Updated

Updated · ZDNet · Aug 6

Amazon Cuts 13-Inch M5 MacBook Air to $1,134 as Apple’s June Hike Still Lifts Prices

Updated

Updated · ZDNet · Aug 6

Amazon Cuts 13-Inch M5 MacBook Air to $1,134 as Apple’s June Hike Still Lifts Prices

Q: Are Amazon's massive M5 MacBook Air discounts secretly rolling back Apple's controversial recent price hikes?

Not exactly. Amazon’s discounts are not a formal reversal of Apple’s June price hikes, but in some cases they effectively bring prices close to — and occasionally back to — pre-hike territory. The clearest example is the 13-inch M5 MacBook Air. Apple raised its U.S. starting price from $1,099 to $1,299 in June. Since then, Amazon has run discounts of roughly $150 to $200 on several configurations. That means some sale prices can offset most or all of the increase. A model selling for $1,099 or $1,149 is, in practical terms, undoing much of Apple’s higher list price for shoppers, even though Apple itself has not changed its pricing. But the rollback is uneven. The article’s featured deal — the 13-inch 16GB/1TB model at $1,419 from $1,599 — is still above the old pre-hike equivalent price if that configuration had also moved up with Apple’s broader increases. Other tracked deals across the web show deeper cuts, including some all-time lows, yet those offers vary by timing, stock, color, and Prime eligibility. The bigger point is that Amazon appears to be using aggressive promotions to keep demand moving after Apple’s controversial increases, which were tied to higher memory and storage costs. So the discounts are real, and they do soften the blow substantially. But they are retailer-driven, temporary, and inconsistent — not a hidden Apple policy rollback.

Q: Despite reports claiming otherwise, where can shoppers find the hidden record-low deals on 15-inch M5 MacBooks?

Shoppers can find those hidden record-low 15-inch M5 MacBook deals on Amazon, and in some cases Best Buy is matching them. While the cited news story said no 15-inch discounts were being tracked, related deal coverage shows Amazon has repeatedly offered record lows on 15-inch M5 MacBook Air models. The clearest examples include the 15-inch 16GB/512GB model at $1,099.99, down from $1,299, and the 15-inch 16GB/1TB model at $1,349, down from $1,499. Prime Day and Memorial Day coverage also showed $150 off across the 15-inch lineup, with the 24GB/1TB version dropping to about $1,549.99 from $1,699. MacRumors and Macworld both cited Amazon as the source of these lower prices, with MacRumors also noting that Best Buy matched some of the Amazon pricing during sale periods. Availability appears to vary by color, stock, and whether the shopper has Amazon Prime. So the practical answer is that the “hidden” record-low 15-inch M5 MacBook deals have been appearing on Amazon, with occasional matching offers at Best Buy, even if they were not reflected in the original deal tracking at that moment.

3 articles · Updated · ZDNet · Aug 6

$1,134 buys the 13-inch M5 MacBook Air on Amazon, a 13% discount and the lowest price seen since Apple raised MacBook prices in June.
Apple still lists the same base model at $1,199, leaving Amazon slightly cheaper even after matching some post-hike pricing across the lineup.
Consumers are still paying roughly 15% to 25% more than they would have a few months ago because AI infrastructure demand has tightened RAM and NAND flash supply.
Tim Cook had already warned higher prices were becoming "unavoidable," and the latest back-to-school deal may be one of the last notable dips before October Prime Day or Black Friday.