5 Apple Products You Can Skip After The Price Hikes

Apple raised the prices of several of its products due to the memory crisis affecting the industry over the past couple of years. As manufacturers have been focusing on selling chips for companies making AI servers, customers have been plagued with a price increase in pretty much every tech product. Apple is one of the latest companies to raise prices, making several of its products a bad deal to update, not only because they got more expensive, but because some of them are waiting for a long-overdue overhaul. Among the products customers should skip after the price hikes are the Apple Vision Pro, the HomePod mini, and the Apple TV 4K.

Even though iPhones still cost the same in the U.S., Apple has increased the price in different markets, such as in Europe. According to an e-mail I received from the International Data Corporation (IDC), Apple will likely increase iPhone prices by 11% this year, as the company readies the new iPhone 18 Pro lineup and an all-new foldable iPhone.

IDC's Senior Director, Data & Analytics, Nabila Popal, says that the company made this announcement now to also psychologically prepare customers for even higher prices without impacting sales of new products. With several devices experiencing significant price increases, like the Mac Studio, and rumors suggesting new products could be just around the corner for release, these are some of the Apple products you should skip to save money, but also because they're simply not worth it anymore.

First released in 2024, Apple Vision Pro is a controversial Apple product. After all, the company tried to crack the mixed reality market that many companies have been struggling with. While previous reports suggested that Apple's CEO's ultimate goal would be releasing true AR glasses, the Vision Pro seemed like a good first step towards this goal. However, with a bulky design, an attached battery with poor performance, a lack of developer support, and a premium price tag, this mixed reality headset instantly became a failure.

Reports suggested that Apple was focusing on a cheaper, lighter version, which was ultimately canceled or postponed, and when the company released an M5 iteration in 2025, not only did Apple not properly address issues with the first generation, but it also continued to offer the exact same product with a slightly faster processor. Now, with the price hike, what already looked like a bad idea from a customer perspective is even less enticing, with at least a $200 price increase. 

In addition to that, visionOS 27 shows that Apple isn't putting a lot of effort into the platform, because aside from Apple Intelligence improvements, there is little to no feature coming to the mixed reality headset. If Apple continues to neglect the Vision Pro, this will soon reflect on the developers who are still betting on the platform, and those who haven't released their apps there and might never will.

Introduced in late 2022, the third-generation Apple TV 4K has been one of my favorite Apple products, especially because I'm very much into the Apple ecosystem. It's the best way to supercharge a smart TV and a projector, and it also adds on the perks customers know and love, such as AirDropping and AirPlaying content, accessing Apple services like Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and my go-to Apple Fitness+ (which I use for yoga sessions). In addition, this set-top box features Apple Music Sing, which is a fun karaoke-like experience for enjoying with friends at parties.

While buying a third-generation Apple TV 4K in 2026 is not the best deal, as rumors suggest a new model is coming soon, Apple just gave another big reason for customers to avoid it, as the company almost doubled the price of the set-top box from $129 to $199 (and that's not even for the Ethernet model). That said, buying a device that is not only is four years old but has had a huge price increase is not worth the investment for most customers.

Still, the worst news could come soon, as now the wait for a new model could indicate that another price increase might be imminent. If Apple adds a more powerful chip and more RAM, which is mandatory for Apple Intelligence features, then a future set-top box from the company could surpass $200, making it impractical for someone who just wants to give a boost to their current TV.

The most powerful Mac Apple currently sells is the Mac Studio with the M3 Ultra chip. With recent news by Bloomberg suggesting Apple is reshaping its processor release schedule due to the memory crisis, the company is still expected to launch a refreshed Mac Studio with the M5 Max and M5 Ultra processors, but it's unclear whether users should be happy or not about this upcoming product.

After all, in the past few months, Apple has been quietly discontinuing several configurations of the Mac mini and the Mac Studio. Although it initially appeared that new models were coming soon, it is now clear that the company did so due to the memory crisis, and selling those configurations wasn't worth it anymore. Still, with the recent price hike, the M3 Ultra configuration got over $1,000 more expensive, as it starts at $5,299, and it can cost as much as $14,299 (although, truth be told, most of the price is related to the 16TB of unified storage).

With the Mac Studio being a lot more expensive, the upcoming M5 Max and M5 Ultra models could get another price hike as the new processors can handle increased memory configurations. That said, if you're thinking about upgrading your workstation, it's best to hold off until prices are more stable because the new models will likely cost a lot more, and the newest Mac Studio is already very expensive. Either way, buying Apple's best computer will be very, very expensive.

If you needed another reason to avoid the HomePod mini, Apple just gave it: a price increase. The already overpriced $99 mini speaker from Apple now costs $129. First released in 2020, this device uses the S5 Apple Watch chip, which was released seven years ago. However, what makes everything a lot more ironic is that even the newer Apple Watches, which all have a better processor, still feature the same price tag. This makes one wonder: Why did a product from 2020 that uses an outdated processor get a price increase?

Most likely, Apple is paving the way for the upcoming HomePod mini 2, which rumors suggest could get Apple Intelligence support. At this moment, Apple's AI requires an iPhone or Mac chip, meaning that this device could get a huge internal upgrade, or the company will perform some technical workaround, such as maintaining the older chip and offloading the Apple Intelligence processing to a nearby iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

Whatever the answer is, it seems customers are now responsible for paying the bill for the Google partnership for a better Siri, as this improved experience also requires better hardware with newer processors and more RAM availability. While the HomePod 2 also got a price increase, at least the product has better sound quality. For the HomePod mini, it's not even worth a discount anymore, as the device is aging, and its sound quality does not measure up to current competitors.

Buying the iPad 11 at this moment can be a terrible deal for most customers. Apple raised prices by $100, making this $349 product cost $449. Even though the company released it with 128GB of storage — more than enough for most people — it still features an older processor and no Apple Intelligence support. As the rest of the lineup is already capable of AI features, this more expensive tablet is simply not worth it, especially because the company will only continue to focus on AI from now on.

Besides that, there's a lot of anticipation for the upcoming iPad 12 model. Still expected to be released this year, it's unclear if Apple might go for another price increase, as the current $449 price tag already looks "ideal" for a newer tablet with an A18 or A19 chip and at least 8GB of RAM. That said, customers wanting a budget iPad should wait for this new model to get the latest features, but also because the A16 chip is starting to show its age on Apple's most basic tablet.

Fortunately, what hasn't changed is Apple accessories, as the Magic Keyboard Folio and the USB-C Apple Pencil still remain at the same price. While getting a full iPad got more expensive, so did getting a Mac, and Apple's budget MacBook Neo also doesn't look as cheap anymore, as it now starts at $699, instead of $599.