Hoping to get a new Mac, but not sure whether to wait for a new Apple model? If you’re in the UK – in fact, if you live anywhere in the world outside the US – chances are this Black Friday could be the cheapest you can buy a Mac for a very long time.
It’s not just the Black Friday deals, which are likely to be some of the best we’ve seen all year. If you wait until 2023 for new Macs, you may be sorely disappointed. It’s very likely that Apple will increase prices outside of the US when it launches new models.
This prediction is based on the fact that when Apple updated the iPad and iPad Pro in October 2022, it increased prices in line with inflation worldwide. Only in the US did the prices stay the same. It was the same with the new iPhone 14. With a flurry of new Macs expected in the new year, we expect Apple to raise prices again on its entire range of Macs outside of the US as they roll out. We hope our fears are unfounded, but current global economic conditions make it likely.
The only Mac to avoid a price increase in 2023 is the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which already received a slight price increase outside the US when Apple launched the M2 version in June 2022. In this case, the 13-inch MacBook Pro was seen. Its price rose more than 3 percent in the UK, with similar increases in other countries outside the US
Given these price increases, we strongly encourage people to take advantage of the low Black Friday prices, as we suspect you won’t see prices this low for some time. You can keep up with the latest deals in our roundup of the best Black Friday MacBook and Mac deals.
How Much Can Mac Prices Go Up?
We can estimate how much Macs could cost based on the increase in iPad range. In the UK, we saw Apple increase iPad prices by 25 per cent, while the average iPad increase was 21 per cent. But even if we expect an increase of only 15 percent for Macs, we could see the following prices in the UK:
| product | Current UK price | Estimated UK price (+15%) |
|---|---|---|
| MacBook Air | ||
| M1 | 999 pounds | 1149 pounds |
| M2 (256 GB) | 1249 pounds | 1436 pounds |
| M2/(512GB) | 1549 pounds | 1781 pounds |
| MacBook Pro | ||
| 13 inch (256 GB) | 1349 pounds | 1494 pounds |
| 13 inches (512 GB) | 1549 pounds | 1724 pounds |
| 14 inch (512 GB) | 1899 pounds | 2184 pounds |
| 14 inches (1 TB) | 2399 pounds | 2759 pounds |
| 16 inch (512 GB) | 2399 pounds | 2759 pounds |
| 16-inch (1TB/M1 Pro) | 2599 pounds | 2989 pounds |
| 16 inch (1TB/M1 Max) | 3299 pounds | 3794 pounds |
| iMac | ||
| M1 7GPU (256GB) | 1249 pounds | 1436 pounds |
| M1 8GPU (256GB) | 1449 pounds | 1666 pounds |
| M1 8GPU (512GB) | 1649 pounds | 1896 pounds |
| Mac Mini | ||
| M1 (256 GB) | 699 pounds | 804 pounds |
| M1 (512 GB) | 899 pounds | 1034 pounds |
| Core i5 (512 GB) | 1099 pounds | 1264 pounds |
| Mac Studio | ||
| M1 Max (512 GB) | £1999 | 2299 pounds |
| M1 Ultra (1TB) | 3999 pounds | 4599 pounds |
We’d expect Apple to bump prices up or down accordingly, but these calculations are essentially what we’d expect if Apple raised prices at the lower end of the iPad price hikes we’ve already seen. Of course, we hope these prices are the worst case scenario. But, of course, it’s possible that Mac prices outside the US will rise to even higher levels
Why is Apple raising prices?
It’s important to note that these price increases are mostly due to exchange rate changes, not Apple’s desire to charge people in other countries more to buy new products.
However, while some of the price increase may be due to exchange rate fluctuations and the cost of doing business outside of the US, we suspect that Apple is pushing the price of these tough economic times to other countries as well rather than increasing prices. USA, where they will receive much more scrutiny.
If you live in the United States, you probably don’t have to worry about price increases, as Apple is keeping the price stable throughout 2022. However, we advise you to exercise caution. No one can be sure what will happen, and Apple is raising prices in other ways—for example, the M2 MacBook Air is priced $200 higher than the M1 MacBook Air.
Why was it worth the wait anyway?
Of course, the Mac you buy now will likely be replaced by a better model in six months. Apple is said to be updating the Mac mini, MacBook Pro and iMac in 2023, along with the long-awaited Mac Pro, so the higher prices might be worth it. But there are no rumors that the new Macs are more than specific flaws, so we recommend that you carefully check the deals in the next couple of weeks, because next year they could be much higher.