Global tech giant Apple Inc. has increased the prices of its MacBooks and iPads by up to $200 a the company responds to the global rising memory and storage costs on consumers.

The latest increment comes as a result of the global hike in the cost of memory chips, which Apple’s CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that the price hike had become unavoidable for the company, with the surge being linked to artificial intelligence (AI) demand.

Mr Cook said, “Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable. We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.”

The increase affects five of Apple’s products, including the MacBook Neo, MacBook Air 512GB, MacBook Pro 1TB, iPad Air 128GB, and iPad Pro WiFi 256GB, with prices rising by an average of 19 per cent across the devices.

The MacBook Neo basic model, which previously sold for $599, now starts at $699, while the MacBook Air 512GB model increased from $1,099 to $1,299.

The MacBook Pro 1TB model also rose from $1,699 to $1,999, while the iPad Air 128GB increased from $599 to $749. The iPad Pro WiFi 256GB model moved from $999 to $1,199.

The company’s online store was offline on Thursday before returning online with updated prices. 

Apple’s online store briefly went offline on Thursday morning before returning online with the updated prices. With the company’s share price decreasing by five per cent, marking its worst market fall since February, before returning online with the updated prices.

In a statement, Apple said the consumer electronics industry is facing a major challenge as the rapid demand for AI data centres has created an increase in demand for memory and storage components. It acknowledged that the move would affect its customers due to the increase in some of its products.

“The rapid expansion of AI data centres has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions,” the company said.

Globally, memory chips and storage prices have increased significantly as suppliers redirect production towards the demand for high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers.

The shortage has benefited chip manufacturers such as Micron Technology, as the company recorded a 1400 per cent increase in its quarterly profits.

Over the years, Apple has adopted an efficient pricing system, pushing customers to higher storage models to provide premium devices, and the firm has moved to improve its memory capacity with more advanced features.

The company’s average selling price is expected to rise as Apple focuses on more premium devices and new hardware categories, including the anticipated launch of the company’s first foldable iPhone.