Apple raises Mac and iPad prices as the AI memory crunch reaches the shelf

The AI boom has been an abstract thing for most consumers, a story about data centres and model launches happening somewhere else.

This week it arrived somewhere concrete: the price of a Mac. Apple is raising prices on Macs and iPads to offset the soaring cost of memory and storage chips, the bill for an industry-wide shortage that the company says it can no longer absorb on its customers’ behalf.

Tim Cook, who hands the chief executive role to John Ternus on 1 September, put it plainly.

“Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable,” he told The Wall Street Journal.

The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!“We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.”