The M5 Macbook Air is down to the lowest price we've seen since Apple's price hike

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The 13-inch Apple MacBook Air M5 is now on sale for back-to-school season, with the 13-inch starting at $1,134, or 13% off -- the lowest price we've seen since Apple's blanket price increase across its entire MacBook and iPad lineup in June.

Also: I tried buying a MacBook Air from Apple today - shipping was delayed by over a month

This means consumers are paying 15% to 25% more now than they would have on the same device a couple of months ago. While Amazon has changed its prices to match, some of the latest MacBook Air models are still less expensive there than at Apple. For example, the 13-inch MacBook Air M5 now starts at $1,199 in the Apple store, but it's $1,134 on Amazon -- not a major discount, but slightly lower.

The increased cost is largely due to unprecedented demand for RAM and NAND flash storage from AI infrastructure companies, which are scooping it up for themselves, leading to a shortage for consumer electronics. This price increase should come as no surprise, however. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently warned of an impending price hike in an interview with the Wall Street Journal , admitting that it had reached a point where higher prices were "unavoidable."