Editorial: Sticker shock comes suddenly to the Apple store

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune on Jun 27, 2026

Published in Op Eds

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A week after Apple CEO Tim Cook warned that price hikes for the company’s devices were “unavoidable” due to soaring costs in key components, consumers woke up Thursday to just how steep and immediate those increases would be.

Try up to 20% for many of Apple’s popular laptop computers.

And up to 25% for iPads.

On Apple’s website, the price of the base MacBook Air now is $1,299, which will set you back $200 more than before the increase. At $1,199, the iPad Pro costs $200 more now, too.

For now, iPhone prices haven’t changed, but that’s not likely to hold. Apple is scheduled to unveil its iPhone 18 in September, so look for iPhone fallout around then if not sooner.

The culprit, Apple says, is the soaring costs of memory and storage computer chips, which make the company’s computers and other devices work. The prices for those components have risen by roughly four times over the past year, according to The Wall Street Journal, due in large part to competing demand from data-center developers who have a lot to answer for these days.

Even though it is itself invested in artificial intelligence, Apple was quick to point the finger in that direction. “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.”

Users of Apple products now know the same feeling. They’ve never seen price spikes like this before, either.

As is often the case when companies displease their customers en masse, there’s lots of finger-pointing. Not coincidentally, Boise, Idaho-based Micron Technologies, a leading chipmaker, reported year-over-year revenue growth of 346% on Wednesday. Net income in the fiscal third quarter, which ended May 28, climbed to $28.2 billion from $1.9 billion in the same period in 2025.

Micron’s nearly unbelievable trajectory in just a year is due overwhelmingly to data-center demand, the company said. The supply pressure will last at least through next year, Micron told analysts.

Translation for Apple users: Don’t expect relief anytime soon.

Micron did its own finger-pointing, with an executive telling the Journal that “a couple of (Micron’s) customers were being very aggressive with pricing” in 2023 when the chip industry was in the dumpster. That led to a decline in production now contributing to the supply pinch. He didn’t name names, but the implication was that Apple, which is known for leveraging its immense scale to squeeze suppliers, was one of those “very aggressive” players.

If forced to pick sides, a lot of people will choose Apple, which commands extraordinary consumer loyalty.

The AI/data-center industry has seen its approval numbers fall dramatically in recent months over concerns about data centers’ effect on electricity rates and water usage as well as fears that AI adoption will lead to major white-collar job losses and other societal disruption. Apple users tend to be deeply fond of Apple products; iPhones and iMacs have the advantage over most AI technologies of providing immediate gratification.

For that reason, we think consumer defections to competitors won’t be as much of an issue for Apple as a decline in product churn. Folks are much more likely now to hold onto their iPhones and laptops for longer and even to pay to repair them rather than trade them in for something new and shiny.

Apple shares fell more than 6% on Thursday, with investors no doubt expecting sales to soften even as the price increases potentially bolster profit margins. The last time Apple stock dropped so significantly? April 8, 2025, the day before President Donald Trump’s draconian “Liberation Day” tariffs were set to begin. Apple shares fell 5% then, but erased that loss and more the following day when Trump “paused” the tariffs for 90 days.

This time around, no such TACO relief is coming.

We’re believers in allowing the market to work out its own supply and demand issues, and surely the chip industry will respond to these urgent market signals. Likewise Apple. “We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions,” Apple said.

No doubt.

But in the meantime, add this tech-device sticker shock to the pile of other inflationary drivers — the price at the pump, noticeably higher grocery bills, rising housing costs (especially in Chicago) — making people cranky.

Like fuel, food and shelter, smartphones and laptops are necessities for most of us (and for our kids, hardwired to want the latest upgrades). Consumers double as voters, too.

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