Apple has increased the prices of several MacBook and iPad models worldwide, including in India, citing rising memory chip costs driven by AI infrastructure demand. Industry experts say semiconductor shortages and higher component prices are likely to persist for at least two years
Published Date – 26 June 2026, 01:25 PM
New Delhi: Apple has increased the starting prices of MacBook and iPad models by 20-42 per cent compared to their launch prices across the globe, including India, mainly due to higher memory chip costs.
The new price list on Apple India’s website shows that the company has increased the price of the MacBook Pro built on the M5 series chip by about 20 per cent.
The price of the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro chip has been increased to Rs 2,99,900 per unit from the launch price of Rs 2,49,900.
There has been a sharp rise in the price of the iPad Air. The price of the base 13-inch iPad Air model has been increased by 41.22 per cent to Rs 1,19,900 per unit from Rs 84,900.
Counterpoint Research Co-founder and VP for Research Neil Shah said Apple’s price hikes for the MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iPad Air and iPad Pro Wi-Fi follow the biggest change in the cost structure of the consumer and enterprise PC and tablet market, driven by rising semiconductor chip prices, from memory to processors.
Apple, in a statement, said the consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge.
“The rapid expansion of AI data centres has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.
“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. We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions,” the statement said.
Price increases for consumer electronics are already widespread across the industry, with many products becoming 40 per cent or more expensive.
Memory companies have been allocating an increasing share of their production to AI data centres, leaving the consumer electronics segment with constrained availability and rising costs.
Memory suppliers are reporting margins at historic highs.
Memory chip leader Micron reported gross margins of 86 per cent, up from 15 per cent a year ago.
“Apple, long regarded as the industry’s benchmark for supply chain resilience, has begun passing higher component costs on to consumers. That is a strong signal that pricing pressures have reached a level that even the most sophisticated absorption strategies cannot fully offset,” CyberMedia Research VP – Industry Research Group Prabhu Ram said.
Shah said Apple held back the price increase for at least two quarters, protecting its user base from price inflation, but it has reached a point beyond which it could no longer absorb the higher costs.
“The unprecedented AI infrastructure growth has changed the semiconductor supply chain, driving insatiable demand for DRAM, NAND and compute chips, which does not match the industry’s production and supply capacity for other markets as AI infrastructure is being prioritised. We believe the situation is unlikely to improve for at least the next two years,” he said.
Shah said the timing of the price increase is not ideal as Apple looks to roll out its revamped on-device Apple Intelligence later this year across devices requiring considerable improvements in memory and computing capabilities.
“This could affect overall demand for Apple products in the coming months. However, it could also benefit Apple, especially among customers who are due for an upgrade and want to buy a new Mac or iPad immediately. Instead of paying extra for a lower configuration, they may choose a more premium version of Apple’s portfolio. As a result, the market could shift further towards premium products as users look to get maximum value for the money spent,” Shah said.
