Apple says it's raising prices for its MacBook computers, iPad tablets and other products, citing spiralling memory and storage costs sparked by the rise of artificial intelligence.

The price hikes - the first concrete change stemming from outgoing chief executive Tim Cook's repeated warnings about rising costs - sent Apple shares plummeting more than 4.7 percent in morning trade.

On its US website, price increases ranged from US$30 (NZ$53) to US$300 (NZ$530). The 14-inch MacBook Pro, which once sold for $1700, now retails for $2000, while the iPad Air increased from $600 to $750.

The Apple TV streaming device rose from $130 to $200.

For now, the price of the iPhone - the company's main source of revenue - remained unchanged.

"The rapid expansion of AI data centres has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage," an Apple spokesperson said in a statement sent to multiple media outlets.

"We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly."

Apple did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.

The Cupertino, California-based tech giant, which notched an all-time revenue record of $416 billion in the last fiscal year, insisted it had "shielded our customers from these increases so far" but could no longer do so.

Last week, Cook set the stage when he told The Wall Street Journal that price increases were "unavoidable."

"There's less supply at a time when consumers want devices and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases," Cook said, deeming the spike in prices a "hundred-year flood."

The rapid buildout of AI data centres has sent the cost of memory chips and RAM skyrocketing - as the components are found in nearly all electronic devices - with the chips undergoing quarterly price increases of at least 50 percent since late 2025.

It will fall to John Ternus to handle the fallout at Apple. He will succeed Cook as chief executive on 1 September, just days before the new generation of iPhones is unveiled.

-AFP