Don't delay that MacBook upgrade Apple's laptop price hikes could be much worse than the iPhone 18 Pro, analysts predict

Date:
Thu, 25 Jun 2026 12:23:08 +0000

Description:
We know price hikes are inbound for all major Apple products, but MacBooks could potentially come off worst.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter JP Morgan believes the iPhone
18 Pro price hike could be less severe than other analysts have predicted, at just $50 Another analyst has flagged chip price increases at TSMC which will affect Apple, and its laptops are in a different situation to iPhones The end result could be substantial laptop price increases, while Apple's smartphones get away relatively unscathed We know Apple 's products have price hikes coming Tim Cook has made that clear in no uncertain terms but based on the latest spinning from the rumor mill, the iPhone could get away with a relatively mild price bump, with MacBooks potentially hit a good deal harder.

You might be surprised at the possibility that the next iPhone might not be hiked by all that much, because earlier rumors and napkin maths suggested
that the incoming iPhone 18 Pro might hit $1,299 in the US, a hefty $200 increase (with a similarly step price hike for other countries). Others have theorized that there could be an even bigger jump than this. However, as
Phone Arena noticed , Max Weinbach, a tech analyst at Creative Strategies, posted on X to flag up JP Morgan's research on what the next-gen iPhone price hike might be. Latest Videos From Watch full video here:

Contrary to other analysis, JP Morgan thinks it might be more in line with a $50 price bump, as while memory costs will put a lot of pressure on Apple as a Wccftech report recently underlined , noting that the firm is facing a "sticker shock heading into Q3" the company seemingly has ways to mitigate those increases elsewhere. One such saving would be made by swapping to Apple's own modem for the new iPhone, as an example.

Another way Apple could theoretically alleviate the pressure on smartphone prices is to recoup some money by charging a premium for the rumored iPhone Ultra foldable, which will be inevitably pricey for those who want the latest and greatest tech (and it looks very much like that foldable is inbound for this year). You may like Time to upgrade? Apple price hikes tipped to be fairly imminent Tim Cook warns that 'price increases are unavoidable' for Apple products iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max rumors rated

As for potential MacBook price hikes, there's not the same space for Apple to maneuver in terms of offsetting other component costs with its laptops. And
as Tom's Hardware spotted , analyst (and former Bloomberg reporter) Tim
Culpan has just delivered a rumor that TSMC is seemingly increasing chip prices for customers (from 3nm processes down to 7nm and older products) in the order of 5% to 10%.

That hits a bunch of firms who use TSMC to manufacture their chips, but notably AMD , Nvidia , and Apple. For Apple, the more heavyweight MacBook
CPUs will be hit harder than mobile silicon, and on top of that, it's yet another unwelcome pressure on the affordably priced MacBook Neo. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

As Culpan jokes at the end of his piece: "Maybe those red MacBook Neos will arrive after all." Puzzled as to what that means, exactly? Let's dive into that next. Analysis: cooking the MacBooks (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future) Arguably, Apple's biggest problem here is keeping the MacBook Neo at its tempting baseline price, in the face of these 'unavoidable' price rises
as Tim Cook has called them. Mainly because the price is so low for an Apple laptop, with its popularity and demand meaning that the production of the Neo is rumored to have been massively cranked up .

Culpan has previously floated the theory that Apple will have to either apply price hikes to the MacBook Neo and perhaps soften that blow with new colors (which is what the 'red Neo' comment refers to) or just ditch the current entry-level variant, and offer the higher-tier Neo as a baseline instead. The latter is basically a way of applying a price hike of a hundred notes without actually having to increase prices technically, and what makes this seem more likely is that Apple did exactly that as a tactic with the Mac mini recently. What to read next Apple boss warns of price hikes but these early Prime Day MacBook deals are a steal for pros who want to beat the 'unavoidable' increases Why there (probably) wont be an iPhone 18 this year Rumored MacBook Ultra could 'cost significantly more' than the MacBook Pro

We don't know how this will play out yet, but it's looking increasingly
likely that some considerable upward pricing movements will be coming to MacBooks, while the iPhone might perhaps escape the worsts.

A price hike of only $50 for the iPhone would be very much welcomed by many
at this point as effectively stable pricing, given all that talk of a couple of hundred dollars or more being stuck on top of the current-gen price tag. And perhaps that's the point with consumers fearing the worst for the iPhone 18 Pro, they'll eventually be relieved if this is the case.

At any rate I've been saying this for a while if you're thinking of buying
a new MacBook, the time to move is very likely now, or soon, especially in
the case of the Neo (unless you really, really want that red colorway, or whatever striking colors Apple may cook up to distract people from the new price tag). Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. The best laptops for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

Read our full guide to the best laptops 1. Best overall: Apple MacBook Air 13-inch M5 2. Best budget: Apple MacBook Neo 3. Best Windows 11 laptop Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch 4. Best thin and light: Lenovo Yoga Slim 9i 5. Best Ultrabook Asus Zenbook S 16



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/macbooks/dont-delay-that-macbook-upgrade-a pples-laptop-price-hikes-could-be-much-worse-than-the-iphone-18-pro-analysts-p redict


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