Apple raised the price of the MacBook Neo by $100 on June 25, bumping the base model from $599 to $699 and the 512GB model from $699 to $799, citing the global memory shortage that has been pushing component costs higher across the entire PC industry.
Apple stock fell on the news.
The MacBook Neo launched in March 2026 at $599 as the cheapest Mac ever made, a 13-inch laptop powered by the A18 Pro chip from the iPhone 16 Pro, available in four colors, with 16 hours of battery life and a build quality that made Chromebooks and budget Windows laptops look reconsidering.
Tim Cook called it Apple's best launch week ever for first-time Mac customers. The $599 price was the whole point.
The memory crisis that has been building throughout 2026, the same AI chip demand surge that sent RAM prices quadrupling and forced Micron to report record earnings while everyone else complained about costs, made the $599 price untenable.
The Wikipedia entry for the MacBook Neo notes the $100 increase directly:
"The starting price was later increased by US$100 on June 25, 2026, amid global memory shortages."
The price increase is real and meaningful because the MacBook Neo was specifically positioned to compete with Chromebooks and budget Windows laptops at the $599 entry point.
At $699, that competition gets harder. Microsoft has raised Surface prices by as much as $500 on some models for the same reason.
Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon C chip at Computex targeting $300 Windows laptops specifically as a response to the Neo's original price point.
The memory crisis is reshaping the affordable laptop market in real time, and Apple is not immune to it.
Education pricing rises as well, from $499 to $599 for students and educators.
The MacBook Neo is still the cheapest Mac ever sold. It is just no longer as cheap as it was yesterday.