Apple is increasing the prices of MacBooks and iPads worldwide due to rising costs of memory and storage chips.
The report indicates that apple is increasing the prices of MacBooks and iPads worldwide due to rising costs of memory and storage chips.
It further notes that the iPhone maker has raised prices on some laptops and tablets by almost 20%, saying the electronics industry is facing an “unprecedented challenge” due to an “extraordinary surge” in demand for chips that power AI data centres.
“We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly,” the company stated – adding it was working to find solutions.
Not long after Apple’s announcement, Xbox stated it had decided to significantly raise the price of its popular gaming console for the second time in less than a year due to the current “components crisis”.
The Microsoft-owned company stated on Thursday that the price of its basic console will go up by $100 (£75) to $499, while the price of a console with more memory will go up by $150 to $749. New prices will take effect from August.
Xbox previously raised the prices of its consoles in October by $20-$70, meaning a new console will be 30% to 40% more expensive than it was this time last year.
The company stated it had “hoped another price increase would not be necessary”, but blamed rising costs of console storage and memory for having to raise prices for consumers.
“The entire consumer electronics industry is struggling with the current components crisis, but the effects are particularly hard on consoles,” Xbox said.
The company added that while the cost of memory and storage has already more than doubled, it expects the costs to double again by 2027.
That seemingly leaves the door open for Xbox to raise prices further.
Apple’s and Xbox’s price hikes follow a slew of firms raising device prices to offset rising hardware costs.
Commenting before the Xbox price increase was publicised, tech analyst Paolo Pescatore stated Apple’s price rises showed the “AI boom was now affecting consumer electronics”.
Much of the increase in prices for memory and storage components – particularly RAM, a form of computer memory – has been attributed to the proliferation of data centres needed to power the AI boom.
This, experts say, has caused an imbalance between supply and demand, which means everyone has to pay more.
