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Apple raised prices by as much as 25% on MacBook and iPad models Thursday, blaming surging memory chip costs tied to AI data-center demand, while Microsoft announced increases of as much as $150 on Xbox consoles the same day — the clearest indication yet that the AI infrastructure build-out is pushing through to household budgets.
The announcements mark a sharp reversal for consumer electronics, a sector that had reliably gotten cheaper for decades.
Memory Squeeze Hits Devices Across the Industry Apple pointed directly to memory and storage as the pressure point.
The company said the rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for those components, adding that it has never seen a component price increase so much, so quickly.
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