Apple is reworking its Mac chip plans as soaring memory prices ripple across the tech industry, according to a Bloomberg report.
The company will still release a base M6 chip for entry-level Macs this year, but it plans to skip the higher-end Pro and Max versions of that generation, Bloomberg reports. Instead, Apple intends to fast-track an AI-focused M7 family — including M7 Pro, M7 Max and M7 Ultra chips — for 2027. Firstpost, citing the report, frames the move as a "memory crisis" reshaping Apple's Apple Silicon strategy.
The backdrop is a broader squeeze. As the AI boom drives up the cost of memory chips, memory makers are prioritizing the more lucrative business of supplying AI data centers, according to Firstpost. That has tightened supply for consumer gadgets even as the older, pandemic-era chip shortage eases.
The cost is already reaching shoppers. Microsoft and Apple are raising prices on Xbox consoles, Macs and iPads, with increases of up to $300 (about €265) and as much as 25%, depending on the product, per reporting carried by MSN.
For chipmakers, the same dynamic is a windfall. Global chip stocks surged after Micron Technology posted blockbuster results that reignited the AI-driven rally, Reuters reported, as investors grew more confident about persistent demand and tightening supply. Micron and its rivals are now pitching long-term AI deals as a way to smooth memory's notorious boom-and-bust cycle, according to The Spokesman-Review.
Why it matters: the AI buildout is no longer just a story about data centers — it is quietly redrawing product roadmaps and pushing up prices on the everyday laptops, tablets and consoles people actually buy.