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Apple raised prices across the board On Thursday, pointing the finger at Ramageddon For what Apple CEO Tim Cook described as an “inevitable” response to rising memory and storage prices as demand for these components rises with the proliferation of artificial intelligence data centers. The price hike has hit many Apple product lines, including… iPad, MacApple TV, HomePod, and VisionPro. Apparently, just that iPhone and Apple watch They were saved.
What bothered me the most was that Apple raised its budget price MacBook Neo. We finally got a MacBook designed specifically for student budgets, and in the blink of an eye, it was gone. The $499 new student price lasted about a semester.
Just three and a half months after Apple dramatically lowered the entry point for the MacBook, it’s back and raised the price by $100. Now, the starting price for the MacBook Neo $699 at Appleand Students can get it for $599. (At the time of this writing, it is still available for $590 at Amazon.)
The cost of the tiered model with Touch ID and double the storage space has also increased by $100. It’s now priced at $799, or $699 with Apple’s education discount. (still $690 at Amazon.)
Is it really RAM?
Apple and other computer makers point to a surge in demand for memory and storage from artificial intelligence data centers, which are called… RamageddonAs a reason for the high prices of their components, which forced them to raise the prices of the computers they sell. But with just 8GB of RAM and a modest 256GB SSD, the basic MacBook Neo doesn’t seem worth the $100 increase. Considering that the tiered model only gets you a 512GB SSD without any accompanying increase in memory, its $100 price tag seems steep, too.
I think Apple is hiding the real reason behind the Neo’s high prices: it sold through its initial supply of Neos that use up leftover iPhone processors and must now bear the additional cost of manufacturing the new A18 Pro chips to meet demand for the Neo.
like I mentioned previouslyApple was preparing to begin new production of the MacBook Neo, increasing the number of units to 10 million units from the initial run, estimated at 5 to 6 million. The calculations change for Apple if it no longer has a set of A18 Pro chips that it can borrow to power the new Neo.
I suspect that RAMageddon is a convenient excuse for Apple to cover the additional costs of creating new Neos devices. Or at least, that’s not the only reason Apple raised the price of the Neo just months after its debut.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this theory.
It will now cost you $799 to convert that lock button into a Touch ID sensor.
Larger increases for MacBook Air and Pro
What throws cold water on my Neo theory is that Apple has imposed larger price increases on the MacBook Air and Pro lines. The price of the MacBook Air rose by $200, and the price of the MacBook Pro by $300.
The 13-inch MacBook Air now starts at $1,299, and the 15-inch Air now starts at $1,499.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro now starts at $1,999, and the 16-inch Pro now starts at $2,999.
The MacBook Air comes with at least 16GB of RAM and at least a 512GB SSD, and the MacBook Pro comes with at least 16GB of RAM and at least a 1TB SSD.
“We have never seen component prices increase this much and this quickly,” Apple said in the statement. “We have now reached a point where we need to start raising prices on a number of products, including today’s increases for iPad and Mac.”
MacBook prices rise
| model | Old price | New price |
|---|---|---|
| MacBook Neo | $599 | $699 |
| MacBook Air 13 inch | $1099 | $1,299 |
| MacBook Air 15 inch | $1,299 | $1,499 |
| MacBook Pro 14 inch | $1,699 | $1,999 |
| MacBook Pro 16 inch | $2699 | $2999 |
New v. er
As much as it hurts students and their parents to pay an extra $100 for a MacBook Neo for school, you can try to console yourself by comparing that increase to the new price of a MacBook Air. With the Neo model jumping from $599 to $699, and the Air model jumping from $1,099 to $1,299, the gap between the two has widened. The Neo now costs $600 less than the cheapest Air.
While this reasoning may help justify having to pay more for a MacBook Neo, the $100 price increase still hurts anyone already facing the rising costs of higher education.
The MacBook Air now starts at $1,299, an increase of $200 from its previous price.
Other Macs are more expensive now, too
Apple’s Mac desktops were not spared. Prices for the iMac, Mac Mini, and Mac Studio have increased.
Apple raised the price of the iMac by $200 to $1,499. It brought back the base model M4 Mac Mini with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage that it discontinued in May, but it’s back with a $200 increase. The M4 Pro model also received a $200 price hike.
These increases pale in comparison to what Mac Studio received. The M4 Max model now starts at $2,499, an increase of $500. And if you’re sitting down, I’ll tell you how much a Mac Studio with an M3 Ultra chip costs right now. It starts at $5,299, which is a staggering $1,300 bump in price.
Mac desktop prices are rising
| model | Old price | New price |
|---|---|---|
| iMac | $1,299 | $1,499 |
| Mac Mini (M4) | $599 | $799 |
| Mac Mini (M4 Pro) | $1,399 | $1,599 |
| Mac Studio (M4 Max): $2,499, up from $1,999 (+$500) | $1,999 | $2499 |
| Mac Studio (M3 Ultra): $5,299, up from $3,999 (+$1,300) | $3999 | $5,299 |
