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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Apple raised prices across its entire MacBook lineup — including the Neo.
- New MacBook Air laptops can take a month or more to ship to consumers.
- The global memory shortage is making consumer laptops more expensive and in shorter supply.
Apple recently raised prices on MacBooks, but that doesn’t appear to have slowed down sales. In fact, now it’s dealing with a significant product shortage, with “shipments of new units more constrained than they can ever recall,” as reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
Thanks to the global memory shortage, consumer electronics are feeling the squeeze with constrained supply and higher prices, and Apple is no exception. It jacked up the price of the MacBook Air M5 by around $200 in June, with higher-end models of the Air and MacBook Pro seeing even higher raises — and there’s no end in sight.
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Supply is variable, but a quick visit to the Apple website reflects this constrained stockpile. I just tried to buy a MacBook Air M5 with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, and it’s showing a September 14th delivery date — over a month from now. This is for a product that’s (supposed to be) already out on shelves, not a preorder or future release — a significant delay for one of Apple’s mainline products.
Earlier this year, then-CEO Tim Cook warned of impending price hikes, stating in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that “price increases are unavoidable,” while the situation was still somewhat theoretical. Now, however, product inventory is especially constrained just as students and educators look to buy new MacBooks for school. Consumers even pointed out Apple’s back-to-school messaging with a “MacBook Air subject to availability” disclaimer — something I haven’t ever seen in an Apple ad.
In an effort to keep up with demand, Apple appears to be considering more drastic measures, including requesting permission from Congress to buy memory chips from blacklisted Chinese firms ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc. (CXMT) and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC).
Also: All MacBooks and iPads hit with surprise price hikes – even the Neo wasn’t safe
All this is right before Apple launches new products, as well. At its annual hardware event in September, the company is rumored to announce a new product lineup of “Ultra” devices, including a foldable iPhone and potentially a touchscreen MacBook. It’s unclear what prices those new devices will command, but they’re unlikely to be cheap.
Speaking of, the most affordable member of the MacBook lineup isn’t immune to price hikes, either — the MacBook Neo now has a starting price of $699, up from $599 the base 256GB model. The 512GB model with Touch ID went up to $799 from $699, bringing it closer to MacBook Air territory. This fall, it could go even higher if Apple releases a new model with increased base memory or storage.
Also: Apple confirms price increases are coming – how much will it cost you?
With all eyes on the Air and Neo, it’s likely Apple will shift some marketing efforts away from its top sellers to highlight other devices, namely the base model MacBook Pro M5, which was released nearly a year ago, to offset supply constraints.
Luckily, third-party retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H still have inventory of the MacBook Air — often at pre-price hike rates — but it’s unclear how long their inventory will last. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like prices will be going down any time soon, and that applies across the board.
