Man, waking up this Friday was a straight-up reality check for anyone trying to upgrade their tech. Apple and Microsoft just rolled out some major worldwide price hikes, and they are putting a heavy tax on our wallets. The tech giants are blaming this whole mess on an "AI-driven cost crunch" for computer parts. While the iPhone is safe for a quick minute, experts say the tax is coming for Apple's main product later this year.

Let's talk about how they are squeezing us on the iPads. The base iPad jumped a whole 25%, going from $599 all the way up to $749. If you want the iPad mini, that starts at $949 now instead of $799. The iPad Air went from $999 to $1,249, and if you're trying to get the top-tier iPad Pro, you're looking at $1,999 instead of $1,699. That is real money they are taking out of families' pockets just for everyday tablets.

And don't even get me started on the laptops. The 13-inch MacBook Air now starts at $2,099, up from $1,799. The MacBook Pro 14-inch is sitting at $3,199. The worst part is Apple has completely killed off the sub-$1,000 laptop. They dropped the MacBook Neo back in March for $899, calling it their "most affordable laptop ever," but that did not last long at all. Now that same Neo is starting at $1,049 on Apple's website.

If you want a desktop, the iMac starts at $2,399 and the Mac Studio is at a crazy $4,299. Right now, the only move is to run to third-party stores because they haven't updated their prices yet. Officeworks kept their prices the same on Friday morning, and JB Hi-Fi had some real deals on their homepage, selling the MacBook Air 13-inch for $1,597, the MacBook Pro 14-inch for $2,797, and the standard iPad for $495. Grab those before they get updated, seriously.

This whole situation was predicted back in February by Nick Wells, the big boss over at JB Hi-Fi. He warned analysts that all these tech companies buying up chips for AI was going to drive up costs for normal people. Wells said we were looking at 20% price rises for PCs and that phones were next. Right now, the iPhone 17 Pro is still $1,999 and the Pro Max is $2,199, but Wells said the iPhone could get hit starting this September when the iPhone 18 drops.

Apple tried to act like they were doing us a favor, saying they absorbed the extra costs for as long as they could before they had to pass the bill to us. "We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly," they said in a statement. But the stock market didn't care about their excuses. Apple's stock fell 6.15% on Thursday in the US, wiping out US$250 billion in market value to close at US$4.04 trillion.