Apple has doubled the price of memory upgrades on its 13in MacBook Pro, pushing customers towards more expensive models.
As first spotted by MacRumours, the price of upgrading from the base 8GB of RAM to 16GB of RAM on the cheapest MacBook Pro 13in has leapt from $100 to $200. Similar price hikes have been applied in Germany (€125 to €250) and the U.K. (£100 to £200).
Component prices are volatile at the best of the times, not least during a worldwide pandemic, but it seems unlikely the wholesale cost of memory modules have doubled since the revamped 13in MacBook Pro was launched just last month. China, where most computer components are manufactured, was one of the first countries to ease lockdown restrictions, which would logically make it less likely that shortages of that particular component are suddenly a problem.
Apple has often been accused of putting a healthy mark-up on component upgrades, often charging more for RAM and storage upgrades than other laptop manufacturers.
Apple might also have tweaked the upgrade pricing to drive people towards the more expensive models.
For example, customers wishing to upgrade the entry-level 13in MacBook Pro with 16GB of memory will now be paying $1,499 in the U.S.A. However, the most expensive model in the 13in range, which comes with a much faster processor, better graphics, double the storage and 16GB of RAM by default costs only $1,799.
The middle-tier model, which also comes with only 8GB of RAM, would be increased to $1,699 with the memory upgrade, only $100 less than the far superior top model.
Indeed, another reason that Apple may be keen to deter people from buying the cheaper 13in MacBook Pros is the processors inside them. The two cheapest models come with 8th-generation Intel Core i5 processors, while the $1,799 model comes with the latest 10th-generation chips. By nudging customers towards the most expensive model, it may be that Apple is trying to deal with shortages of other components, such as the processors or compatible motherboards.
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