Apple Ups Price For Faster MacBooks Amid Chip Shortage

Apple has introduced faster-yet-costlier versions of its MacBook computers amid an ongoing memory chip drought.

The tech giant on Tuesday (March 3) released updated versions of the MacBook Air featuring the M5 processor and MacBook Pro featuring M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, part of a wider series of product launches this week.

The devices come with more storage and faster speeds, but consumers can expect to pay anywhere from $100 to $400 more than earlier models, depending on the size and iteration of the MacBook they choose.

A report on the launch by Bloomberg News noted that Apple, like other hardware makers, is dealing with a surge in memory chip prices. That’s because chip suppliers are giving more weight to AI centers than consumer products.

“Hyperscalers and AI developers now shape memory demand by securing capacity years in advance to support training and inference workloads,” PYMNTS wrote earlier this year in a report on the shortages. “This forward purchasing has displaced consumer upgrade cycles as the primary demand signal, leaving consumer technology firms with reduced leverage and greater exposure to pricing volatility.”

Other companies, such as Samsung, have instituted similar price increases. For its part, Apple introduced a lower-cost version of its iPhone 17, known as the 17e, earlier this week.

Memory chips are a crucial component for both computers and smartphones in terms of managing data. The Bloomberg report added that, in addition to increasing prices, the dearth of chips could make devices harder to find.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said earlier this year that the company continues to witness “market pricing for memory increasing significantly” and that it has several options to address the problem, the impact on the company’s margins would increase throughout the year.

Meanwhile, a report last week by Counterpoint Research said that the supply-driven memory crunch will be the main driver of a downturn in worldwide smartphone shipments that will last “well into 2027.”

This downturn is expected to lead to a 12% year-over-year decline in shipments that will bring the year’s total to less than 1.1 billion units, which would mark the lowest annual volume in 13 years, the company added.

“The impact is expected to continue through [the second half of 2027], as it will take several quarters for memory supply expansion to materialize,” Counterpoint Research Principal Analyst Yang Wang said in a news release. “Lower-end smartphones are likely to be affected the most, especially as LPDDR4 supply is shrinking faster than expected. OEMs are already responding with launch delays, streamlined portfolios and specification trade-offs.”