If you’ve been thinking about buying a new iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you may not want to wait much longer.
The company confirmed last week that rising memory costs caused by the ongoing DRAM shortage will force it to raise prices across parts of its hardware lineup. While Apple hasn’t revealed exactly which products will be affected, the iPhone, iPad, and Mac are all expected to see increases.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, those changes are now “imminent”. The journalist believes Apple is unlikely to have warned customers in advance unless it was planning to act quickly. Therefore, new pricing could arrive well before the launch of the next generation of devices.
That could be bad news for shoppers hoping to pick up a discounted iPhone 18, iPad, or Mac later this year. Some analysts already expect Apple’s upcoming hardware to carry significantly higher price tags. For example, estimates suggest even the entry-level iPhone 18 Pro could start at around $1,399.
One possibility is that Apple uses its annual Back to School promotion as a way to soften the blow. Gurman speculates that the company could raise list prices while continuing to offer education discounts. This could help students avoid the full impact of the increase.
The underlying issue is the growing cost of DRAM memory. Manufacturers have increasingly shifted production capacity towards supplying the AI industry. As a result, this has created shortages that have pushed memory prices sharply higher over the past year. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently described the resulting price increases as “unavoidable”.
How much consumers will ultimately pay remains unclear. Apple has yet to provide details on the scale of the increases. Additionally, some products may be affected more than others.
For now, though, the message seems fairly straightforward: if an iPhone, iPad, or Mac purchase is already on your radar, waiting may not save you money this time around.
