MacBooks, iPads and Xbox Consoles Set to Cost More as Global Chip Crisis Bites

Ghanaians looking to purchase a new MacBook, iPad or Xbox console will need to dig deeper into their pockets, as both Apple and Microsoft's Xbox have announced steep price hikes on their products. The increases, which in some cases reach nearly 20%, are being blamed on a global shortage of memory and storage chips — a crisis industry experts say has been worsened by the explosive growth of artificial intelligence.

Apple stated that the consumer electronics industry is facing an "unprecedented challenge" caused by an "extraordinary surge" in demand for the chips used to power AI data centres. The company said component prices have never risen so sharply in such a short space of time. Among the affected products is the MacBook Pro with 1 terabyte of storage, which has gone up from $1,699 to $1,999 in the United States. Apple's chief executive Tim Cook had earlier described the situation with memory chips as "unsustainable", telling the Wall Street Journal that price increases were "unavoidable".

Xbox followed shortly after with its own announcement, revealing that the price of its basic console will rise by $100 to $499, while a higher-memory version will cost $150 more at $749. The new prices take effect from August. This is the second price increase for Xbox in under a year, having already raised console prices by between $20 and $70 last October. Taken together, the increases mean a new Xbox console could be between 30% and 40% more expensive than it was a year ago.

Xbox warned that the cost of memory and storage components has already more than doubled and could double again by 2027 — a signal that further price hikes may be on the horizon. The company said it had "hoped another price increase would not be necessary" but stressed that the components crisis was hitting the console market particularly hard.

Tech analyst Paolo Pescatore described Apple's price rises as a clear sign that the "AI boom was now affecting consumer electronics", adding that even a company of Apple's scale and purchasing power was no longer shielded from rising component costs. Market analyst David Naranjo of Counterpoint Research predicted that other PC and tablet brands would follow Apple's lead, either by raising prices, cutting discounts on entry-level models, or shifting focus towards premium devices.

The global chip shortage is also affecting gaming PC maker Valve, which launched its Steam Machine at £879 in the United Kingdom and $1,049 in the United States after its original target price became "no longer viable". For Ghanaian consumers and businesses that rely on imported electronics, the price increases are likely to be felt acutely, particularly given the additional impact of exchange rate fluctuations on the cost of imported tech goods.