MacBook Pro prices rise by up to $400 as global RAM shortage drives costs higher

Apple introduced its newest lineup of MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops on Tuesday morning. For the MacBook Pro, the updated hardware debuted alongside the new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips.

The specifications on those new chips are striking, with an 18-core CPU that Apple says delivers more than 4x the peak GPU compute for AI compared with the previous generation. But buyers may be caught off guard by the new MacBook Pro lineup's pricing, as every model now costs between $100 and $400 more than its predecessor.

For the entry-level MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro chip, pricing now starts at $2,199 for the 14-inch model and $2,699 for the 16-inch model. That compares with starting prices of $1,999 and $2,499, respectively, for the M4 Pro models released last year. The MacBook Pro configurations powered by the M5 Max chip now begin at $3,599 for the 14-inch model and $3,899 for the 16-inch model. That puts them $400 above their predecessors' pricing.

The price increase applies to the Pro lineup as well. Apple's new MacBook Air models are also more expensive. The 13-inch MacBook Air now starts at $1,099, up from $999, while the 15-inch version begins at $1,299, up $100 from last year's base model.

As demand for more computers and data centres tosupport AI workloads grows, the broader market is facing a shortage of RAM, which has pushed memory prices sharply higher.

Analysts are already forecasting that smartphone shipments will decline this year due to the shortage. It follows that other hardware categories, including laptops, would also be affected, and Apple's new pricing may offer an early signal of how much of the sector could be affected.