Tech giants love raising prices lately. Component costs go up. Wallets take the hit.
Apple joined the club. Prices jumped Thursday for the MacBook Neo and the iPad. The Neo sits at $699. The iPad costs $449 now.
Some things stayed cheap.
The iPhone didn’t change. The Apple Watch stayed put. So did displays, Apple Pencil, cases, and keyboards. Weird, right?
Apple blamed the RAM shortage. Makes sense for computers.
So why didn’t they touch the phone or watch? Those are basically computers too. Just smaller.
Scott Stein from CNET thinks it’s timing. He calls it the band-aid rip.
They’re waiting to rip that band-oid off in the fall.
Apple usually drops new phones in September. Big event. Lots of hype. Stein thinks Apple is waiting to bundle the price hike with new hardware. Easier to swallow if you’re getting a “new” product anyway.
He doubts anything escapes forever.
“I don’t think a single Apple product isgoing to survive price increases,” he said. Most devices run on chips everyone wants. Chips are hot. Chips are expensive.
Apple didn’t comment. Typical silence.
What happens next? Depends on silicon.
Rumors swirl about a chip deal with Intel. Why? Because Taiwan Semiconductor is slammed with demand. If chips stay tight, prices rise. If supply fixes itself… maybe not.
But history says otherwise.
Eventually, we pay. All of us. Whether today or this fall. 🍎
