As of October 2026, Apple's June price increases on Macs and iPads have not visibly hurt demand or the stock, which traded above its 2026 closing high at midday on October 16, but the memory-cost squeeze behind them has since reached Apple's margin guidance, iPhone pricing and the government's price data for computers. The broader inflation story, however, is being driven mainly by energy, not gadgets.

What Apple raised, and why

On June 25, 2026, Apple raised U.S. prices on several Mac and iPad models, Reuters reported, citing Apple's website. The changes Reuters listed:

Percentages are calculated from the listed prices (for example, $100 / $599 = 16.7%). Apple also raised prices on both HomePod models and the Apple TV; Reuters did not give those figures. The iPhone was not affected at the time.

Apple's stated reason was memory and storage chip costs, driven by demand from the AI data-center buildout. "We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly," the company said in a statement, adding: "We have shielded our customers from these increases so far." Reuters cited the tracker TrendForce as saying DRAM prices rose as much as 98% in the first quarter of 2026 and were expected to climb another 58% to 63% in the second. Apple had flagged the pressure in April, when Tim Cook told analysts: "We expect significantly higher memory costs."

How the stock reacted

According to Financial Modeling Prep market data, $AAPL closed at $275.15 on June 25, down 6.12% from $293.08 the day before, while the S&P 500 was essentially flat (7,358.21 to 7,357.48). The selling did not last. Five sessions later, on July 2, the stock closed at $308.63, and by July 29 it had reached $338.19.

The next setback came from earnings, not prices. After Apple reported on July 30, the shares fell 7.35% on July 31, from $333.43 to $308.91, while the S&P 500 rose about 0.7%. Coverage at the time pointed to a September-quarter revenue outlook below analyst hopes, chip supply constraints, currency headwinds and memory costs. Since then the stock has recovered fully. It traded at $344.93 at midday on October 16, above its highest 2026 close of $342.96 (October 14) in FMP's data, up 25.36% from June 25 and 27.28% for the year, compared with about 12.3% for the S&P 500 (6,858.48 to 7,698.66). On a trailing basis the stock trades at about 39.3 times earnings and 10.8 times sales, per FMP.

The June-quarter results

Apple's fiscal third quarter ended June 27, only two days after the price increases took effect, so its results mostly reflect the old prices. The numbers, from Apple's July 30 release:

• Total revenue: $109.42 billion, up 16.4% from $94.04 billion.
• Mac: $10.35 billion, up 28.7% from $8.05 billion.
• iPad: $6.19 billion, down 5.9% from $6.58 billion.
• iPhone: $54.25 billion, up 21.7% from $44.58 billion.
• Gross margin: 50.1%, including a benefit of about 2 percentage points from tariff refunds, versus about 46.5% a year earlier ($43.72 billion / $94.04 billion).
• Diluted EPS: $2.02, including $0.11 from tariff refunds, versus $1.57.

The more telling numbers came in guidance. Apple projected September-quarter revenue growth of 9% to 11% and a gross margin of 47% to 48%, including about 1 point from tariff refunds. Stripping out the refunds, that implies a move from roughly 48.1% in June (50.1 − 2) to about 46.5% at the guidance midpoint (47.5 − 1), a decline of about 1.6 points. Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh said the rise in memory costs was larger than that entire sequential decline, with other factors partly offsetting it, according to iClarified's account of the call. Cook described memory pricing as a "100-year flood."

Further price moves: the iPhone

In June, IDC's Nabila Popal told Reuters that the iPhone "isn't spared, its hike is coming." On September 9, Apple priced the iPhone 18 Pro at $1,199 and the Pro Max at $1,299, both with 256GB of base storage, which MacRumors reported was $100 above the equivalent iPhone 17 Pro models. On the implied $1,099 prior price, that is an increase of about 9.1% ($100 / $1,099). MacRumors placed the move alongside Apple's earlier memory-related increases, but its report did not quote Apple on the reason for the iPhone change.

The inflation angle, measured

The original version of this article tied Apple's move to a broader inflation story. The data since then support a narrower conclusion. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on October 14 that the Consumer Price Index rose 0.6% in September on a seasonally adjusted basis and 3.7% over 12 months. Core CPI, excluding food and energy, rose 0.3% for the month and 2.6% over the year. Gasoline, up 9.1% in September, accounted for over half of the monthly increase.

Computers did show the memory squeeze. The BLS index for computers, peripherals and smart home assistants was up 9.7% from September 2025, with unadjusted monthly gains of 3.5% in July and 3.8% in August, the first full months after Apple's increases, and 1.4% in September. That index covers all brands, so it cannot be pinned on Apple alone, and it carries a relative importance of 0.319 in the CPI basket, a small share. Smartphone prices in the CPI were down 9.9% over the year.

The Federal Reserve, for its part, raised its target range by a quarter point to 3.75% to 4% on September 16 by a 12–0 vote, stating that "Inflation remains elevated." Device prices are one input to that judgment, but by the BLS figures, energy has been the larger driver.

What it means for investors

For conservative investors, the episode cuts both ways. Apple showed it can raise prices by double-digit percentages on Macs and iPads without a visible demand problem so far: Mac revenue grew 28.7% in the June quarter, and the stock is at a 2026 high. But the cost pressure has not gone away. Management guided margins lower for the September quarter and pointed to memory as the main reason, and at roughly 39 times trailing earnings the shares leave little room for disappointment.

The September-quarter report will be the first to include a full quarter of the higher Mac and iPad prices, and it should show whether demand held up. For more on prices and policy, see our Economy coverage and the latest at Wall Street Conservative.

Updated October 16, 2026: expanded with current market data, results and developments since publication.