Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is trading higher on Friday. It has dropped about 12% since the beginning of June.
But the sell-off may be over. The shares are oversold and at support — and these can be bullish dynamics. This is why Apple is the Stock of the Day.
• What’s driving AAPL shares up today?
In February and again in April, Apple ran into resistance at the $275 level. People who sold there thought they made a smart decision when the price dropped afterward.
But when the resistance broke, and the shares headed higher, some of these previously happy sellers changed their minds. They thought the decision to sell was a mistake.
Some of them decided to buy their shares back, but would only do so if they could get them for the same price they were sold.
As a result of this, when Apple dropped back to $275, they placed buy orders, and these orders created support at the same price that had previously been resistance.
Apple is also oversold. The lower part of the chart is the Relative Strength Index (RSI). If the blue line goes below the lower red horizontal line, like it is now, it indicates oversold conditions.
These conditions could draw buyers into the market. They will be anticipating a reversal or move higher. Their buying could put upward pressure on the shares.
Stocks tend to rally after reaching support.
This happens when some of the investors and traders who created the support with their buy orders become anxious and impatient.
They know sellers will go to whoever is willing to pay the highest price. They don’t want to miss the trade, so they increase bid prices. Other anxious and impatient buyers see this and do the same.
It results in a bidding war or snowball effect that can push the price higher.
Being oversold while at support can be a bullish dynamic. Apple may be about to go into an uptrend.
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Apple on Thursday announced that it raised prices on its iPad and MacBook devices because of rising memory and chip costs amid the rapid buildout of the AI industry.
The tech giant excluded its primary cash cow, the iPhone, from the price hikes but will raise prices on the other devices as Apple said it couldn't afford to continue insulating consumers from the mounting cost of memory and storage chips.
"We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly," Apple said in a statement. "We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products, including today's increases for the iPad and Mac."
The price hikes show that even the world's most valuable consumer electronics company and its strong supply chain relationships are not immune to the surge in prices for memory chips that has dampened the outlook for smartphone and PC sales.
APPLE TO WORK WITH INTEL ON US CHIP DESIGN AND PRODUCTION, TRUMP SAYS
Apple is raising prices on MacBooks and iPads, as well as other devices, amid mounting memory chip costs. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Memory chipmakers such as Micron have moved to prioritize orders from AI chipmakers like Nvidia in recent months, which has helped them earn record profits but has constrained supplies available for the makers of electronic devices and prompted them to raise prices.
Apple's Neo, the company's lowest priced laptop that aims to compete with affordable versions of Windows and Chromebook laptops, is one of the products that will be subject to the price hikes and will go from $599 to $699 months after launch.
The company also raised the price of the MacBook Air with 512 gigabytes of storage from $1,099 to $1,299; while the MacBook Pro with 1 terabyte of storage price rose from $1,699 to $1,999; and the price of the iPad Air with 128 gigabytes of storage rose from $599 to $749.
APPLE CHIEF TIM COOK SAYS IT WAS THE 'RIGHT TIME' TO STEP DOWN AS CEO
Ticker Security Last Change Change % AAPL APPLE INC. 280.36 +5.21 +1.89% Apple also hiked prices for both versions of its HomePod smart speaker and Apple TV set-top box.
The announcement comes after Apple CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal in an interview earlier this month that "price increases are unavoidable."
"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," Cook said in the interview.
APPLE CEO SAYS PRICE HIKES ARE 'UNAVOIDABLE' AS RISING CHIP COSTS SQUEEZE TECH GIANT: REPORT
Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down on September 1. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Cook also said on a late April conference call with analysts that, "Where we don't give color beyond June, I can tell you that beyond the June quarter, we believe memory costs will drive an increasing impact on our business."
Rival device makers may be forced to raise prices even more sharply than Apple, whose deep supplier ties have cushioned it from the full hit, several analysts said.
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"The memory environment is tough and remains structurally tough for the foreseeable future," said Ben Bajarin, CEO of technology consulting firm Creative Strategies.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) shareholders woke up Thursday to find that the most valuable company in the world had been undone by something the size of a Tic Tac. A memory chip. Specifically, the DRAM and NAND modules tucked inside every Mac, iPad, and Vision Pro on the shelf.
Shares fell as much as 6.6% after Apple raised prices across Macs, iPads, home devices, and the Vision Pro to offset what Tim Cook reportedly called a “hundred-year flood” in component costs. The one-day drop was 6.12%, and the week put 7.67% on the floor. Memory costs, per Reuters, have nearly doubled. Apple said it “can no longer absorb the escalating costs.”
The memory math behind Apple’s slide Bloomberg Intelligence global head of technology research Mandeep Singh laid out the problem on Businessweek. “There is no free lunch in terms of paying up for memory,” he said, warning that hardware OEMs without Apple’s pricing power could face severe demand destruction.
Apple has the brand to push 15% to 25% iPad hikes and 15% to 20% Mac hikes through to consumers. Most peers do not. Even Apple will feel it in units. SiliconANGLE flagged that Xbox consoles are getting more expensive for the same reason, which shows how broad this is.
Apple came into this week riding a strong fiscal year, with Q2 FY26 revenue of $111.18 billion growing 16.6% year over year and an EPS of $2.01 beating consensus. The market was pricing Apple at a 36x earnings multiple on the assumption that hardware margins would hold. Memory inflation is the first real puncture in that thesis, and Singh thinks it persists through 2028.
Why Micron’s margins look like a luxury brand’s On the other side of this trade sits Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU), which on Tuesday reported one of the more absurd quarters in semiconductor history. Revenue of $41.46 billion against an estimate of $35.25 billion, up 345.72% year over year. GAAP gross margin of 84.6%, up from 37.7% the year before. That margin lives in luxury-handbag territory, well outside anything the memory industry has historically produced.
What made the quarter extraordinary was the durability story underneath it. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra pointed to “multi-year Strategic Customer Agreements” designed to lock in the cycle, which Bloomberg’s segment described as $100 billion in take-or-pay contracts with 16 customers. Hyperscalers are willing to sign decade-style commitments because they cannot get memory anywhere else. Q4 guidance is $50.0 billion in revenue at roughly 86% gross margin.
Nvidia’s parallel squeeze And then there is NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), which is supposed to be the winner in every AI story and lately has not been acting like one. Shares are down 13.03% since May 15 and 8.79% over the past month. NVIDIA is Micron’s lead customer on HBM4, which means every dollar of margin Micron extracts flows directly into the bill of materials on a Blackwell board. NVIDIA can pass that cost along to hyperscalers today. Singh’s warning is what happens if hyperscalers blink. If no killer use case emerges beyond coding agents, he argued, Meta or Microsoft could pull back capex, which would cool memory and chip demand fast.
There is also the competition angle. OpenAI’s chip announced in partnership with Broadcom will not move next quarter’s revenue, yet it pressures the multiple investors are willing to pay for NVIDIA today. The stock trades at roughly 29x forward earnings on guidance of $91 billion in Q2 FY27 revenue, which is not expensive if the buildout continues and is suddenly expensive if it does not.
Watch over the next few weeks whether Apple’s price hikes hold up in pre-order data, whether Micron’s take-or-pay book grows, and whether any other hyperscaler quietly walks back a capex number. One of those three breaks, and the AI memory trade re-rates everything at once.
Apple (AAPL) is facing another China concern after UBS said iPhone sales in the country fell 19% year over year in May, according to Seeking Alpha.UBS analyst D
In a rare move, Apple on Thursday raised prices on several of its best-selling products, including MacBooks and iPads.
[Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Here’s some news you don’t see every day: On Thursday, Apple raised the prices on several of its best-selling products, including Mac desktops, MacBooks, iPads, and HomePod devices. (See below for a listing of those products.)
Apple’s online store was down briefly Thursday morning before coming back online with updated prices. According to The Wall Street Journal, Mac computers are up by 15% to 20%, and iPads are up 15% to 25%.
What’s clearly missing from the lineup of price hikes is the iPhone, Apple’s most successful and profitable product.
Why the price hike? The company is citing an extraordinary surge in global AI-driven memory and storage costs.The move comes a week after outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal that planned “price increases are unavoidable” and the tech giant was “doing [its] best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us.” And although the company has been trying to shield customers, “the situation has become unsustainable,” he said.
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“This is a hundred-year flood,” Cook explained to the Journal. “I’ve never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years.”
Microsoft also recently raised prices for its Surface laptops and announced Thursday that it was increasing the price of its Xbox game consoles starting August 1.
Shares of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) were down 5.2% in afternoon trading at the time of this writing. Shares of Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) were down over 3%.
Apple AAPL shares tumbled more than 6% on Thursday, marking their sharpest single-day decline in over a year after the technology giant raised prices on several MacBook and iPad models amid rising component costs.
The price adjustments affected multiple products across Apple's hardware lineup. The entry-level MacBook Neo increased to $699 from $599, while the 512GB MacBook Air rose to $1,299 from $1,099. Apple also lifted the price of its 1TB MacBook Pro to $1,999 from $1,699.
Apple raised tablet prices as well. The iPad Air 128GB now costs $749 compared with $599 previously, and the iPad Pro Wi-Fi 256GB model increased to $1,199 from $999.
The company said escalating component expenses prompted the pricing changes and indicated additional increases could follow if cost pressures persist. The move highlights the challenges facing Apple as hardware production costs continue to climb.
People walk past an Apple retail store on July 13, 2021 in New York City. Stock markets were slightly softer on news of the biggest jump in US inflation in more than two decades and disappointment in results from US investment banks. As trading ended in London, Frankfurt and Paris, major indices hovered around the zero mark, while the Dow Jones index was also a tiny bit lower in midday New York exchanges. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Apple is raising prices up to 20% on products it’s currently selling, reported the Wall Street Journal. This unprecedented move is a result of soaring prices of some computer memory chips – which are forecast to rise 355% this year – driven by huge demand from AI data centers which are the most profitable place for memory makers to allocate their scarce capacity.
These costs -- and Apple’s prices – are likely to continue rising for years. While the effect of these price increases on Apple’s revenue and profits is uncertain, investors may wish to consider shares of Micron Technology – which have risen 285% this year.
Indeed, Micron shares rose 15% on June 24, according to CNBC after reporting fiscal third quarter results which beat expectations and raised guidance. Meanwhile, Apple stock lost about 6.2% of its value after announcing its price increases yesterday, noted the Journal.
While analysts remain bullish on Apple stock, they expect a modest 15% rise to reach their consensus price target. Meanwhile, Micron clearly is on the better part of the AI industry power curve.
Apple Price IncreasesOn Thursday, Apple abruptly raised prices of many products by as much as 18%. The entry MacBook Neo rose $100 to $699, the 13-inch MacBook Air increased $200 to $1,299, the 14-inch MacBook Pro climbed $300 to $1,999, and the 16-inch model went up $300 to $2,999, reported Yahoo Finance.
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Apple has reached the limit of its ability to absorb higher component costs. We have “shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices,” an Apple spokesperson told Bloomberg.
Why Is Apple Raising Prices?The reason for the price increases is soaring AI data center demand for memory and storage — Dynamic Random Access Memory and Not And flash memory. Over the last three quarters, such prices have quadrupled, according to Counterpoint Research. For example, DRAM contract prices rose 98% in the first quarter and are forecast to jump in Q2 in a range -- the midpoint of which is 60.5%, per TrendForce.
Underlying the price increases is a strategic choice by memory suppliers. Due to the more than $725 billion that hyperscalers are allocating to capital expenditures, suppliers are directing production capacity to high-bandwidth memory for AI servers, which is earning far more profit per wafer, noted the Wall Street Journal.
Operating profit margins for DRAM and NAND flash have roughly doubled from usual levels, “hitting around 80% for DRAM and up to 60% for NAND flash,” Counterpoint semiconductor research analyst MS Hwang told the Journal.
Where Are Memory Prices Heading?Demand for these chips is likely to remain higher than supply at least until 2026. Micron’s latest results – FY Q3 2026 revenue that more than quadrupled to $41,5 billion with 84,9% gross margin and a Q4 forecast of $50 billion in revenue and 86% gross margin, per Micron’s fiscal Q3 2026 results – suggest rising memory prices will persist.
With Micron’s 2026 HBM supply sold out and $100 billion in contracted revenue from 16 long-term customer agreements, it is no surprise that analysts expect the crunch on Apple’s costs to last through 2027. Beyond 2028, new manufacturing capacity could paint a more uncertain picture, according to Yahoo Finance.
Future Apple Price IncreasesApple could increase prices on the iPhone. Specifically, higher memory costs could add $150 to $200 to the iPhone price, Counterpoint’s Tarun Pathak told CNBC.
Ironically, Apple is likely to be adding to its customers’ woes because new iPhone with Apple Intelligence will required 12 GB of RAM – adding more memory per device as memory supply becomes scarcer.
Where Will Apple Stock Go Next?Apple stock will rise 15% if the consensus on Wall Street is correct, That’s because 47 analysts set an average price target of $315.
The outcome likely depends on whether Apple customers pay the higher prices or buy from lower-priced providers.
The bull case is anchored by the view that Apple’s focus on premium, higher-end customers means it can raise prices with a limited increase in customer churn. Such is the view of Wedbush’s Dan Ives, who kept $400 price target.
By contrast – as exemplified by Barclays price target of $253 -- some expect Apple to raise the price of the iPhone 18 Pro far more. More specifically, to protect margins Apple could raise the price by 27% to $1,269, per TechInsights.
Why place bets on a player with an eroding bargaining power with its memory suppliers? And who knows how well incoming CEO John Ternus will manage the memory crisis on September 1 when he succeeds Cook as CEO?
Instead, consider investing in the companies – such as Micron -- that control the AI industry choke point.
Apple (AAPL) had its largest single-day decrease in stock price since April 2025 on Thursday after boosting prices on some of its key products. Rick Ducat points out that the company is still among the Mag 7's top performers over the last year, while highlighting key support and resistance areas to watch.
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Apple stock is down 12% over the past month coming into Friday's trading. (AFP via Getty Images)
Apple stock was finding its footing on Friday after a sharp drop triggered by price increases for its Macs and iPads. But the true test is likely to come when the company raises what it charges for an iPhone, analysts say.
A bruising week for technology stocks has raised fresh questions about whether the artificial intelligence-fuelled market rally is becoming too volatile for comfort.
A selloff that began on Monday gathered momentum throughout the week, rippling through markets from Seoul to Silicon Valley.
Investors grew uneasy about the sheer scale of spending on AI infrastructure, the increasing reliance on debt financing and the prospect of higher interest rates.
Apple's price hike added to the concerns, raising fears that the AI rally could ultimately prove inflationary for the broader economy.
South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index, which has almost doubled this year, plunged as much as 10% in a single session on Tuesday, before bouncing back, but ended Friday again down 5.8%, posting a weekly loss of 6%, its steepest decline since early March, when the Iran conflict unsettled global markets.
In the United States, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index closed 2.2% lower on Tuesday.
A strong set of earnings from memory-chip maker Micron Technology on Wednesday initially helped stabilise sentiment; however, the recovery proved short-lived, with the market's mood deteriorating again after Apple announced on Thursday that it was raising prices on iPads and MacBooks in response to soaring memory and storage costs.
Apple AAPL shares fell more than 6% overnight, leading to renewed weakness in Asian markets on Friday. However, the stock recovered on Friday.
US markets opened lower on Friday. Nasdaq Composite was down another 0.95% on Friday. The S&P 500 slipped 0.6%.
"The hand to mouth tech rally has come to an abrupt halt at the end of the week. After Thursday’s recovery rally on the back of Micron results, which caused the stock price to soar by 15%, a dearth of good news is weighing on the sector and the entire AI narrative," Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said.
The trigger for the market turbulence early in the week was widely seen as SpaceX's decision to launch a major bond offering only days after its stock market debut.
The move revived worries that technology firms may be spending too aggressively and that the investment boom surrounding artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly dependent on borrowing.
The concerns are particularly acute because the world's biggest technology companies have committed extraordinary sums to AI.
Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Tesla have all pledged hundreds of billions of dollars to expand computing infrastructure and build out AI capabilities, even as investors continue to seek clearer evidence of future returns.
The hyperscalers together are estimated to spend more than $700 billion in 2026 on AI-related capital expenditure.
Investor anxiety has also been amplified by expectations that the Federal Reserve could take a more aggressive stance on interest rates as inflation remains elevated.
A strong set of earnings from memory-chip maker Micron Technology initially helped stabilise sentiment.
Micron, the only US-based producer of high-bandwidth memory chips used alongside Nvidia's AI processors, reported robust demand and disclosed that customers had committed $22 billion to secure supplies of memory chips.
The results temporarily eased fears about demand and reinforced confidence in AI-related spending.
However, the recovery proved short-lived.
The market's mood deteriorated again after Apple announced on Thursday that it was raising prices on iPads and MacBooks in response to soaring memory and storage costs.
Micron shares shed 2.4% in trading on Friday after jumping more than 15% in the previous session.
Apple shares had fallen by 6% on Thursday.
The move highlighted an increasingly uncomfortable possibility for investors: that the AI boom may be inflationary rather than deflationary.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said "a battalion of worries" was driving the market lower.
"Apple and Microsoft's price rises have struck at the market's fear of inflation, raising worries that, far from being deflationary, the AI boom might be inflationary, particularly for the hard-pressed consumer, hurting rather than aiding economic growth."
Investor confidence was also dented by reports that OpenAI may delay its public listing until next year.
"This move would be heavy with symbolism given the company essentially kicked off the whole AI theme in earnest with the launch of ChatGPT in 2022," said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell.
Beauchamp noted that the reported delay reflected broader concerns over market conditions.
"Meanwhile, OpenAI seems to have little stomach for market volatility either, reportedly put off by SpaceX's travails. Having piled in to AI and tech since the end of March, there is a desire to protect profits, and investors continue to be in a mood to sell first and ask questions later."
The volatility prompted investors to pull money from US equities for the first time in three months.
According to Bank of America, citing EPFR Global data, US equity funds saw withdrawals of $8.5 billion during the week through June 24.
Technology funds led the exodus, recording a record $9.3 billion in outflows.
The reversal was striking because tech funds had attracted an unprecedented $19.2 billion in the previous week.
Overall equity funds suffered $5 billion in withdrawals, while money market funds lost $25.5 billion.
Investors instead moved into fixed-income products, which absorbed $16.6 billion.
"With valuations elevated and the Fed maintaining a cautious stance, investors are becoming increasingly discerning about where they deploy capital," said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.
A rotation within the equity market is also becoming increasingly apparent.
Some of the weakest performers on the S&P 500 this week were companies most closely associated with the AI trade, including Palantir and Oracle, which fell 18% and 16%, respectively.
Several members of the Magnificent Seven, including Microsoft, Alphabet, Apple and Nvidia, also declined.
Meanwhile, value-oriented sectors have begun to outperform.
Industrials, real estate, consumer discretionary, energy and healthcare stocks all outperformed technology shares, with healthcare emerging as the strongest-performing sector this week, rising by more than 4%.
For now, investors appear increasingly willing to question the lofty assumptions underpinning the AI trade, marking a sharp change in sentiment after months of relentless optimism.
The iPhone accounts for nearly half of Apple’s business. At the same time, Macs and iPads together represent about 14% of revenue, making the smaller categories a lower-risk place to test customer response, CNBC reported on Friday.
Apple linked the increases to higher memory and storage costs driven by demand for AI data centers.
Reportedly, investors are watching whether Tim Cook raises iPhone prices before John Ternus takes over as CEO on Sept. 1, which could give the next leader a higher baseline price and less margin pressure.
Apple can either pass costs to customers, absorb the margin hit, or diversify its supply chain, according to the report.
The company has reopened talks with Chinese memory suppliers after facing backlash over similar discussions in 2022.
Dan Ives Says Apple Had To Protect MarginsWedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told CNBC on Friday that Apple needed to raise prices because memory costs have surged across the technology supply chain.
He said Apple waited as long as it could, but had to act at the start of what he sees as a major three-year hardware cycle.
Ives said the increases may drive only limited churn, especially in higher-end products, and he viewed the stock reaction as overdone relative to the likely impact on demand and earnings.
Sunil Garg Sees Broader Pressure On Consumer TechLighthouse Canton CIO Sunil Garg told CNBC on Friday that the AI capital spending boom should continue to be funded because hyperscalers continue to raise capital through equity and debt.
He said that supports demand for upstream AI infrastructure companies, especially memory suppliers with locked-in, noncancelable orders.
Gil Luria Says Apple Faces Three Pricing DriversD.A. Davidson’s Gil Luria told CNBC on Thursday that Apple’s price increases reflect higher memory costs, a major upgrade cycle, and the possible launch of a foldable iPhone priced above $2,000.
He said Apple is raising prices now to manage memory cost pressure, avoid weaker pricing next year, and prepare customers for a higher-priced foldable device.
Luria said Apple must carefully balance the increases to preserve growth into next year, especially as investors continue to treat the stock as a safer large-cap technology name despite potentially slower growth.
AAPL Price Action: Apple shares were down 0.01% at $275.12 during premarket trading on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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Item 1 of 2 A person holds an Apple iPhone at the company's first retail store in Bengaluru, India, September 2, 2025. REUTERS/Priyanshu Singh/File Photo
[1/2]A person holds an Apple iPhone at the company's first retail store in Bengaluru, India, September 2, 2025. REUTERS/Priyanshu Singh/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
SummaryCompaniesTata data breach is Apple supply chain's new India challengeTata has tightened controls after data leak, source saysSource says Apple in touch with Tata on long-term measuresData leak has purported papers of Apple, Tesla, TSMC, QualcommNEW DELHI, June 26 (Reuters) - Tata Electronics, a key Indian supplier to Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab, has restricted internal access to sensitive systems as it investigates a leak of thousands of secret client files on the dark web, a Tata source and two industry officials said.
Tata has also hired a global consultant to conduct a forensic audit and has reported the incident to the Indian government and its clients, said the Tata source, declining to be named given the sensitivity of the matter.
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Reuters reported this week that ransomware group World Leaks posted more than 200,000 files to the dark web, including purported component design papers from Apple and Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab, both of which are Tata clients. Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the data.
Tata has said it had identified a "cybersecurity incident" and there was no impact on operations, without providing additional details.
Reuters found that the leak also contains at least 16 files and folders of purported documents from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) (2330.TW), opens new tab and 23 from Qualcomm (QCOM.O), opens new tab, both of which make parts used in iPhones.
After it detected the breach, Tata Electronics tightened internal security protocols at all its facilities and offices to restrict remote access to sensitive internal tools, such as those used to place purchase orders, only to select employees, said the Tata source and two people briefed on the matter.
Earlier, access to such internal tools was more liberal, the Tata source said, adding that while work-from-home is still allowed, "only select people have remote access" to such tools. The changes apply to Tata Electronics broadly and are not restricted to a few factories.
"Tata Electronics has hardened access to its sensitive internal systems," the Tata source said. "The investigation is ongoing."
Tata Electronics, Apple, TSMC and Qualcomm did not respond to Reuters queries. All sources cited in this article declined to be named given the sensitivity of the matter.
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, a unit under India's IT ministry that received the Tata incident report, also did not respond.
APPLE WORKING WITH TATAOne of the industry officials added that tighter controls included making Tata's official network access more strictly regulated when employees access it from outside the company's facilities.
Apple's security team is working closely with Tata on near- and long-term measures following the incident, the person added.
Reuters is first to report details on the internal process changes and the forensic investigation at Tata Electronics.
With former Intel (INTC.O), opens new tab and Applied Materials (AMAT.O), opens new tab executive Randhir Thakur as its CEO, Tata Electronics is part of the salt-to-aviation Tata conglomerate. It was set up in 2020. Its businesses extend to semiconductors, but Tata is one of Apple's most important Indian suppliers and it is central to the American firm's effort to make more iPhones outside China.
The breach is also a setback for Apple's supply chain. Tata also faces scrutiny over the alleged contamination of farmlands near one of its iPhone parts plants in India. Separately, Tata was hit by a cyberattack, opens new tab at its British Jaguar Land Rover unit last year, which resulted in a six-week output halt.
TSMC AND QUALCOMM PAPERSWorld Leaks, which has previously claimed responsibility for a Nike break-in, said on its dark net website that it has published more than 204,341 files containing Tata Electronics data totalling over 630.4 gigabytes.
Reuters reported previously that the searchable database shows several files from Apple and Tesla, but further reporting showed that purported documents from more companies were leaked.
One 2022 document, marked "TSMC Secret," contained purported "product reliability test" details of a TSMC component with photographs. An "Apple Silicon Engineering Group" document from 2023 maps Apple parts numbers to TSMC's numbers, with details of Apple employees in the document's revision history.
A purported Qualcomm document from 2021 shows mechanical information on the functioning of a power management integrated circuit with drawings, watermarked "Confidential - May Contain Trade Secrets."
The World Leaks website is only accessible on the dark web, meaning it is beyond the reach of search engines. Reuters was not able to reach World Leaks for comment.
India is on track to make 26% of the world's iPhones in 2026, up from 6% four years ago, according to Counterpoint, a research firm.
Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Tony Munroe and Thomas Derpinghaus
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Based in Bengaluru, Munsif Vengattil leads Reuters' technology news coverage in India. He tracks themes at the intersection of tech, business, and labor. A reporter for nine years, Munsif has written extensively on India's electronics manufacturing aspirations and its tech policy space, AI and election interference, satellite internet, streaming wars, and data breaches. His stories also focus on investigating corporate strategies and revealing India-specific initiatives and challenges of the biggest of tech firms - from Apple, Facebook, and Google, to Foxconn, Samsung, and Nvidia.
Aditya Kalra is the Company News Editor for Reuters in India, overseeing business coverage and reporting stories on some of the world's biggest companies. He joined Reuters in 2008 and has in recent years written stories on challenges and strategies of a wide array of companies -- from Amazon, Google and Walmart to Xiaomi, Starbucks and Reliance. He also extensively works on deeply-reported and investigative business stories.
Shares of Apple (AAPL 6.41%) fell about 6% on Thursday after the company did something it almost never does: raise prices. Apple raised the prices of nearly every Mac, iPad, HomePod, and Apple TV, along with its Vision Pro headset, with increases ranging from $100 to $300 on its most popular models -- and more on some high-end configurations. The M5 MacBook Pro, for example, now starts at $1,999, up $300. And the Mac Studio, powered by the M3 Ultra, saw a $1,300 price increase. These increases sparked the stock's worst single-day drop in more than a year.
So, why would Apple break with its pricing discipline now? And why did investors punish the stock for a move meant to protect its profits?
Image source: Getty Images.
A hundred-year flood The answer starts with a global shortage of memory chips, the result of an artificial intelligence (AI) spending boom that has upended the market for the components inside every device Apple sells.
"This is a hundred-year flood," Apple CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month. "I've never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years."
As cloud-computing providers race to build out AI data centers, they have been buying up the memory and storage those servers require, leaving far less supply for everyone else. The result has been a staggering run-up in costs. Contract prices for conventional DRAM (the working memory in computers and phones) jumped about 90% in the first quarter of 2026 alone, according to research firm TrendForce, then rose another 60% in the second quarter. NAND flash storage prices have surged at a similar pace. All told, memory and storage costs have climbed to about four times what they were three quarters ago.
For a company that builds memory and storage into every product it sells, a cost spike like that is impossible to absorb quietly. Apple said the rapid expansion of AI data centers had created an "extraordinary surge" in demand, and that it had reached a point where it could no longer shield customers from the increases.
"We're doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us," Cook said, "and we've been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable."
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What it means for Apple's margins On its face, raising prices should help Apple defend its rich profit margins. The trouble is what the move signals.
Apple's most recent quarter showed just how profitable the business had become. In its fiscal second quarter of 2026 (the period ended March 28, 2026), revenue rose 17% year over year to $111.2 billion, and earnings per share jumped 22%. Gross margin reached 49.3%, up from 47.1% a year earlier, lifted in part by a high-margin services business that set a record at about $31 billion.
But those results landed before the worst of the memory squeeze hit. The price increases are essentially Apple getting ahead of a cost problem that is only now flowing through its supply chain in a significant way -- and that creates risk in both directions. Absorb the higher costs, and Apple's prized margins compress. Pass them on, as it is now doing, and it risks softening demand for devices that just got more expensive.
The bigger question for investors is the iPhone, which brings in about half of Apple's revenue and was left untouched on Thursday, along with the Apple Watch and AirPods. That may not hold. New iPhone models are expected this fall, and research firm Counterpoint estimates the memory crunch could add about $200 in component costs per device, with any price increases reportedly hitting higher-storage versions hardest. A price hike on the iPhone would carry far more weight than one on the Mac or iPad.
At about $275 a share, Apple trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of about 33 -- a premium that reflects how much the market values its steady profits and growing services engine. A valuation like that leaves little cushion if margins come under pressure, which helps explain why the stock sold off even as management moved to defend the bottom line.
With this said, I'd argue that none of this undermines the long-term case for Apple. Apple still has a vast and growing installed base, a services business compounding at double-digit rates, and significant pricing power -- evident in the premium prices it commands relative to competition. Still, the memory shortage is no joke, and the next few quarters will test how much of that cost Apple can pass along without denting demand.
What will be really telling for Apple stock is how customers will react to an iPhone price increase. We might find out soon -- whether the company waits until it releases new iPhones this fall or increases prices in the next few weeks.
What smart people are saying about price hikes by Apple and Xbox By You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
and Shubhangi Goel You're currently following this author! Want to unfollow? Unsubscribe via the link in your email.
Apple and Microsoft's Xbox hiked prices on the same day due to a global shortage in memory chips driven by AI demands. Reuters Apple and Xbox are raising prices on consumer devices as the AI boom has caused a global shortage of memory and storage chips, pushing up costs across the electronics industry.
Apple on Thursday said it would increase the prices of some MacBooks and iPads by up to 20% worldwide, citing an "extraordinary surge" in demand for chips used in AI data centers. Hours later, Microsoft-owned Xbox announced its second console price increase in less than a year, raising prices by up to $150 from August as it cited the same memory and storage crunch.
The moves are the clearest sign yet that the race to build AI infrastructure is starting to hit consumers' wallets. Here's what smart people in business and tech are saying about the price hike.
Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities
Ives said that Apple may not risk customer churn. $ORBS via Getty Images In a note on Thursday, the tech megabull wrote that while Apple is known to secure low prices because of its bulk purchases, memory price increases have "forced" it to raise prices.
"We believe the company is in a strong position to increase prices without sacrificing hardware performance and risking increasing customer churn given the company's increasing focus on the higher-end consumer," Ives wrote.
Daniel Ahmed, director of research and insights at Niko Partners Ahmed said on X that the most important part of the announcement is that Xbox said console storage and memory prices have increased more than twofold — and that the company expects another doubling by the fall of 2027.
"This is also why I'm expecting another price increase for the Switch 2 in 2027 at this point," Ahmed said on Thursday.
"The delayed price increase this year is to help build up the install base in the Switch's 2nd year," he added.
Nabila Popal, senior director of International Data Corporation's data & analytics team Popal said on a LinkedIn post that the latest Apple price hikes were higher than she had expected, and that might be a signal for Apple's next possible move: iPhone hikes.
"The up to $500 hikes on MacBooks will only make the likely $100-$200 hikes on the iPhones seem relatively 'reasonable,'" wrote Popal. "Apple's Genius timing and strategic move to get the consumers used to the idea and announce it come after the increases to the MACs."
"I think the days of $50 price increases are over," she added.
Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management
Munster said that demand for Apple's products is largely inelastic Brian Ach/Getty Images for LocationWorld 2016 In a Thursday post on X, Munster said that, for the most part, a large price change leads to little change in Apple consumer demand.
"Apple's 1.5B consumers (my estimate) are locked into the ecosystem and, more importantly, get a ton of value out of the products even with the most recent price bump," he wrote.
He added: "Average life of a Mac is 4.5 years before it's traded in which means a $200 increase adds $3.70 a month to the cost of ownership."
Sawyer Merritt, tech influencer and investor Merritt wrote in a post on X on Thursday that he doesn't think this will be the last price hike for Apple.
"Xbox is increasing console prices by 25% in August, saying that console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x and that they expect another doubling by the fall of 2027," Merritt added.
Alex Cheema, cofounder of EXO Labs Cheema posted on X on Thursday that the 128 gigabyte M5 Max MacBook Pro just saw a 29% price hike.
"No new products, just higher prices," said the AI startup cofounder.
"A customer of ours bought 42 of these just before the price increase - they saved $67,200," Cheema added. "If you want to run local AI, you need to secure hardware ASAP."
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Apple Xbox Inflation More Tech Stocks Smart People Say
Asian markets are learning that the AI boom has a price tag.
A week that began with record highs ended with investors questioning whether surging demand for memory chips is becoming an inflation problem for technology buyers.
Apple’s decision to raise prices on iPads and MacBooks rattled sentiment, even as Micron’s earnings showed that chipmakers remain on the right side of the boom.
The result was a sharp pullback across Asia, a firmer dollar, renewed pressure on the yen and a more complicated read on risk before the quarter closes.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 3.8% on Friday, leaving it down 5.4% for the week after hitting a record high on Monday.
Japan’s Nikkei dropped 5%, while South Korea’s KOSPI slid 8.2%. Chinese blue chips and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also moved lower.
The trigger came from Apple, whose shares fell 6.1% overnight after it raised prices on iPads and MacBooks to offset soaring memory and storage costs.
The move erased roughly $250 billion from its market value and reminded investors that AI infrastructure spending can hurt as well as help.
Micron’s 16% surge to a record high showed where the profits are flowing.
Apple’s price hikes showed where the costs are landing. That split is now central to the market debate.
Currency markets added to the defensive tone.
The yen traded around 161.82 per dollar, close to its weakest level in four decades and beyond the 160 mark widely seen as a possible intervention zone for Japanese authorities.
The currency found little support from US data. Inflation came in broadly as expected, while revised figures showed the US economy grew faster in the first quarter because imports were marked lower.
The softer detail was consumer spending, which nearly stalled and raised questions about second-quarter momentum.
The dollar index held near 101.46, close to its strongest level since May 2025.
Treasury yields were steady after easing overnight, with two-year yields near 4.125% and 10-year yields around 4.402%.
Oil provided some relief, but not enough to turn sentiment.
Brent slipped 0.25% to $75.07 a barrel after bouncing overnight on reports that a vessel was attacked while leaving the Strait of Hormuz.
More stranded tankers have crossed the waterway with military escorts, easing supply fears. Yet Iran’s warning against unapproved routes means the risk premium has not disappeared.
Precious metals remained under pressure from the stronger dollar and rate concerns.
Spot gold hovered near $3,992 an ounce after an 12% monthly slide, while silver was around $56.30, down roughly 25% for the month.
A mixed session on Wall Street uncovers a deeper anxiety—what happens if tech giants decide the AI boom is getting too expensive? Plus, a look at today's inflation data.
Shares of Apple (AAPL 6.41%) sank on Thursday after the tech titan was forced to raise prices across several of its popular products.
Image source: Getty Images.
Surging component costs are denting Apple's margins Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a boon for many chipmakers. Memory maker Micron reported blowout results on Wednesday, with its revenue more than quadrupling.
But Micron's gain in Apple's pain. Soaring prices for memory chips and storage are driving up Apple's costs.
To preserve its margins, the iPhone maker was forced to institute a series of price hikes on Macs and iPads.
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"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," CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal earlier this month.
Here are some of the notable price changes:
Base model MacBook Neo up $100 to $599 MacBook Air with 512 gigabytes of storage up $200 to $1,299 MacBook Pro with 1 terabyte of storage up $300 to $1,999 The downside of price increases Although these price hikes will bolster Apple's gross margins, they're also likely to dent sales.
Worse still, the situation could continue to deteriorate.
During its earnings call on Wednesday, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said he expects memory supply constraints to persist beyond 2027.
Joe Tenebruso has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple and Micron Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Apple (AAPL 6.41%) made news on the consumer devices side of the business today. The stock closed at $275.15, down 6.12%. Apple fell after it raised prices across Macs, iPads, home devices, and Vision Pro to offset higher memory and storage costs.
Trading volume reached 106.4 million shares, coming in about 119% above its three-month average of 48.5 million shares.
How the markets moved todayThe S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.01%) slipped 0.01% to 7,357, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 0.46%) fell 0.46% to 25,359. Among consumer electronics and personal computing hardware and software peers, Microsoft (MSFT 3.66%) closed at $352.83, down 3.46%, and Alphabet (GOOGL 0.30%) ended at $343.71, down 0.46%, as Apple and other large technology names faced selling.
What this means for investorsThe market tide turned against Apple and other hardware manufacturers today after Micron Technology (MU +14.50%) reported stellar earnings after the bell yesterday. Micron stock soared nearly 16% after blockbuster earnings that included revenue quadrupling year over year and a record adjusted gross margin of about 85%.
Investors correctly concluded that meant advanced memory pricing continues to soar, potentially impacting the bottom lines of companies like Apple. While soaring memory and storage costs aren’t a new data point for investors, that confirmation came as Apple announced price increases on several of its products.
That leads to two questions for investors. First, will consumers absorb the higher price environment for Apple devices, or will sales begin to lag? Second, what will Apple’s profit margin look like going forward? That uncertainty led to today’s stock sell-off.
Howard Smith has positions in Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, Micron Technology, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Apple (AAPL - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $275.15, demonstrating a -6.12% change from the preceding day's closing price. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.01% loss on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.14%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.46%.
Shares of the maker of iPhones, iPads and other products have depreciated by 5.72% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 2.57%, and the S&P 500's loss of 1.4%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Apple in its upcoming release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.88, up 19.75% from the prior-year quarter. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $108.71 billion, indicating a 15.6% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $8.74 per share and a revenue of $478.03 billion, indicating changes of +17.16% and +14.87%, respectively, from the former year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Apple. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed an unchanged state. Apple is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
In the context of valuation, Apple is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 33.52. This represents a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 22.99.
Investors should also note that AAPL has a PEG ratio of 2.55 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Computer - Micro Computers industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.07.
The Computer - Micro Computers industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 20, positioning it in the top 9% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.
Just a few hours after Apple announced price increases across its hardware lineup, Microsoft revealed that Xbox game consoles are also getting more expensive. In addition, the company announced that it’s discontinuing its 2TB model.
Starting August 1, Xbox console prices will increase worldwide. The 512GB models will cost $100 more, while the 1TB versions are set to rise by $150.
Price changes are as follows:
Xbox Series S 512GB is increasing from $399 to $499. Xbox Series S 1TB is increasing from $449 to $599. Xbox Series X 1TB Digital is increasing from $599 to $750. Xbox Series X 1TB Disc is increasing from $649 to $800. The company says the increases are being driven by rising memory and console storage prices, with costs more than 2.5x higher than previous levels. Microsoft warned that these prices could double by the fall of 2027. The move comes less than a year after the company raised Xbox prices in the U.S. last October.
The announcement follows Apple’s own round of price hikes affecting products such as Macs and iPads. Apple cited the same industry-wide pressures, pointing to soaring memory and storage costs fueled by unprecedented demand for AI infrastructure and data centers.
Together, the back-to-back announcements underscore how much the AI boom is impacting the price of everyday electronics. As technology companies invest heavily in larger AI systems, demand for advanced memory and storage chips has surged, tightening supply chains and pushing costs higher across the industry.
Microsoft attempted to soften the blow by highlighting financing options and plans to expand access to lower-cost hardware. In its announcement, the company said it is “working on new programs to provide previously played consoles at lower prices.”
Customers purchasing eligible Xbox hardware through Microsoft Stores will have greater access to buy now, pay later programs, while Amazon shoppers can qualify for up to 12 months of 0% APR financing on eligible purchases.
Additionally, Microsoft now joins Sony in asking gamers to pay more, with PS5 digital now costing significantly more than it did at launch, rising from $499 to $599. Meanwhile, Nintendo’s increase for the Switch 2 has been comparatively modest, but the rival may face pressure to raise prices further in the future.
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Lauren covers media, streaming, apps and platforms at TechCrunch.
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Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) became the focal point of a CNBC investment-committee debate after the company raised prices across its Mac, iPad, HomePod, and Vision Pro lines to offset surging memory and storage chip costs. The move sent the stock down 6.2% on Thursday, June 25. Now, some investors are wondering whether this marks a good entry point for the stock.
The Catalyst: A “Hundred-Year Flood” in Memory CEO Tim Cook described the supply backdrop as a “hundred-year flood” for memory and storage costs, with AI data-center demand driving component prices sharply higher. Apple pre-announced Mac price increases of 15-20% and iPad increases of 15-25%, with dollar hikes ranging from $100 to $300 on affected SKUs. iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods pricing was left unchanged, though the company flagged the potential for further adjustments.
The Committee’s Split View The segment framed the central risk as “demand destruction,” with the concern being that raising prices could lower consumers’ appetite for new products. One committee member countered that the stock found support near its April low, coinciding with a rising 200-day moving average around $269. That technical reference lines up with Apple’s 200-day SMA at $268.6338 on June 24, 2026, up from roughly $248.28 in early April.
Another panelist offered the bull case directly: “If I’m a trader, I’m standing back, but if I’m an investor, I think it’s a great opportunity,” arguing Apple has more pricing power than any other company in the market. Wedbush maintained an Outperform rating through the drop, viewing the price increases as the first formal pass-through of rising component costs and expressing confidence in Apple’s ability to navigate the “memory storm.”
What the Fundamentals Say In Q2 FY26, Apple posted revenue of $111.18 billion, up 16.6% year over year, with diluted EPS of $2.01 beating the $1.94 consensus, the eighth consecutive EPS beat. Cook called it Apple’s “best March quarter ever,” citing iPhone revenue of $56.99 billion on iPhone 17 demand and record Services revenue of $30.98 billion. The board also authorized a new $100 billion buyback and lifted the dividend 4% to $0.27 per share.
Margins have been expanding faster than the top line. Gross profit grew 22.1% year over year against 16.6% revenue growth, a sign of pricing leverage that supports the “pricing power” argument.
Where Traders and Markets See the Stock Technical indicators help explain why the CNBC panel was divided. As of June 24, 2026, Apple’s 14-day RSI stood at 45.84, putting the stock in neutral territory rather than oversold. Meanwhile, Polymarket traders assigned a 93.6% probability that Apple would finish the week above $270, but only a 45.0% chance it would close above $280, suggesting expectations for further near-term upside remain mixed.
Wall Street is more optimistic over the longer term. The consensus analyst price target is $314.42, supported by 30 Buy ratings, 15 Holds, and just 3 Sells. However, Arthur D. Levinson, Apple’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, sold more than 270,000 shares during May, and recent insider activity has been skewed toward selling rather than buying. However, much of that selling appears to be tied to scheduled vesting and prearranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plans.
What to Watch Next The key question is whether Apple’s higher prices will hurt demand. If Mac and iPad sales remain strong despite the price increases, it would reinforce the company’s pricing power and ease concerns about margin pressure. If demand weakens during the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons, it would support the argument that higher prices are beginning to discourage buyers.
For now, both sides have evidence to support their case. Apple trades at roughly 36 times earnings, while its 200-day moving average continues to provide an important technical support level. Traders are staying cautious in the near term, while longer-term investors see the recent pullback as a potential buying opportunity.
Apple is the latest to join the list of tech giants that are increasing product prices because of the rising price of components. But while it increased prices Thursday on items like the budget-friendly MacBook Neo (now $699) and iPad (now $449), a few popular Apple products were unaffected -- notably the iPhone and the Apple Watch.
Other products that appeared not to see price increases included Apple Displays, the Apple Pencil and other accessories like phone cases and keyboards.
Since Apple cites the RAM shortage for the price hikes, it's surprising that the iPhone and Apple Watch -- both of which are essentially little computers -- still have the same prices we saw yesterday.
Apple could mark up more prices soonSo why is it that two of Apple's flagship devices and accessories, like AirPods, escaped the markup? CNET Editor-at-Large Scott Stein has a thought: "They're waiting to rip that band-aid off in the fall," Stein said.
Historically, Apple has announced new products, like a new iPhone, at an event in September. Stein speculates that we could see a price jump when new devices are released, and other devices won't be exempt over time.
"I don't think a single Apple product is going to survive price increases," Stein said. The sweeping price increases lead Stein to believe that more devices will cost more over time. Especially since most of Apple's devices use chips that are in high demand.
Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Future prices depend on the chips The future of prices could depend on chips being sourced and availability, Stein said. Apple reportedly has a preliminary chip agreement with Intel amid the chip shortage and high demand with its current supplier, Taiwan Semiconductor. Whether we see price increases on other products in the future will be up to Apple.
For now, there's still time to get a deal on an Apple product, but not for long. Some retailers, like Amazon, still have some of Apple's original prices listed. It's unclear when we'll see the price increases across retailers. However, Amazon has a few Apple devices on sale, like the 11-inch iPad Pro and the iPad mini. But don't wait too long because Amazon's Prime Day sale ends June 26.
Dan Ives, Wedbush Securities, joins 'Closing Bell' to discuss Apple's latest price hikes, why the company decided to make the decision now and much more.
Apple raised prices of Macs, iPads, home devices, and the Vision Pro to offset cost hikes caused by a shortage of memory chips and storage. Bloomberg's consumer tech lead Mark Gurman joins Ed Ludlow on "Bloomberg Tech.
The prices of iPads and MacBooks are rising by 15% to 25%. Companies that make storage products are focused on lucrative data center contracts rather than consumer products.
ToplineApple’s stock plunged on Thursday after the tech giant announced price hikes for laptops and tablets, following a warning from CEO Tim Cook that the increases were “unavoidable” as an AI surge fueled higher memory and storage costs.
Customers try out Apple's MacBook Neo laptops.
VCG via Getty Images
Key FactsShares of Apple dropped by 5.3% to around $277 as of Thursday afternoon, paring back earlier losses of up to 6%, lowering its market value by roughly $275 billion to just over $4 trillion.
The slide moves Apple below Alphabet ($4.1 trillion) as the third-largest company in the world by market capitalization, with the Google parent ranked behind Nvidia ($4.7 trillion).
The price changes spiked the starting cost of the MacBook Pro 1T, the cheapest MacBook Pro, to $1,999 from $1,699—the largest increase of any single product.
The MacBook Neo—the company's cheapest laptop—went up in price from $599 to $699 and the cheapest MacBook Air, the 512GB, went from $1099 to $1,299.
The cost of some iPads also spiked significantly—the iPad Air 128GB now starts at $749 (up from $599) and the iPad Pro Wifi 256GB increased from $999 to $1,199.
Cook earlier this month warned that soaring costs of memory and storage chips would be passed along to the consumer and, on Thursday, the company called the surge in demand unprecedented: "We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”
CRUCIAL QUOTE“This is a hundred-year flood,” Cook told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month. “I’ve never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years.”
WHAT TO WATCH FORHow much the next iPhone costs. Apple’s next run of phones—the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max and the rumored foldable iPhone Fold/Ultra—are expected to be unveiled in September. Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC he estimates the higher chip costs will mean price increases for iPhones of about $150 to $200 per phone, and the company on Thursday left the door open for more hikes when it said the chip crisis has “reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products.”
TANGENTApple isn't the only company raising its tech prices. Nintendo told customers its flagship console will cost $50 more come September, and Sony and Microsoft also recently hiked the cost of their PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Lenovo has upped its PC and server pricing, and Dell and HP have also raised their laptop prices.
Key backgroundThe surge in demand for memory chips for AI data centers has put a strain on the supply left for consumer products. Sassine Ghazi, CEO of Synopsys, a semiconductor company, told CNBC much of the world’s memory chip supply is “going directly to AI infrastructure, but many other products need memory,” which has left other industries “starved.” Memory contract prices surged 80% to 90% in the first quarter of 2026 alone, according to Counterpoint Research, after shooting up 50% in the last quarter of 2025. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley predict the undersupply of chips will persist and keep memory prices heavily inflated through at least 2027.
ForbesHow AI Is Driving Up The Costs Of Phones, Games And ComputersBy Conor MurrayForbesAI’s Hidden Cost: The Global Memory Shortage Threat To Affordable TechBy Tim Bajarin
ForbesThe World’s Largest Tech Companies: Memory Chips Skyrocket Amid AI Data Center BuildoutBy Rashi Shrivastava
Investors are certainly familiar with just how profitable Apple (AAPL 5.56%) is. Its reported net income margin in the fiscal 2026 second quarter (ended March 28) was a fantastic 26.6%. Pricing power and brand loyalty help drive bottom-line performance.
This kind of financial strength has allowed the business to take care of its shareholders. To be more specific, there are 850 billion reasons (and counting) why investors love Apple stock.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Apple started its capital returns program in 2012. Since then, the business has repurchased $851 billion worth of shares, a truly massive figure that exceeds the current market capitalizations of all but 18 publicly traded companies.
On April 30, Apple added $100 billion in capacity for additional stock buybacks. This adds to the $64 billion remaining on its prior authorization. In total, this means it won't be long until Apple eclipses $1 trillion in cumulative share repurchases.
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All else equal, buybacks introduce a tailwind to earnings per share (EPS) because they reduce the number of shares outstanding. In the past decade, Apple's diluted EPS has risen at a compound annual rate of 15.5%. During that time, the diluted outstanding share count shrank by about 33%.
Apple's stock price has soared 1,140% in the last 10 years (as of June 23). Investors should credit some of this performance to the leadership team's capital allocation policy.
Neil Patel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
HomeEconomy & PoliticsEconomic OutlookEconomic OutlookOil prices aren’t the only contributor to high inflationPublished: June 25, 2026 at 3:10 p.m. ET
Apple is raising prices in another sign of persistent inflation. Photo: Getty ImagesGas is getting cheaper, but Apple is raising prices. Which one tell us more about the persistence of inflation?
Probably the higher cost of buying an iPhone or Macbook.
Apple CEO Tim Cook says the boom in AI data centers has made price hikes "unavoidable". Justin Sullivan/Getty Images It's possible that AI will bring us all kinds of amazing things in the future.
In the present, AI is making things more expensive.
And Apple just showed us how much more expensive: It is raising prices on some of its Macs and iPads by at least 15% and directly attributing the hikes to the AI boom — specifically the buildout of data centers.
"The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage," the company said in a statement. "We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly."
In real-world terms, that means Apple's entry-level MacBook Air now costs $1,299 — up from $1,099. Its cheapest iPad Air, which cost $599 on Wednesday, now costs $749.
Apple had previewed the price hikes last week, when CEO Tim Cook called them "unavoidable." The company hasn't raised the prices of new iPhones, though we'll see what happens when it introduces new models this fall. Apple's statement says it "need[s] to begin raising prices on a number of products," which suggests these may not be the only increases.
Apple's announcement is important for people who want to buy new computers and tablets. But I think it's much more meaningful than that: It's the first time a giant consumer company has come out and told consumers that prices are going up because of AI.
That feels like an important milestone. That's because so much of the AI debate centers around what people think could happen in the future. If you're an AI optimist, it could help us find new wonder drugs or supercharge new industries. If you're a skeptic, you worry that it will create new bioweapons, or hollow out big swaths of the economy.
But today, in the here and now, Apple is saying things are more expensive because of AI.
That idea has been banging around the tech and financial worlds for some time, as the data center push squeezes on computer chips. That's good for some companies, like chipmakers Micron and SK Hynix, and an issue for just about everyone that needs chips for their products, which is… a lot of companies.
Much of this has been opaque to normal people. Now lots of normal people — even those who aren't in the market for new iPads and MacBooks — are going to hear that AI is making iPads and MacBooks more expensive.
That's the kind of data point that sticks in your head. And it's very hard to dislodge.
The AI industry has plenty of money and influence. But tech usually succeeds by bringing people something new or making something radically cheaper. Now tech says the same stuff you bought yesterday costs much more today.
It's hard to argue your way out of that one.
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AI Inflation Data Centers More Apple Tim Cook iPad Policy
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) has become one of the more interesting setups in mega-cap tech. After a 46.9% rally over the past year and an 8.01% year-to-date gain, the stock consolidated in June. With earnings accelerating and the iPhone 17 cycle feeding the top line, our model sees room for double-digit upside.
Our 24/7 Wall St. price target for Apple is $338.76, implying 15.59% upside from $293.08. The recommendation is buy, with high confidence at 90%.
24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary Metric Value Current Price $293.08 24/7 Wall St. Price Target $338.76 Upside 15.59% Recommendation BUY Confidence Level 90% An Earnings Run That Keeps Surprising to the Upside Apple’s March quarter was its strongest in years. Revenue came in at $111.184 billion, up 16.6% year over year, with EPS of $2.01 beating the $1.94 consensus. That marked the 8th consecutive quarter of beating Wall Street estimates.
iPhone revenue hit $56.994 billion, Services set an all-time record at $30.976 billion, and gross margin expanded to 49.3%. Tim Cook called it “our best March quarter ever, with revenue of $111.2 billion and double-digit growth across every geographic segment.”
The stock pulled back from its May high near $308.82, down 5.1% over the past month. Shares sit just 1% off the 52-week high of $317.40 and well above the low of $198.47.
The Case for $353 and Higher Bulls have plenty to work with. The iPhone 17 family was described by Cook as “the most popular lineup in our history,” with US customer satisfaction at 99%. Greater China revenue grew 28% in the March quarter, and India remains, in Cook’s words, “a huge opportunity.”
Services growth of 16% against a 2.5 billion active device base provides recurring, high-margin revenue. Prediction markets put a 96.1% probability on an iPhone 18 release this year, with foldable iPhone odds at 84.5%. Our bull case targets $353.41, a 20.59% return.
The Risks Worth Watching Cook flagged “significantly higher memory costs” ahead and warned the impact will grow beyond June. R&D spending is accelerating well above company-wide growth, which could pressure operating leverage.
Insider activity has been net selling, with 47 transactions recently. The CEO transition, with John Ternus taking over September 1, introduces execution risk. The trailing P/E of 36 leaves little margin for a miss.
The buyback authorization of $100 billion and ongoing margin expansion to 49.3% partly offset cost worries. Our bear case lands at $290.72, essentially flat.
Apple Price Prediction 2026-2030 The 24/7 Wall St. price target of $338.76 reflects high confidence (90%) and a buy rating. The tipping factor is earnings reacceleration. Revenue growth jumped from 7.94% in Q4 FY25 to 16.6% in Q2 FY26, and gross margins keep expanding.
The bullish case strengthens if Apple delivers another double-digit revenue result in the June quarter, in line with the 14-17% guidance. The thesis weakens if memory cost pressure compresses gross margin below 47% or if China growth stalls. Right now, the setup tilts positive.
Here is where our model projects Apple could trade in the coming years, assuming current growth trajectories and market conditions hold.
Year 24/7 Wall St. Price Target 2026 $338.76 2027 $370.00 2028 $402.00 2029 $435.00 2030 $468.42 These projections assume Apple executes on the iPhone refresh cycle and Services flywheel. Significant upside or downside could result from a foldable launch, AI monetization, or a sharper geopolitical hit to China revenue.
Apple (AAPL) fell 0.56% intraday after the company announced price hikes across its MacBook and iPad lineup, its first formal move to pass higher memory and sto
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL, XETRA:APC) shares fell more than 6% on Thursday after the company announced price increases across several MacBook and iPad models, marking its first formal move to pass rising memory and storage costs on to consumers amid intensifying AI-driven demand for components.
The decline represented Apple’s steepest single-day drop since April 2025, as investors reacted to both the scale of the price increases and the possibility of further adjustments ahead. Apple’s online store was briefly taken offline Thursday morning before returning with updated pricing across its hardware lineup.
Among the changes, the entry-level MacBook Neo rose from $599 to $699, the MacBook Air 512GB increased from $1,099 to $1,299, and the MacBook Pro 1TB climbed from $1,699 to $1,999.
On the tablet side, the iPad Air 128GB increased from $599 to $749, while the iPad Pro Wi-Fi 256GB moved from $999 to $1,199.
In a statement, Apple said the consumer electronics industry is facing “an unprecedented challenge” due to a rapid surge in demand for memory and storage driven by AI data center expansion.
The company said it has “reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products,” adding that further increases remain possible.
Wedbush analysts described Apple’s move as a response to what it called a “memory storm,” noting that average selling prices for Mac computers rose roughly 15% to 20%, and iPads increased between 15% and 25%.
The firm highlighted the MacBook Air’s $200 increase, the MacBook Pro’s $300 increase, and the MacBook Neo’s $100 increase, while noting that iPhone pricing remained unchanged.
The firm wrote that previous cost pressures had largely been absorbed through inventory and supplier leverage, but argued that the current environment has become “unsustainable,” echoing Apple CEO Tim Cook’s description of price increases as “unavoidable.”
Wedbush added that while Apple is well positioned to pass on higher costs given its premium customer base, continued inflation in memory and storage could force additional pricing actions.
Wedbush also pointed to supply chain implications, noting that Apple’s recent partnership with Intel could play a role in reducing exposure to component shortages and diversifying manufacturing capacity. The firm framed Apple’s broader US manufacturing commitments as part of a longer-term strategy to secure chip supply amid what it described as a multi-year AI-driven hardware cycle.
Wedbush maintained its 'Outperform' rating on Apple with a $400 price target, even as shares lower to about $274 on Thursday in response to the pricing changes and concerns over demand elasticity.
Apple customers may experience sticker shock next time they look to buy one of many products. The company is raising prices of Macs, iPads, home devices, and the Vision Pro to offset cost hikes caused by a shortage of memory chips and storage.
It was encouraging to learn that Apple (AAPL 4.58%) plans to launch a revamped version of Siri -- its virtual assistant powered by artificial intelligence (AI) -- later this year. However, the market still views the consumer technology company as an afterthought in the AI race, especially since its peers are spending so much money to expand their technical infrastructure.
But Apple isn't ignoring the trend. Here's one metric showing that it's definitely focused on AI.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
During its fiscal 2026 second quarter (ended March 28), the company reported year-over-year revenue growth of 16.6%. This was the fastest top-line gain since the 2021 fourth quarter.
The company's research and development (R&D) expenses soared at a faster clip, rising 33.6% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year. This isn't a new occurrence, but spending is accelerating. Between fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2025, Apple's R&D expenses grew by 84.2%, while revenue was up 51.6%.
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CEO Tim Cook, who will step down from his role in September, said this on the second-quarter earnings call in response to an analyst's question about Apple's AI investment strategy: "We are investing in products and services, and we see opportunities in both. We could not be more excited about how the future is playing out."
Chief financial officer Kevan Parekh added: "From the start, we have believed AI is a really important investment area for Apple, We are going to be doing that incrementally on top of what we normally invest in our product road map."
Apple's advantage comes from its more than 2.5 billion active devices scattered around the globe. Its incredible distribution means the company's AI strategy rests solely on its ability to drive greater product and service revenue, further strengthening its powerful ecosystem.
Neil Patel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
SummaryCompaniesAI datacenter demand squeezing memory supply for device makersMacBook Neo's starting price rises to $699 from $599Shares fall, analysts warn rivals may need steeper increasesSAN FRANCISCO, June 25 (Reuters) - Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab raised iPad and MacBook prices on Thursday, saying it could no longer shield customers from soaring memory and storage chip costs driven by the AI industry's datacenter buildout.
The move does not affect Apple's main cash cow, the iPhone. But it would take starting price of the Neo - its lowest priced laptop aimed at winning marketshare from affordable Windows and Chromebook laptops - from $599 to $699 months after launch.
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The increase shows even the world's most valuable consumer electronics company with supply chain relationships that are the envy of the industry is not immune to a memory price surge that has dulled the outlook for smartphone and PC sales.
Memory makers such as Micron (MU.O), opens new tab have in recent months prioritized orders from AI chipmakers like Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab, helping them earn record profit but leaving little supply for electronics makers that have been forced to increase prices.
"We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly," Apple said in a statement. "We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products, including today's increases for iPad and Mac."
Apple hiked the price of MacBook Air with 512 gigabytes of storage rose to $1,299 from $1,099, while the MacBook Pro with 1 terabyte of storage rose to $1,999 from $1,699, according to updated prices on its website. The iPad Air with 128 gigabytes of storage rose from $599 to $749, among other changes.
Apple also raised prices for both versions of its HomePod smart speaker and Apple TV set-top box. Shares of the company fell nearly 5%, while rival Dell (DELL.N), opens new tab was down more than 8%.
Rival device makers may have to raise prices even more sharply than Apple, whose deep supplier ties have cushioned it from the full hit, several analysts said.
"The memory environment is tough and remains structurally tough for the foreseeable future," said Ben Bajarin, CEO of technology consulting firm Creative Strategies.
Apple said in April existing inventories had helped it keep its gross margins above Wall Street expectations but that rising memory costs would start to catch up by the end of this month, with profitability expected to fall slightly.
"We expect significantly higher memory costs," CEO Tim Cook said on a conference call with analysts in late April.
"Where we don't give color beyond June, I can tell you that beyond the June quarter, we believe memory costs will drive an increasing impact on our business," Cook had said.
MEMORY SURGE ADDS PRESSURE ON ELECTRONICS MAKERSApple has not disclosed what steps besides price hike it has taken to address rising memory costs. "We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions," the company said on Thursday.
Analysts expect Apple to increase iPhone prices in the coming months and said the latest hike could prompt some potential buyers to advance their purchase decisions.
"The iPhone isn't spared, its hike is coming," said Nabila Popal, a senior research director at IDC. "It was incredibly strategic for Apple to make the price hike announcements prior to the iPhone fall launch, so the headlines at launch is not the price hikes but the value the new phones bring."
Prices of dynamic random access memory, used in virtually all modern tech gadgets, rose as much as 98% in the first quarter of 2026 and is set to jump by another 58% to 63% in the current quarter, according to industry tracker TrendForce.
That surge, dubbed by some experts as "RAMageddon", has been driven by a boom in AI data center construction, with companies like Nvidia signing long-term deals with memory makers who are racing to increase capacity.
Micron said on Wednesday it has locked in $22 billion in such long-term commitments from customers looking to secure their memory supplies.
The rising costs are expected to weigh heavily on device sales this year, with research firm IDC estimating that the smartphone market would see its biggest-ever annual decline of nearly 14% this year while the PC market will fall 11.3%.
Among the notable bright spots has been the MacBook Neo launched in March, which helped power Apple's strong sales forecast for the June quarter and has even led some industry watchers to revise their estimates for PC sales.
With its increased price, it has now lost a $100 advantage over the $699 XPS 13 laptop that Dell unveiled last month especially to take on the Neo, while also making it more expensive than some Chromebooks from Lenovo and Asus.
Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab
Apple is raising prices on several products to offset cost hikes caused by a shortage of memory chips and storage. Prices are going up for the MacBook Neo, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPad Air and iPad Pro.
ToplineApple on Thursday announced price hikes for laptops and tablets ranging from $100 to $300 per item after CEO Tim Cook warned higher memory and storage costs fueled by the AI surge would make the increases "unavoidable.”
Customers try out Apple's MacBook Neo laptops.
VCG via Getty Images
Key FactsThe price changes spiked the starting cost of the MacBook Pro 1T, the cheapest MacBook Pro, to $1,999 from $1,699—the largest increase of any single product.
The MacBook Neo—the company's cheapest laptop—went up in price from $599 to $699 and the cheapest MacBook Air, the 512GB, went from $1099 to $1,299.
The cost of some iPads also spiked significantly—the iPad Air 128GB now starts at $749 (up from $599) and the iPad Pro Wifi 256GB increased from $999 to $1,199.
Cook earlier this month warned that soaring costs of memory and storage chips would be passed along to the consumer and, on Thursday, the company called the surge in demand unprecedented: "We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”
CRUCIAL QUOTE“This is a hundred-year flood,” Cook told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month. “I’ve never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years.”
WHAT TO WATCH FORHow much the next iPhone costs. Apple’s next run of phones—the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max and the rumored foldable iPhone Fold/Ultra—are expected to be unveiled in September. Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC he estimates the higher chip costs will mean price increases for iPhones of about $150 to $200 per phone, and the company on Thursday left the door open for more hikes when it said the chip crisis has “reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products.”
TANGENTApple isn't the only company raising its tech prices. Nintendo told customers its flagship console will cost $50 more come September, and Sony and Microsoft also recently hiked the cost of their PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Lenovo has upped its PC and server pricing, and Dell and HP have also raised their laptop prices.
Key backgroundThe surge in demand for memory chips for AI data centers has put a strain on the supply left for consumer products. Sassine Ghazi, CEO of Synopsys, a semiconductor company, told CNBC much of the world’s memory chip supply is “going directly to AI infrastructure, but many other products need memory,” which has left other industries “starved.” Memory contract prices surged 80% to 90% in the first quarter of 2026 alone, according to Counterpoint Research, after shooting up 50% in the last quarter of 2025. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley predict the undersupply of chips will persist and keep memory prices heavily inflated through at least 2027.
ForbesHow AI Is Driving Up The Costs Of Phones, Games And ComputersBy Conor MurrayForbesAI’s Hidden Cost: The Global Memory Shortage Threat To Affordable TechBy Tim Bajarin
ForbesThe World’s Largest Tech Companies: Memory Chips Skyrocket Amid AI Data Center BuildoutBy Rashi Shrivastava
The artificial intelligence boom is creating winners and losers in places many investors never expected. While most attention remains fixed on GPUs from Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction), memory chips have quietly become one of the industry’s biggest bottlenecks.
Every AI server requires massive amounts of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and DRAM, and supply simply can’t keep pace with demand. The result is a classic supply crunch: memory manufacturers are reporting surging profits while technology companies are paying sharply higher component costs.
Apple’s decision to raise prices on select Mac and iPad models by roughly 20% is the latest sign that AI-driven inflation has arrived — and consumers are beginning to feel it.
Micron’s Earnings Reveal the Scale of the Shortage If investors want to understand why Apple is raising prices, they only need to look at yesterday’s stunning earnings report from Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU).
Micron reported revenue and profit growth fueled by soaring demand for both HBM and DRAM. Its HBM supply is effectively sold out through 2026, while customers are placing orders years in advance to secure capacity.
Even more telling, Micron has indicated it can currently satisfy only about 50% to 66% of customer demand in HBM and DRAM for AI applications. That’s not a sign of weak production but rather evidence demand is overwhelming supply.
The same dynamic is playing out across the industry.
Company Key AI Memory Products Current Market Condition Micron HBM, DRAM, NAND HBM sold out through 2026, expanding capacity Samsung Electronics HBM, DRAM, NAND Expanding AI memory capacity SK hynix HBM, DRAM Leading HBM supplier, capacity constrained but expanding AI infrastructure spending is absorbing nearly every available memory chip manufacturers can produce.
Apple Is Paying the Price Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) sits at the center of this storm because it is the world’s largest buyer of memory chips. The company just announced it was increasing average prices about 20% across select Mac and iPad models, citing higher memory and storage component costs. Those increases weren’t arbitrary. They reflect a market where DRAM and NAND prices have risen sharply as suppliers prioritize higher-margin AI products.
CEO Tim Cook recently compared today’s memory pricing environment to a “100-year flood,” an unusually vivid description from a CEO known for measured language.
Micron reporting record earnings because memory prices are climbing — and Apple raises prices because memory costs are climbing — makes it clear who is helping fund those higher profits.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Apple will suffer. The company benefits from one of the strongest customer ecosystems in consumer technology. Many users own an iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, and multiple subscription services. That loyalty gives Apple pricing power many competitors simply don’t have.
Unlike Apple, many PC manufacturers compete primarily on price. As memory costs rise, they face a difficult choice: absorb the higher costs and accept lower margins, or raise prices and risk weaker sales. Consumers are already holding onto smartphones and laptops longer than they did a decade ago. Higher prices could extend replacement cycles even further.
Granted, memory manufacturers are investing billions to expand capacity. Yet industry forecasts suggest shortages may persist into 2027 because AI data centers continue consuming growing amounts of HBM. More importantly, memory makers are allocating increasing production toward higher-margin HBM rather than the commodity DRAM used in many consumer devices.
That means AI servers aren’t just competing with other AI servers for memory. They’re competing with laptops, tablets, smartphones, and virtually every connected device consumers buy.
Key Takeaway In short, Apple’s 20% price increase is less about Apple and more about the new economics of AI. Memory has become the critical choke point in the semiconductor industry, allowing suppliers like Micron, Samsung, and SK hynix to command higher prices. Apple’s loyal customer base may help it weather the storm better than rivals, but consumers across the technology landscape are likely to face higher prices as memory shortages persist.
Ultimately, AI’s appetite for memory is creating a ripple effect that stretches far beyond data centers. The latest earnings from Micron and the latest price hikes from Apple suggest the same conclusion: AI-flation has arrived with a vengeance, and it may be with us for years.
Apple’s MacBooks and iPads are getting more expensive as the memory crunch deepens
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HomeIndustriesComputers/ElectronicsTech StocksTech StocksApple increased prices on select MacBooks and iPads Thursday morning on the heels of a blowout Micron earnings reportPublished: June 25, 2026 at 10:19 a.m. ET
Prices of popular Apple products like MacBooks are going up thanks to the artificial-intelligence boom.
Apple AAPL on Thursday updated pricing information on its online store, raising the price of MacBooks by between $100 and $300 and the price of iPads by as much as $200. The base MacBook Air is now priced at $1,299, up from $1,099, and the base MacBook Pro rose to $1,999 from $1,699. Apple also raised the price of its MacBook Neo budget laptop to $699 from $599.
About the Author
Emily Bary is MarketWatch's managing editor for companies coverage. She is based in New York.
Apple raised the prices of its Macs by 15% to 20% and iPads by 15% to 25% Thursday morning (June 25), attributing the increases to the surging costs of components used in the devices, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The company didn’t change the price of its iPhones, according to the report.
The increases came about a week after Apple CEO Tim Cook told the WSJ that the soaring costs of the memory and storage chips the company uses in its devices made price increases “inevitable.”
That report said artificial intelligence companies’ demand for the products is driving up prices.
Apple told the WSJ Thursday, per the report: “We have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”
Bloomberg reported Thursday that Apple’s price increases on Macs and iPads are global and that the company did not raise the prices of iPhones, Apple Watches or AirPods.
Apple said in the report that the company had shielded its customers from the rising prices of components but now needs to raise its prices on “a number of products including today’s increases for iPad and Mac.”
“We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions,” the company said in the report.
Reuters reported Thursday that Apple also raised prices on its HomePod smart speakers and its Apple TV set-top box.
The report said that the starting price of Apple’s lowest priced laptop, the Neo, which was introduced months ago to compete with other makers’ affordable laptops, increased from $599 to $699.
Cook told the WSJ in a report posted June 17 that Apple planned to raise prices due to a surge in the costs of memory and storage chips.
“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,” Cook said.
The report said the prices for memory and storage chips have quadrupled over the past year, driven by artificial intelligence companies’ demand for the products.
In response to the rising costs, companies that make PCs, smartphones, game consoles and other devices that use the chips have raised prices, per the report.
Apple shares fell nearly 5% on Wednesday after the company raised prices of several Mac and iPad models, becoming one of the latest consumer technology companies to pass on soaring memory and storage costs driven by the artificial intelligence boom.
The AAPL stock was down about 4.89% at the time of writing.
The price increases mark Apple's first formal move to pass higher component costs directly on to consumers after Chief Executive Tim Cook said the spike in memory prices had become impossible to absorb.
“The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge,” Apple said in a statement.
“The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”
The company added that it had “reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products,” while leaving open the possibility of further increases.
“We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions,” it said.
Under the revised pricing structure, the base MacBook Air now costs $1,299, an increase of $200.
The base MacBook Pro has risen by $300 to $1,999, while the entry-level MacBook Neo now starts at $699, up by $100.
The iPad lineup has also become more expensive.
The iPad Air price has increased by $150 to $749, while the iPad Pro now starts at $1,199, up by $200.
Apple has so far left iPhone prices unchanged.
Cook had signalled the move last week, telling The Wall Street Journal that the company could no longer fully shield customers from surging component costs linked to artificial intelligence infrastructure.
“This is a hundred-year flood,” Cook told the Journal. “I’ve never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years.”
The explosive growth of artificial intelligence has transformed the global memory market.
According to Counterpoint Research, memory and storage prices have quadrupled over the past three quarters as suppliers increasingly divert production toward high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers and accelerators.
Memory manufacturers such as Micron have prioritised orders from AI chipmakers, including Nvidia, helping drive record profits but leaving limited supply available for consumer electronics companies.
Apple now joins a growing list of electronics manufacturers increasing prices due to memory shortages.
Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Asus have all flagged price increases this year, while Samsung raised the prices of two versions of its S26 smartphone in the United States by $100.
The rapid increase in memory prices has raised questions about how Apple, the world's most valuable consumer electronics company, can manage mounting component expenses without hurting demand.
Investors had hoped Apple's scale and bargaining power would help it negotiate better terms with suppliers or offset costs through greater vertical integration.
The global DRAM market is dominated by Micron and South Korean firms SK Hynix and Samsung, all of which have surpassed $1 trillion in market value this year as they benefit from unprecedented demand for AI infrastructure from technology giants such as Google, Meta and Amazon.
Apple has also explored sourcing memory from Chinese suppliers YMTC and CXMT.
However, those efforts have encountered resistance from US policymakers, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, over security concerns.
A recent Morgan Stanley report described the situation as “chipflation,” estimating that memory prices have increased sixfold over the past year and warning that building additional manufacturing capacity could take years.
JPMorgan analysts estimate that DRAM and NAND memory, which currently account for roughly 10% to 15% of the bill of materials for an iPhone, could represent more than 45% by 2027.
Apple had warned in April that existing inventories had allowed it to maintain margins above Wall Street expectations, but said rising memory costs would eventually begin weighing on profitability by the end of June.
Despite the growing cost pressures, Apple's hardware business remained highly profitable in the March quarter.
The company expanded hardware gross margins to 38.7% from 35.9% a year earlier and reported total quarterly profit of $29.6 billion.
Shares of tech giant Apple Inc. NASDAQ: AAPL are trading just under $300 this week, as they continue to bounce off their low from earlier this month and move back towards the all-time high they hit a few weeks ago.
Apple Today
$294.98 +0.68 (+0.23%)
As of 03:17 PM Eastern
This is a fair market value price provided by Massive. Learn more.
52-Week Range$199.26▼
$317.40Dividend Yield0.37%
P/E Ratio35.67
Price Target$314.85
The bull case for the stock has been quietly strengthening despite the wobble that followed the recent Siri AI announcement. The latest piece of news adds another credible reason to think the next leg higher could already be underway.
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It was reported late last week that Apple has agreed to partner with Intel NASDAQ: INTC to design and manufacture some of its chips in the United States. It's a deal that, at first glance, seems to come out of nowhere, given Apple's history of moving away from Intel chips to its own in-house Apple Silicon several years ago.
However, when you start digging into the timing and the broader pressures the company has been navigating, it's hard to see this as anything other than a seriously strategic move. Let's jump in and see why below.
Why the Timing Is So CompellingThe big picture here is that Apple has been quietly grappling with several significant supply chain headaches, and this deal helps to ease them. The main one is memory chip pricing. As we covered recently, surging costs have begun to bite into Apple's margins to the point that Tim Cook has publicly acknowledged that the "situation has become unsustainable" and that "price increases are unavoidable." That's the kind of statement that doesn't get made lightly, particularly by a CEO famous for measured language.
Layered on top of that is Apple's longstanding overdependence on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company NYSE: TSM for its most advanced chips. TSMC's production lines are in extraordinary demand from AI chipmakers like NVIDIA NASDAQ: NVDA and Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ: AMD, which have steadily pushed up costs and intensified the risk of bottlenecks for everyone who relies on the foundry.
The Right Deal at the Right TimeApple has been chasing a more diversified manufacturing footprint for years, with expansion into Vietnam, India, and the US, but a deal of this scale with Intel takes that effort to a whole new level.
The team at Wedbush put it well, noting that "this is the right time to do this deal with Apple looking to diversify its manufacturing footprint" while demand for advanced chips continues to climb. Coming as it does just ahead of what's expected to be a multi-year AI-driven device cycle, the deal effectively locks in domestic capacity right as Apple's AI ambitions begin to take shape.
A Political Tailwind That's Hard to IgnoreThe other reason this deal looks so well-timed is the wider political backdrop. The US administration has made it a stated priority to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to American soil, and Intel has emerged as the central beneficiary of that policy. Apple's agreement to partner with Intel on domestic production, therefore, brings the company directly into alignment with that political direction of travel.
For a multinational of Apple's scale, that's a strategic move on multiple levels. As we've seen with other big tech names in recent months, being on the wrong side of US trade and manufacturing policy can quickly turn into a sustained headwind.
By proactively committing to domestic chip production, Apple has essentially insulated itself from a chunk of that risk in one move, while also strengthening its standing as one of the largest investors in US manufacturing.
How This Supports Higher PricesOverall MarketRank™91st Percentile
Analyst RatingModerate Buy
Upside/Downside5.6% Upside
Short Interest LevelHealthy
Dividend StrengthStrong
News Sentiment0.88 Insider TradingSelling Shares
Proj. Earnings Growth9.50%
See Full Analysis
There's a third reason this deal is being received so well: it lays the groundwork for Apple to potentially raise prices on its core products with significantly less risk. With Tim Cook already flagging that price hikes are coming, likely in September alongside the new iPhone lineup, the Intel partnership gives Apple a credible story to tell consumers and shareholders about why those higher prices are sustainable.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said Apple is in a strong position to raise prices without sacrificing hardware performance or increasing customer churn, citing the company’s growing focus on higher-end consumers. That bullish view is also reflected in Apple’s Moderate Buy consensus rating, which suggests Wall Street remains constructive despite the stock’s recent wobble. For investors, that’s close to the dream scenario, and one that few companies could deliver at Apple’s scale.
The Bigger Picture for the StockWith Apple now firmly in motion on its AI strategy, the Intel partnership cementing a more resilient supply chain, and the broader political winds at its back, the company is going into the second half of the year with arguably its strongest setup in a long time.
And while the price action at the start of June briefly suggested otherwise, the underlying picture is becoming more optimistic by the day.
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