Apple’s Certified Refurbished store has been a sanctuary for people who balk at the prices of new Apple products, but it provided little shelter from today’s increases across many of its lines. Reconditioned items are also more expensive.
Outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook warned last week that price increases were coming due to the scarcity of memory components that are being reserved for building out AI infrastructure.
The stock of Apple’s refurbished store fluctuates wildly, but comparing a few current items as of June 25 with listings found at the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine reveals price bumps of around 6% to 15%.
For example, a refurbished 15-inch MacBook Air M4 with 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage cost $929 on June 14, and now lists for $1,019, an increase of $90. It originally sold for $1,199.
A 14-inch MacBook Pro M5 with 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage was $1,359 on June 14, and now lists for $1,439, an $80 jump. Its original price was $1,599.
Kicking these prices up by less than $100 doesn’t seem like a big difference, except that these are machines with existing memory and processors — Apple likely isn’t sourcing new components. That said, there’s no visibility into what goes into each reconditioned product, so it’s possible these items did get new logic boards. But they could also have needed new screens or replacement cases.
Refurbished iMac models see a more substantial increase. A refurbished 24-inch iMac M4 with 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage was $1,099 on June 14 and now costs $1,269, a $170 difference.
Macs aren’t the only refurb products seeing higher costs. A 13-inch iPad Pro M4 (Wi-Fi model) with 256GB of storage sold for $1,019 on June 14 and is now $150 more expensive at $1,169.
The prices for new Apple TV and HomePod configurations also saw increases, but as of June 25, Apple did not list any refurbished inventory.
If you’re looking to buy one of the affected Apple products, Amazon’s Prime Day prices have not incorporated any of Apple’s new pricing, so far.
An Apple representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.