In June, Apple raised the price of nearly every Mac and iPad it sells. The cheapest iPad went from $349 to $449 overnight. The MacBook Air went from $1,099 to $1,299. The hardware stayed the same, but the prices didn’t.
It isn’t just Apple. The PlayStation 5 costs $100 more than it did in March. Xbox prices went up $100 to $150 this past Saturday. Nintendo is raising the Switch 2 to $499.99 on September 1. Dell, HP, and other laptop makers have raised prices too. Every major device maker is moving in the same direction.
Apple (June 25): iPad $349 to $449. iPad Air $599 to $749. MacBook Air $1,099 to $1,299. MacBook Pro $1,699 to $1,999. iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods prices did not change.
Sony (April 2): PlayStation 5 $549.99 to $649.99, the second increase in under a year. Sony blamed “continued pressures in the global economic landscape” without naming memory; analysts did that for them.
Microsoft (August 1): Xbox Series S $399.99 to $499.99. Series X $649.99 to $799.99.
Nintendo (September 1): Switch 2 $449.99 to $499.99. Nintendo’s president named memory costs directly and apologized to customers.
A $100 increase stings more on a $349 tablet than on a $1,699 laptop. The cheaper the device, the bigger the share of its cost is memory. This results in the lower-end devices taking the hardest proportional hit.
The research firms expect more of the same. Gartner projected in February that PC prices would end 2026 about 17 percent higher than 2025, with smartphone prices about 13 percent higher. IDC expects phone shipments to fall almost 14 percent this year, the steepest drop it has ever recorded. This is largely because people look at the new prices and decide their current device will do.
https://www.freshfromcache.com/why-your-next-phone-costs-more/