Apple quietly raises prices of iPad Pro
Following yesterday’s product announcements, Apple has quietly raised the prices of its 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models by $50. Sources close to the decision are citing the rising cost of NAND flash memory chips.
This brings the 256GB 10.5-inch Pro to $799, while the 512GB model will cost you $999. The larger 12.9-inch variant will run you $949 for 256GB while the 512GB variant tops off at a mere $1,149. The entry-level 64GB iPad Pro appear to have been spared the increase in price leaving the 10.5-inch starting at $649 and the 12.9-inch at $799.
Apple CFO, Luca Maestri, hinted at the rising costs of NAND flash memory back at Apple’s Q2 earning calls claiming:
We started to experience some level of cost pressure on the memory side particularly on NAND and DRAM. To offset that and actually do better than that, we had very good cost performance on other commodities.
The impact on NAND and DRAM will continue to be there and we expect it to be there.
It’s unclear if Apple will drop the prices of the iPads back down should NAND memory prices go down, but it’s not above Apple typically makes.