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Jun 26, 2026
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Supported by
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TGIF! Apple raises prices for the Mac, iPad and other devices. Samsung plans unprecedented investments in chips and AI data centers. Bumble is exploring a sale.
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Apple on Thursday increased prices on all Macs, iPads, HomePods, Apple TV and the Vision Pro to offset a dramatic surge in memory and storage chip prices. It left prices on iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods untouched for now, though it hinted at possible changes in the future. Its shares fell nearly 5% to $278.59. “The rapid expansion of AI data centers has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage,” Apple said in a statement. “We have never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.” “We have shielded our customers from these increases so far, but we have now reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products including today’s increases for iPad and Mac,” it continued. “We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions.” The price jumps include the MacBook Neo, which now starts at $699, up from $599, and the MacBook Pro, which starts at $1,999, instead of $1,699. The iPad Air now starts at $749, instead of $599, while the iPad Pro starts at $1,199, rather than $999.
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Samsung Group, the South Korean tech giant, plans to unveil an investment package of more than 1,000 trillion won ($648 billion) next week, a record pledge aimed at chips, AI data centers, batteries and display, according to the Maeil Business Newspaper. The investments, amounting to half of South Korea’s GDP, will stretch over the next decade and include about 300 trillion won ($194 billion) for chipmaking facilities in the country’s southwest, the newspaper reported. The spending shows how Samsung is funneling profit from chipmaking business back into expansion to defend its technology lead. Its chipmaking unit, Samsung Electronics, posted record sales and profits in recent quarters. A global shortage of chipmaking capacity, spanning AI processors and memory chips, has put South Korea at the center of global AI buildout. The country is home to two of the world’s largest chipmakers, Samsung and SK Hynix.
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Bumble is exploring a sale, Reuters reported Thursday, a sign of the struggles that the company has had with slowing growth and declining users over the past few years. The company is working with bankers at Morgan Stanley on a potential sale, the report said, though Bumble may not end up selling. A final decision is likely up to Bumble’s two big shareholders, Blackstone and founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, who between them control 84% of the vote. Wolfe Herd, who stepped down as CEO in 2023 before returning to the top job a little over a year ago, has been trying to turn the company around. But revenue declined in 2025 by around 10% to roughly $966 million. The company’s shares, meanwhile, have fallen 96% from its IPO price in early 2021.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Thursday proposed eliminating a rule that requires all vehicles to have a brake pedal. The policy change would only apply to autonomous vehicles, a move that could remove regulatory hurdles for Tesla and Zoox, which are developing vehicles that are designed to operate autonomously without brakes or a steering wheel. NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said it would build on the Trump Administration’s efforts to “reimagine” the requirements for vehicles that no longer require human supervision and tear down “pointless barriers” to the new technology. The agency previously proposed changes to requirements for windshield wipers. NHTSA said that the recent proposed change would not impact other braking requirements for the vehicles, such as the required distance for stopping a vehicle, and it is in the process of developing additional safety performance standards for autonomous vehicles.
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Popular articles
By Laura Bratton and Catherine Perloff
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