Apple Store External Storage Prices Spike Amid AI-Driven Shortage

Apple past week hiked the prices of outer hard drives sold done its online store and retail locations, arsenic noted by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.


Writing successful his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman said that Apple updated the pricing connected respective outer thrust offerings recently, and the increases are steep. For example, a SanDisk 4TB solid-state outer thrust that antecedently sold for astir $500 present costs $1,200, portion a 1TB exemplary has jumped from $120 to $360.

The terms hikes are said to beryllium indirectly caused by the AI-fueled request for representation and retention chips, which is continuing to compression the user market. Gurman noted that it is vendors who acceptable the pricing connected third-party accessories, alternatively than Apple. However, the interaction connected buyers is the aforesaid regardless.

It's not conscionable a pricing contented either. External drives connected Apple's online store are mostly sold out, with astir models showing nary availability for transportation oregon in-store pickup. Shoppers astatine carnal Apple Store locations whitethorn inactive find stock, but astatine the aforesaid inflated prices. Similar shortages and hikes tin beryllium recovered astatine Best Buy, Amazon, and different retailers.

The shortage stems from the aforesaid proviso crunch that forced Apple to rise MacBook Air and MacBook Pro prices by $100 earlier this month. Its removal of the Mac Studio's top 512GB RAM representation upgrade was besides apt related. As things stand, AI information halfway build-outs are consuming tremendous quantities of NAND flash and representation chips, and manufacturers are prioritizing those lucrative endeavor contracts implicit user products. As Gurman notes, the concern is apt to get worse passim 2026 – and imaginable beyond.
This article, "Apple Store External Storage Prices Spike Amid AI-Driven Shortage" archetypal appeared connected MacRumors.com

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