pro prices now begin from $1,199 after a $200 increase. The iPad Air lineup is getting a $150 price hike, with a new price of $749. The base iPad is $100 more expensive now as well, starting from $450.

The 2nd-gen HomePod now starts from $349, $50 more than before. The HomePod mini gets a relatively modest $29 price increase, going from $99 to $129.

The Apple TV 4K is $50 more expensive than before. So, the base Wi-Fi model with 64GB storage costs $199 ($149 previously), while the 128GB model costs $249.

Even the Vision Pro has not been spared. The entry-level model now costs $3,699, up from $3,499. The 1TB model gets a bigger jump and now carries a $4,199 MSRP.

The steepest increase hits the MacBook Pro lineup, with the base M5 model jumping by $400. Apple’s entry-level MacBook Neo remains the cheapest Mac, but even it now costs $100 more than before.

Rajesh Pandey

Rajesh has been writing about consumer technology for over a decade, with a strong focus on iPhones, Macs and Apple’s ecosystem. He enjoys digging into Apple software updates, hardware changes, and discovering new Mac apps that make work faster and more enjoyable.

You can reach out to him at mail[at]rajeshpandey.me.