Apple increased prices across its product lineup, with some Mac models seeing hikes of $1,300 or more. The MacBook Neo rose from $599 to $699, while the iMac jumped from $1,299 to $1,499. At the high end, the M3 Ultra Mac Studio reached $5,299 after a $1,300 increase. iPads gained $100-$200 across models, though iPhone prices remained unchanged.

CEO Tim Cook attributed the increases to soaring memory costs, telling The Wall Street Journal that price hikes were unavoidable. Apple has been trying to shield customers, but the situation became unsustainable. Chipmakers are prioritizing profitable data center memory over consumer products, creating supply shortages that affect the entire tech industry.

The memory squeeze stems from AI investments redirecting production toward server-grade components. Apple quietly removed a 512GB memory configuration from the M3 Ultra Mac earlier this year, signaling supply constraints. The company previously faced similar criticism during the Power PC era for expensive RAM upgrades.

These price increases mark the latest shift in Apple's hardware pricing strategy, coming as memory costs hit consumers most directly through higher device prices rather than upgradable components.