Apple MacBook and iPad Prices Jump Up to Rs 1 Lakh in India, Here's Why and Why iPhones Were Spared

Apple has done something it has avoided for years, it has openly admitted that it can no longer protect Indian buyers from the rising cost of memory chips. Starting this week, the company has raised prices on its MacBook, iPad, and HomePod lineups across India, with some models costing nearly Rs 1 lakh more than before.

The MacBook Pro 14-inch, for instance, has jumped from Rs 1,69,900 to Rs 2,39,900 for the base 16GB variant,  a steep Rs 70,000 increase. The MacBook Air 13-inch now starts at Rs 1,49,900, up from Rs 1,19,900, while the 15-inch version has climbed to Rs 1,79,900. Even the budget-friendly MacBook Neo hasn't escaped, moving from Rs 69,900 to Rs 79,900.

The iPad lineup has taken an even harder hit, percentage-wise. The 13-inch iPad Air now costs Rs 1,19,900, a jump of over 41 percent from its earlier price of Rs 84,900. The iPad Pro has gone from Rs 99,990 to Rs 1,39,900, and the entry-level iPad has moved up by Rs 15,000.

So what's actually driving this? Apple says it's not margins or greed,  it's memory. In an official statement, the company said the consumer electronics industry is facing a challenge no one anticipated this fast: the explosive growth of AI data centres has created massive demand for RAM and storage chips, and that has driven component prices through the roof. Apple admitted it has "shielded customers from these increases so far" but has now reached a point where it can't absorb the cost anymore.

This isn't just an Apple problem. Memory makers like Micron have reportedly seen gross margins jump from around 15 percent a year ago to over 86 percent now, as chipmakers redirect more and more of their production capacity toward AI servers instead of consumer devices. Industry analysts, including Counterpoint Research's Neil Shah, point to this as one of the biggest shifts in PC and tablet pricing in years and one that's likely to ripple across other brands too, not just Apple.

Here's the twist, though - iPhones have been left out of this price hike, at least for now. The iPhone 17 is still available at its launch price of Rs 82,900 in India. Whether that holds once the iPhone 18 series arrives is a different question, and one Apple hasn't answered yet.

For Indian buyers, the timing stings. The iPad Pro used to be a genuinely tempting MacBook alternative for anyone on a tighter budget. Now, with prices creeping close to entry-level MacBook Air territory, that gap has nearly disappeared. Unless the upcoming iPadOS update brings real productivity gains to justify the cost, a lot of buyers may simply rethink which device makes sense for them.

The bigger picture here is one the AI boom has been quietly building for over a year: the chips powering your next phone or laptop are now competing directly with the chips powering ChatGPT and Gemini's data centres. And right now, the data centres are winning.

Read More: Apple Shares Tank 6%, Records Worst Day In A Year After MacBook, iPad Price Hikes