Apple Shares Tumble Over 5% After MacBook and iPad Price Hikes Amid AI Memory Crisis

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares slid more than 5% on Thursday after the Cupertino tech giant announced sweeping price increases across its Mac and iPad lineups, blaming an unprecedented global shortage of memory and storage components fueled by artificial intelligence infrastructure demand.

The stock fell as much as 5.5% intraday, touching a session low of $276.44, before settling near $279.47 — a decline of roughly $13.62 from its previous close of $293.08 — as investors weighed the risk of weakened consumer demand following the mid-cycle price hikes.

Apple raised the starting price of its MacBook Air from $1,099 to $1,299, and the MacBook Pro 14-inch jumped $300 to $1,999. The recently launched MacBook Neo rose from $599 to $699. iPad prices were similarly impacted: the iPad Air climbed from $599 to $749, while the iPad Pro now starts at $1,199, up from $999. Apple conspicuously spared its all-important iPhone lineup from increases — for now.

WELCOME BONUS - Free Share Bundle When You Invest £50! Get up to £500 cashback for investing with IG.

Invest in 15,000+ shares and ETFs. Open an account now, invest at least £50, and you’ll get a free share bundle worth between £40 and £200. T&Cs apply.

5.0

Open Account Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

“The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage,” Apple said in a statement. “We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”

CEO Tim Cook, who had previously described the situation as a “100-year flood,” warned last week that price increases had become “unavoidable.”

Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani maintained an Outperform rating and $365 price target but cautioned that “intra-cycle hikes are very unusual for Apple and raise the risk of demand friction across Macs and iPads.”

In a stark contrast, memory chipmaker Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) surged over 17% on record earnings, highlighting how AI-driven component inflation is rewarding semiconductor suppliers at the direct expense of consumer hardware makers.