How about those Apple price increases?

Apple CEO Tim Cook warned us that price increases would be coming, and here they are. Though iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods remain untouched for now.

I'm not going to break down the prices here, go see that on AppleInsider. But the Apple Vision Pro going up to $3,699 is certainly not great.

Price changes are around $100 to $300 for each device with a few exceptions. Honestly, it could have been a lot worse. Since Apple prices almost never change in the US, even when memory was getting cheaper, the cost technically did go down due to inflation.

Of all the price changes we could have seen, this mostly catches these devices back up with inflation plus some extra on top to account for the chip shortage. Apple could have gone a lot further, like Xbox, which just announced yet another price increase for its console.

I expect iPhones could see price increases in the fall, but paired with their release. The base prices will likely stay the same and higher storage options will get higher prices.

The biggest problem here isn't that the prices are going up, but the fact that it may be some time before they ever go down again, if ever. The AI market will inevitably slow in the next year as these businesses run out of money, but that doesn't mean prices will automatically go down.

Apple will want to wait for some signs of stability before bringing prices back down. While other companies will likely just keep their higher prices forever, which is usually the case when prices go up, I can honestly say Apple likely won't.

It bakes in its margins and treats prices as a feature. When the chip shortage ends and those prices come down, Apple will lower prices while maintaining margins and benefit from consumer goodwill too.

But yes, don't expect those changes until at least early 2028. If you need a new device in the intervening months, it's going to hurt.