Apple raises prices on several Mac and iPad models

San Francisco (ANTARA) - Apple has raised the prices of several Mac computer models and iPad tablets due to higher costs for memory and storage chips, US media reported on Thursday (2/25).

In a statement cited by several media reports, Apple conveyed that it has never experienced such a significant increase in component costs within such a short period.

The company stated that it had previously been absorbing these higher costs to protect its customers, but has now reached a point where it must begin raising prices for several products, including Mac and iPad.

Price updates on the US Apple website show that the starting price for the MacBook Neo has increased from $599 (1 USD = Rp17,942) to $699. The 13-inch MacBook Air with 512 gigabyte (GB) of storage is now priced starting from $1,299, up from $1,099.

For iPad products, the starting price for the 11-inch iPad Air Wi-Fi with 128GB of storage has risen from $599 to $749. The 11-inch iPad Pro Wi-Fi model with 256GB of storage is now sold starting from $1,199, up from $999.

This latest price adjustment does not affect the iPhone.

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) data centres in recent years has driven demand for high-bandwidth memory and other chips, leading to a supply shortage of memory and storage components used in consumer electronic devices.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in April that the company expects memory costs to increase significantly in the third fiscal quarter ending 27 June, adding that high memory costs would have an increasing impact on its business after the June quarter.