Commentary: Tim Cook, a master of (price) policy
Apple has significantly increased its prices across the board, even for older products, citing RAM inflation. The approach is remarkable.
An Apple logo and a lot of money: price correction upwards.
(Image: Below the Sky / Shutterstock)
You have to give him that: Tim Cook has the qualities of a politician. The current Apple CEO uses these, on the one hand, in dealing with some heads of state, and on the other hand, towards the “voters”, i.e., us customers.
Introducing unwelcome news, maintaining control over interpretation, naming culprits, making demands on others – Cook managed this in the second half of June in the best political manner. In a way that was completely untypical for Apple, he announced in advance a price increase for Apple devices.
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Whereby “price increase” in this case sounds like an euphemism, let's rather talk about a price explosion. “We tried to protect customers from the increases”, said diplomat Cook. But the situation had become untenable. This almost evoked pity in us: Untenable? Oh no, poor Apple! Tim, please increase the prices as quickly as possible!
Cook named the persistent storage price inflation, caused by the AI boom, as the clear culprit. As is well known, the entire industry is under pressure. The company initially tried to get by with smaller adjustments and removed some computer versions from the program.
A tough businessman
But that apparently wasn't enough. In addition to his political identity, the CEO is a tough businessman and would rather take more money out of our pockets than forgo high margins. He preferred to point to the scapegoat: Storage prices must return to a reasonable level, Cook demanded – from whomever.
Anyone who needs a computer and did not immediately notice our warning will probably have to wait out the “untenable situation” for a long time or bite the bullet: Mac mini 950 instead of 600 euros, MacBook Air 1400 instead of 1200 euros, iPad 500 instead of 380 euros. Yes, even the old HomePod mini now costs 140 euros; at its market launch in 2020, it was 100 euros. And the once price-busting MacBook Neo, now 100 euros more expensive, no longer raids the Windows camp so confidently. Only the iPhone remains – initially – unchanged.
Only Cook's communication was sovereign. So far, there has been no major shitstorm – how the products will sell now, however, is another question. He even adhered to the most important rule of politicians: always implement critical decisions during the roaring celebration of a football World Cup. The only minor flaw: the roaring celebration didn't happen for us. The prices came anyway.
This commentary first appeared as an editorial in Mac & i 4/2026 – now fresh at the kiosk and in the heise shop.
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