Apple has conditioned us to high margins, but Thursday’s decision to raise prices on all Mac, iPad, home devices and Vision Pro goggles triggered a true seismic shift in markets.
When the Cupertino giant says “stop” and raises the stakes
The company is trying to balance the sharply rising production costs caused by a global shortage of advanced memory and storage.
Wall Street’s reaction was immediate. Apple shares plunged 6,1%, their deepest one‑day drop since April 2025.
When a giant like Apple starts shifting costs onto customers, it signals that the current model of financing technological revolution is starting to crack. Investors realized with alarm that the price flexibility of leaders has limits, and rising hardware costs can effectively kill consumer demand.
Chart. Apple stock price
Source: TradingView.
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Asian crash, or how domino effect rips millions of USD
The Cupertino decision triggered a powerful shockwave in Asia, home to key component suppliers. The belief that rising hardware will choke demand for devices and ultimately halt the months‑long semiconductor rally caused a panic sale.
South Korean flash memory and DRAM giants SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co lost over 8% on the exchange. Japanese Kioxia Holdings Corp. fell as much as 12%.
MSCI Asia Pacific Infotech index recorded a sharp 6,4% drop, and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 1,5%. Losses are in billions of USD, and Apple’s Asian partners such as MediaTek Inc (10% drop) or Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (-3.7%) had to quickly reassess their profit forecasts.
Analysts point to the paradox of the current situation. Strong demand for AI infrastructure drives chipmakers’ profits, but simultaneously inflates production costs for all other electronics sectors.
Interestingly and worth noting, markets stopped treating rising memory as an automatic growth impulse for the sector. While this confirms huge demand for AI infrastructure, it also sharply raises the entry threshold for businesses and consumers.
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Want to buy new gear? It was cheap before
The problem isn’t just Apple. On Thursday Microsoft announced a third price hike for its Xbox video game consoles. This is another clear sign that the component shortage crisis is draining gamers’ and tech enthusiasts’ wallets. Result? Shares fell 3,46%.
To add to that, the OpenAI camp reported that ChatGPT creators may postpone their IPO until next year. This hit SoftBank Group Corp, one of the startup’s main investors.
SoftBank’s shares fell 14% in Tokyo amid fears of delayed massive returns on investment. These could be the first serious signs of an AI bubble bursting, as tech euphoria gives way to rational cost calculation.
See also: Will the market collapse by the gaming sector? The giant warns! Its shares are taking an unprecedented turn.
Source: Bloomberg.
