NEWS
Apple Labor Day Deals Hide June’s Memory Price Hike
Apple Labor Day deals cut AirPods that never rose in June, while MacBook and iPad sales still sit $50 to $150 above pre-hike prices.
Retailers have put Apple Labor Day deals on AirPods at $99 and $199.99, while MacBook and iPad sales still sit above June’s pre-hike prices. Amazon opened the sale in late August, and Best Buy joined on September 1, with the weekend running through Labor Day on September 7.
Apple raised everyday iPad and Mac stickers on June 25 after memory and storage costs jumped. The holiday cuts are real at checkout. On the machines that took that hike, they still leave you paying more than you would have on June 24.
Apple Raised the Floor on June 25
On June 25, Apple lifted prices on every Mac and iPad, plus HomePod, Apple TV, and Vision Pro, after it said memory and storage costs had moved faster than the company could keep eating. The company said it had already shielded customers and had now reached the point where iPad and Mac had to move. AirPods, Apple Watch, and iPhone did not move with them.
The 11-inch iPad with the A16 chip went from $349 to $449, a $100 jump. The 11-inch iPad Air went from $599 to $749. MacBook Air rose from $1,099 to $1,299. The 14-inch MacBook Pro class that had started at $1,699 became $1,999, a $300 increase. The 16-inch Pro went from $2,499 to $2,999. The MacBook Neo, Apple’s cheaper laptop, went from $599 to $699.
MacRumors counted 14 products in the sweep, from a $30 HomePod mini bump to a $1,300 leap on a loaded Mac Studio. Vision Pro started at $3,699 instead of $3,499. Apple TV went from $129 to $199. Tim Cook, then chief executive, had already called the memory market a “hundred-year flood” and said price increases were “unavoidable.”
Microsoft moved the same week, lifting the Xbox Series S by $100 to about $500. The bill was not Apple’s alone. It did land hardest on the products that carry the most DRAM and NAND, which is why a Labor Day flyer now reads so unevenly.
FROM THE HIKE TO THE EVENT
- June 25, 2026: Apple raises Mac, iPad, HomePod, Apple TV, and Vision Pro prices and leaves AirPods, Watch, and iPhone unchanged.
- July 30, 2026: Cook, on his final earnings call as CEO, says Apple will pay still more for memory in the September quarter.
- August 26, 2026: Hardware chief Greg Joswiak posts the “Surprise and shine” invite for a September 9 event at 10 a.m. Pacific.
- September 1, 2026: John Ternus starts as CEO, and Best Buy opens its Labor Day sale alongside Amazon.
- September 7, 2026: Labor Day. Retailer weekend pricing is scheduled to end.
- September 9, 2026: Apple holds the event, with iPhone 18 Pro models and a foldable widely expected on stage.
That calendar is the squeeze. Shoppers get five days of store markdowns after September 2, then Apple’s own show two days after the holiday.
The Audio Aisle Apple Did Not Touch
AirPods never took the June increase, so a retailer cut there is a cut against the same Apple list price you would have paid in spring. Apple still sells AirPods Pro 3 at $249 on its site. Amazon has listed them as low as $199.99 during this sale, about $50 off.
The cheaper buds are the cleaner impulse buy. AirPods 4 without noise cancellation are $99 against Apple’s $129, which is $30 off and 23 percent. The AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation have been listed at $148.99 against $179. AirPods Max 2 have been at $449 against $549, a $100 cut and 18 percent.
AUDIO APPLE LEFT AT THE OLD PRICE
- AirPods 4: $99 at Amazon, $30 under Apple’s $129.
- AirPods 4 with ANC: $148.99 against a $179 Apple price.
- AirPods Pro 3: as low as $199.99 against $249.
- AirPods Max 2: $449 against $549.
- Beats in the family: Studio Pro has been 35 percent off and Beats Flex 30 percent off in the same holiday pass.
iPhone and Watch sat out June too, and those tags finally moved after an August stretch when Watch was still full price. Deal listings put iPhone Air $150 off and the Apple Watch SE 3 at $200. Those are the same kind of holiday as the buds: the list price did not jump in June, so the markdown is not climbing out of a hole Apple just dug.
A $150 MacBook Discount Leaves You $150 Short
Macs took the biggest June hits, and they are where Labor Day looks modest. Amazon has had the 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro, the 1TB class that Apple now sells from $1,999, at $1,849. That is $150 off Apple’s new floor. It is also $150 higher than the $1,699 Apple charged for that class on June 24.
Apple’s own product page still advertises the MacBook Pro from $1,999 with M5, M5 Pro, and M5 Max. A limited education offer on that page adds a $150 gift card, which matches the Amazon dollar cut on the base 14-inch Pro and keeps the spend inside Apple’s store. Loaded 16-inch M5 Max configurations have been listed at $4,499, $500 off $4,999. That is real money on a high-end build. It does not rewind the 16-inch starting price, which Apple moved from $2,499 to $2,999.
MacBook Air went from $1,099 to $1,299 in June. Some 1TB M5 Air listings have been $100 off their new Apple prices, which still lands above the old everyday tag. The $240 off an M5 Air in Apple’s refurbished channel is a different pile of stock, and it is one of the wider Mac cuts in this window.
THE LABOR DAY TAG VERSUS JUNE 24
| Product | Apple price June 24 | Apple price now | Labor Day listing | Versus June 24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11-inch iPad (A16, 128GB) | $349 | $449 | $399 | $50 higher |
| 11-inch iPad Air (M4, 128GB) | $599 | $749 | $649 | $50 higher |
| 14-inch MacBook Pro (M5, 1TB class) | $1,699 | $1,999 | $1,849 | $150 higher |
| AirPods 4 | $129 | $129 | $99 | $30 lower |
| AirPods Pro 3 | $249 | $249 | $199.99 | $49.01 lower |
The table is the holiday in one grid. Audio is cheaper than it was in June. The computers are cheaper than Apple’s new site price and still more expensive than the site price that existed the day before the hike.
What $50 Off an iPad Buys After June?
The 11-inch iPad with the A16 chip is the back-to-school default, and Amazon has had it at $399 against Apple’s $449. That is $50 off and 11 percent. It is also $50 higher than the $349 Apple charged through June 24. You get the holiday. You do not get 2025’s everyday price.
The 11-inch iPad Air with the M4 chip has been at $649, $100 off the new $749 Apple price and $50 above the old $599. If the job is notes, video, and a keyboard case, the $399 A16 model is the listing that actually moved with students in mind. The Magic Keyboard Folio has been 30 percent off in the same pass, which is the accessory that turns that tablet into a cheap laptop stand-in.
AirTag 2 four-packs have been listed at $79.99. Apple’s 35W dual USB-C charger has been 34 percent off. Those bits never needed a memory-crisis alibi, and they are where a small cart still looks like a sale.
Memory Contract Prices Are Still Climbing
Apple’s June letter blamed AI data centers for an “extraordinary surge” in demand for memory and storage. Industry tracker TrendForce had already put numbers on that surge. It said DRAM prices up 93% to 98% quarter on quarter in the first quarter of 2026, with industry revenue at $97 billion, up 81 percent. It then forecast another 58 percent to 63 percent rise in the second quarter as suppliers steered chips toward high-capacity server modules.
The consumer electronics industry is facing an unprecedented challenge. The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage. We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly. We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products, including today’s increases for iPad and Mac. We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions.
Apple, written statement, June 25, 2026
By early July, TrendForce said the third-quarter climb would slow as consumer brands hit what people would pay. It still projected conventional DRAM gains of 13% to 18% and NAND flash gains of 10 percent to 15 percent. Micron has said the shortage runs through 2027. That is why a Labor Day Mac cut of $150 can look wide in a flyer and thin against the new floor.
Apple’s own books already show the squeeze. CFO Kevan Parekh told analysts the September-quarter gross margin outlook of 46.5 percent, down from 48.1 percent in the June quarter excluding tariff benefits, was “really driven by memory.” Cook said on that July 30 call that Apple would pay even more for memory in the September quarter than it had in June. The company used the word “begin” in June. The iPhone event is the next place that word can show up.
Best Buy Joins Amazon Before September 9
Amazon has been running Apple markdowns since late August. Best Buy opened a matching Labor Day sale on September 1, which is why Watch, iPhone Air, and extra Mac configurations showed up after an August 27 pass that still had Watch at full price. The store window is short. Labor Day is Monday, September 7. Apple’s event is Wednesday, September 9, at 10 a.m. Pacific, under the “Surprise and shine” line Joswiak posted on August 26.
The stage is expected to hold iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and Apple’s first foldable, with Watch refreshes in the mix. That does not obsolete an M5 MacBook or an A16 iPad. It does change the feel of buying a phone or a Watch on September 6. AirPods 5 have been in the rumor pile for that same morning, which is the one reason to pause on buds if you like waiting for a keynote. The $99 AirPods 4 and $199.99 Pro 3 are priced as if you are not waiting.
High-end Mac chatter on X has clustered around that $500 M5 Max cut, which is the kind of number that travels because it is large and round. It is also a cut on a $4,999 configuration, not a reset of the $2,999 16-inch starting price. The quieter listings, $99 buds and a $399 iPad, are the ones that match how most carts actually look.
A New CEO, Then a Wednesday Event
John Ternus, the longtime hardware engineering lead, became CEO on September 1, the same day Best Buy’s sale went live. Cook stays as executive chairman. Ternus inherits the memory bill, a September-quarter margin guide already pointed down, and a keynote eight days into the job. Cook spent years making Apple’s supply chain look boring. The boring version of this holiday would have been 15 or 20 percent off a MacBook Air that still cost $1,099.
Instead the stores are discounting the products Apple could still afford to leave alone, and offering smaller bills of sale on the products whose stickers already moved. Shoppers who want AirPods 4 can leave the weekend $30 under Apple’s site. Shoppers who want AirPods Pro 3 can leave about $50 under. Shoppers who want the 14-inch MacBook Pro at $1,849 still pay $150 more than they would have on June 24.
