Apple hikes prices on some products by nearly 20%

Apple is increasing the price of MacBooks and iPads worldwide due to rising memory and storage chip costs.

The iPhone maker has hiked the prices of some laptops and tablets by almost 20%, saying the electronics industry is facing an "unprecedented challenge" due to an "extraordinary surge" in demand for chips to power AI data centres.

"We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly," the company said - adding it was "working tirelessly to find solutions".

While Apple has not included iPhones in its price increases for some devices, tech analyst Paolo Pescatore said it showed the "AI boom was now affecting consumer electronics".

Apple's price hikes follow a slew of firms increasing device prices to help them absorb rising hardware costs.

Much of the increased prices for memory and storage components - particularly Ram, a form of computer memory - have been attributed to a proliferation of data centres needed to power the AI boom.

This, experts say, has caused an imbalance between supply and demand which means everyone has to pay more.

The world's largest chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), has also said that inflation is pushing up the cost of doing business.

Speaking to the BBC earlier in June, Wendell Huang of TSMC - which makes chips for the likes of Nvidia, AMD and Apple - did not rule out its own price rises amid spiking costs.