Apple raises MacBook prices across the board as M5 chips, new displays signal AI-first strategy

Apple on Tuesday rolled out new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models with its latest M5 chips, along with an updated Studio Display lineup, in its biggest Mac refresh in more than a year.

The push gives Apple a fresh shot at reviving Mac demand while making a broader case that more AI work will move onto the device itself, not just the cloud.

The announcements come at a critical moment for Apple’s Mac business, which saw sales drop nearly 7% to $8.39 billion during the holiday quarter, falling well short of analyst expectations of nearly $9 billion. These new machines are meant to get people to upgrade, especially users still hanging onto older Intel-era systems or early M-series devices.

But they also arrive at higher prices, with tighter memory supply driving up costs as suppliers favor the more lucrative AI data center market over consumer hardware.

The MacBook Air now starts at $1,099 for the 13-inch model (up from $999) and $1,299 for the 15-inch (up from $1,199), with Apple doubling base storage to 512GB.

The MacBook Pro gets more expensive as well, with the 14-inch M5 Pro starting at $2,199 and the 16-inch M5 Max at $3,899, up $400 from its predecessor.

To help justify the higher prices, Apple raised the starting storage floor on the Pro line, with M5 Pro models now starting at 1TB and M5 Max models starting at 2TB.

But the bigger pitch is performance. Apple is positioning the M5 Pro and M5 Max as a real step up for heavier workloads, especially AI.

The company says the new MacBook Pro can process large language model prompts nearly four times faster than comparable M4-based machines and up to eight times faster than M1 models, all without sacrificing battery life.

That is central to Apple’s push to make the Mac a more credible platform for running advanced AI tools locally — an increasingly important capability for businesses that want to keep sensitive data off cloud servers.

Apple also updated its display lineup, replacing the aging Pro Display XDR with a new two-tier Studio Display family.

The base model starts at $1,599, while the higher-end Studio Display XDR starts at $3,299 and adds features aimed at more demanding professional use cases, including higher brightness, mini-LED backlighting and a faster refresh rate.

That makes Tuesday’s launch a clear pivot from the more value-focused products Apple unveiled on Monday, including a refreshed version of its low-cost iPhone.

The broader strategy, though, appears unchanged: give customers a stronger reason to upgrade at multiple price points without weakening the premium tier.

It also keeps attention on what may still come on Wednesday.

If Apple unveils the rumored lower-cost MacBook, that would be the clearest sign yet that this week is about expanding the lineup in both directions, looking to hold onto high-end buyers while reaching first-time Mac customers, Windows and Chromebook switchers, along with iPhone users who have never owned a Mac.