Apple price hikes live — all the latest on Mac, iPad and HomePod price rises and which deals to grab now

Yes, the news that Apple fans have been fearing is here — Apple isn't immune to the RAM crisis and has just raised prices across Macs, iPads and the HomePod mini.

Those price hikes are global and are now live in its online store. An Apple spokesperson told Bloomberg "we know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions".

The headline news is that the MacBook Neo, praised for its excellent value, has seen its starting rise from $599 / £599 to a slightly less palatable $699 / £699. There have also been price hikes for the iPad Air, iPad Pro, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini and some Mac Studio models.

What should you do if you were looking to buy one of those Apple products? You've can follow all the latest reaction and deals here in this liveblog...

Welcome to our Apple support group

Hello, and welcome to this liveblog for our reaction to Apple's bombshell news today that it'll be raising prices across Macs, iPads and more.

I'd call it a 'shock' but if you've been following the news lately, it sadly isn't. The RAM crisis news continues to worsen, and Tim Cook recently dropped an unsubtle hint that "price increases are unavoidable".

So what should you do if, like me, you've been looking at upgrading your Apple kit recently? I'll be rounding up all of the latest advice and reaction from TechRadar's experts here — along with the best Prime day deals that could be your savior.

Why is Apple raising prices so much?

The RAM crisis is actually more of a PC component crisis — and unsurprisingly, Apple has said that it's this that's forced it to make unprecedented price hikes today.

An Apple spokesperson told Bloomberg that “the rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage”. They added that the company has “never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”

It's very unusual for Apple make statements like this, which shows how bad the crisis has become. Apple also added it has “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.”

So what are the price hikes?

Here's a list of the most notable price hikes today for Apple products in the US and UK.

This isn't an exhaustive list — there are various spec configurations for Macs, for example, that will also be hit, particularly if you want to add more RAM.

But it's a handy overview if you want a quick look at the damage for your chosen product. No price hikes are welcome, but those MacBook and Mac mini ones are particularly painful considering the decent value they previously offered.