Apple CEO Tim Cook warned media weeks ago that price increases were unavoidable. On Thursday, those hikes arrived, and they’re steeper than most expected (including on the Apple UAE website).
The changes hit Apple’s UAE and global online stores without warning. If you were eyeing a new MacBook or iPad, it almost certainly costs more today than it did yesterday.
In the UAE, the MacBook Air with M5 chip jumped from Dh4,599 to Dh5,499. The M5 iPad Pro climbed from Dh4,199 to Dh4,999. The MacBook Pro crossed Dh7,000 for the first time. Increases range from 15 to 57% depending on the product, with Apple TV seeing the sharpest rise. The iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods are untouched for now.
Apple issued a statement to media explaining that the price change was due to “an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage” tied to the expansion of AI data centres. The company called this an “unprecedented challenge”.
“We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly. We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products, including today’s increases for iPad and Mac.”
Apple also discontinued the lowest-priced Mac Mini (256GB) in May, pushing the entry price up before this announcement.
| Product | Old Price (AED) | Current Price (AED) | Price Change |
| iPad Air | 2,499 | 2,999 | +500 / +20.0% |
| iPad Pro | 4,199 | 4,999 | +800 / +19.0% |
| MacBook Neo | 2,599 | 2,999 | +400 / +15.4% |
| MacBook Air (M5) | 4,599 | 5,499 | +900 / +19.6% |
| MacBook Pro (M5) | 6,899 | 7,499 | +600 / +8.0% |
Saudi Arabia saw comparable increases across the same line-up.
The MacBook Neo’s price hike stands out, especially since the laptop only launched in March. Apple’s most affordable Mac, aimed at Chromebooks and budget Windows machines at Dh2,599, is already Dh400 more expensive just three months later.
AI data centres need huge amounts of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), the chips that power GPU clusters for AI workloads. The three companies that produce nearly all global memory – Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron – have shifted most of their production to HBM, leaving less capacity for the DRAM and NAND flash used in consumer devices.
According to analysis published in June 2026, Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron have collectively shifted 93% of their combined production towards HBM for AI data centres. Micron confirmed its entire HBM production for 2025 sold out before the year even began.
The consequences for consumer device pricing have been severe. A June 2026 Trendforce survey found that contract prices for conventional DRAM increased by approximately 93% to 98% in the first quarter of the year. DRAM inventory remained low in the second quarter of 2026, limiting availability for consumer tech suppliers.
The International Data Corporation put the structural case bluntly in its February 2026 analysis: this is “not just a cyclical shortage driven by a mismatch in supply and demand, but a potentially permanent, strategic reallocation of the world’s silicon wafer capacity.”
