What smart people are saying about price hikes by Apple and Xbox

Apple and Xbox are raising prices on consumer devices as the AI boom has caused a global shortage of memory and storage chips, pushing up costs across the electronics industry.

Apple on Thursday said it would increase the prices of some MacBooks and iPads by up to 20% worldwide, citing an “extraordinary surge” in demand for chips used in AI data centers.

Hours later, Microsoft-owned Xbox announced its second console price increase in less than a year, raising prices by up to $150 from August as it cited the same memory and storage crunch.

The moves are the clearest sign yet that the race to build AI infrastructure is starting to hit consumers’ wallets.

Here’s what smart people in business and tech are saying about the price hike.