Shortage of memory chips and other components reverses trend of electronics becoming cheaper.
A pple’s recent product launch caused headlines around the world as it unveiled its first folding phone.
Therefore the everyday electronics products people rely on are suddenly more expensive to make, and that is being passed on to consumers.
“Two things are happening at once,” says Francisco Jeronimo, the vice-president of client devices at research company IDC.
Because older iPhones use the same expensive memory as the new ones, Apple is pricing them as current products, he adds.
The iPhone is not the first product to have a “RAMageddon” price increase, but it is the single biggest-selling electrical product in the world. For many, this means the real cost of the AI splurge will be £100 without getting anything more for your money.
Other manufacturers of smartphones have also increased the price of new models, with Samsung and Google adding up to £80 to their flagship phones.
Apple has also increased the price of its refurbished stock by £60 to £70, including the older iPhone 15 that is no longer sold new in the shops.
Even Apple added £100 to its lower-cost MacBook Neo, as well as rises to most models in its Mac and iPad lines in June.
In a state of affairs, Microsoft recently increased the price of its near six-year-old console to £670, up from its original launch price of £449.
£100 added to the cost of a phone may only be the start of the price pain, with memory producers, including SK Hynix, suggesting the shortages could last beyond 2030.