In the summer of 2026, the price tags on Apple products were rewritten twice. On June 25, prices changed worldwide for a product lineup centered on Macs and iPads. In the early hours of July 18, every iPhone model, along with the Apple Watch, AirPods, and various subscriptions, switched to new prices in Japan alone. Both changes came with virtually no advance warning.
Behind them were two pressures of completely different kinds: a global surge in semiconductor component prices caused by the generative-AI boom, and a historically weak yen trading in the ¥160 range to the dollar. As both arrived at once, the prices of the devices in our hands rose quietly but unmistakably.
The Summer AI Swallowed the Semiconductor Supply
The first wave came on June 25. After maintenance ended at the Apple Store online, the prices of MacBooks, iPads, iMacs, Mac Studios, HomePods, Apple TV 4K, and even Apple Vision Pro all rose at once. The seriousness of the situation was evident in the fact that this was not merely a currency adjustment for Japan, but an increase in global base prices that included the United States.
The main driver was the soaring cost of components rather than exchange rates. The global technology industry is now in the midst of a data-center construction boom for generative AI, and demand has exploded for the high-bandwidth memory (HBM), DRAM, and NAND flash essential to AI's parallel processing. The smartphone industry once commanded overwhelming purchasing power in the memory market, and Apple, its leading company, enjoyed favorable negotiating power on price.
Now, however, massive IT companies buying up supplies on the premise that they must secure them regardless of cost have squeezed general-purpose memory production lines, sending procurement costs for PCs and tablets sharply higher. According to overseas research firms, DRAM contract prices reportedly rose by as much as 98% in the January–March quarter of 2026, followed by a further increase of nearly 60% in the April–June quarter.
The developments played out just as Apple's Tim Cook had suggested when he described the situation as a “once-in-a-century flood” in an interview with a U.S. newspaper and took the unusual step of warning of price increases.
The scale of the increases varied widely by product. The most dramatic was the Apple TV 4K, whose price jumped roughly 76%, from ¥19,800 to ¥34,800. The HomePod range also rose by more than 30–50%, illustrating just how large a share of these audio products was accounted for by semiconductors.
The impact was even more severe for professionals who need large amounts of memory for video editing and software development: the MacBook Pro 14-inch and Mac Studio rose by roughly ¥90,000. The 11-inch iPad Air, widely used for education, also climbed about 31%, from ¥98,800 to ¥129,800. By crossing the ¥100,000 threshold, it completely lost its positioning as an accessible device.
iPhone Price Tags Changed Overnight
iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirPods were left out of the June revisions, initially bringing consumers some relief. Yet just three weeks later, in the early hours of July 18, every model in those ranges was adjusted at once. This time it was a currency adjustment limited to Japan's online store, carried out silently as prices changed overnight without advance notice.
Given that U.S. iPhone prices remained unchanged, this can be seen as an adjustment aimed squarely at the weak yen.
Depending on model and capacity, increases ranged from ¥8,000 to ¥25,000, or generally around 10%. Most symbolic was how one psychological price barrier after another fell for Japanese consumers.
The entry-level iPhone 17e, introduced in March 2026 with an accessible price below ¥100,000 as its selling point, reached ¥107,800 for the base model just months later, easily breaking through the ¥100,000 barrier.
The standard iPhone 17 (256GB) rose to ¥142,800. Although it offers improved specifications, including a 120Hz ProMotion display and A19 chip, it has moved into a price range once associated with Pro models.
At the top of the line, even the lowest-capacity 256GB iPhone 17 Pro Max passed ¥200,000 at ¥214,800. The newly introduced 2TB version reached ¥354,800, exceeding the price of a high-end laptop. The previous-generation iPhone 16 range also rose by about 10% across the board, closing off even the workaround of buying an older model cheaply.
The wave reached wearables as well. The entry-level Apple Watch SE 3 saw a modest ¥4,000 increase, while the flagship Ultra 3 rose about 10%, from ¥129,800 to ¥142,800.
AirPods Pro 3 rose from ¥39,800 to ¥42,800, finally crossing the ¥40,000 mark. There was just one interesting exception: the over-ear AirPods Max 2 (¥89,800) was the only product whose price remained unchanged.
Already priced at nearly ¥90,000, close to the limit for consumer headphones, any further increase might have extinguished demand. It can be inferred that this was a coolly calculated strategic decision.
Subscription Increases Add to Monthly Fixed Costs
More than rising device prices, increases in monthly services gradually weigh on household budgets. In step with the hardware revisions, every tier of the iCloud+ cloud-storage service rose by about 20%. The 50GB plan went from ¥150 to ¥180 per month, and the 2TB plan from ¥1,500 to ¥1,800.
One concern is that the free base capacity included when an Apple ID is created has remained at 5GB for years. With today's smartphones holding high-resolution photos and 4K video, covering backups with 5GB is almost impossible, leaving many people effectively pushed toward a paid plan.
Once users enter the ecosystem, the effort involved in moving data becomes a barrier, making it difficult to switch. Within this structural lock-in, users have little choice but to accept a recurring form of “digital rent.”
Entertainment services were also affected across the board. Apple Music's individual plan rose from ¥1,080 to ¥1,180, Apple TV+ from ¥900 to ¥1,200, and the individual Apple One plan bundling these services from ¥1,200 to ¥1,350.
For Apple Music, Apple itself cited “higher licensing costs,” and the individual plan in the United States also rose from $10.99 to $11.99. In Japan, the weak yen multiplies this global increase in underlying costs, making the price rise feel even greater.
Higher New-Device Prices Heat Up the Used Market
The dramatic increases in the new-device market transformed the mood of the secondary market. The latest iPhone had shifted from “a device casually replaced every few years” into “a premium durable good that requires budget planning.” According to Belong, an Itochu Group company that operates the used-smartphone service Nicosuma, used-phone sales rose 16% during the three days immediately after the June 25 revision was announced compared with the preceding three days, while the average purchase price rose 14%.
This was so-called anticipatory demand from people who expected iPhone prices to rise next. The company's forecast says that if key new models all rose 10%, used transaction prices would climb by as much as 12.4% in about one week, peak, and then return to their pre-revision level over the following two to four months.
Moves to capitalize on this growth potential also emerged. On July 1, 2026, general trading company Marubeni announced that it would make used-smartphone retailer Iosys a wholly owned subsidiary. The investment, worth several billion yen, reflected the expectation that the more new-device prices rise, the more the lower-cost used market will grow as a huge outlet for demand.
From Ownership to a Two-Year Lease
The shape of consumption is also quietly changing at mobile-carrier stores. Buying a device outright from a major carrier can often cost tens of thousands of yen more than a SIM-free model sold directly by Apple.
A defense against this price premium and rising device costs is becoming established: combining a residual-value program that requires the device to be returned after two years with a discount for switching from another carrier (MNP).
Rakuten Mobile has been particularly aggressive, combining MNP with a return program to offer the latest entry-level iPhone 17e for a monthly cost in the region of ¥1.
This phenomenon shows that smartphone consumption in Japan has changed irreversibly. Many people are being pushed from a model in which they buy a ¥100,000–¥200,000 device outright as their own property and use it for years toward one in which, for a small fee, they “lease the right to use” the latest model for two years.
Living in an Era When ¥150,000 Is the New Normal
The first iPhone sold in Japan, the iPhone 3G in 2008, cost roughly ¥70,000 for the 8GB model. Today, even the least expensive iPhone 17e costs more than ¥100,000, core models approach ¥150,000, and the flagship Pro Max reaches ¥350,000.
At a point when “¥150,000 is the new standard price for a smartphone,” buying hardware is no longer a casual purchase. The squeeze on memory demand that accompanies expanding AI infrastructure is not temporary and will continue to impose upward cost pressure across the industry.
In addition, increases in subscriptions such as iCloud+ and Apple Music will keep quietly expanding the share of household budgets taken by “unavoidable digital fixed costs.”
It may be time to let go of the old assumption that technology becomes cheaper over time. Should you continue buying new devices, make use of the rapidly expanding used market, or lease the right to use a device through a carrier return program? Consumers are being asked to choose according to their lifestyle and allocate their budgets more strategically than ever.
