Price evolution of an iMac in the United States

1. Relevance of the price of an iMac
2. Price evolution of an iMac
   1. Absolute price of an iMac per year
   2. Inflation adjusted price of an iMac per year
3. Conclusion
4. FAQs about an iMac's price in the the United States
5. Price evolution table and full chart

The iMac has played a key role in shaping the trajectory of modern personal computing since it was first introduced to the market in 1998.

With its groundbreaking design and seamless hardware-software integration, the iMac challenged the status quo of what a desktop computer should look, feel, and operate like. The first iMac's iconic translucent shell design clearly differentiated from the traditionally boring beige boxes that PCs were.

From an economic point of view, the iMac was key in Apple's resurrection after Steve Jobs returned to the company he originally co-founded after being fired by the previous board. The iMac was more than just a product, it was a statement, and it symbolized Apple’s commitment to innovation and design-first thinking.

As subsequent iterations of the iMac introduced features like the flat-panel display, unibody design, and high-resolution Retina displays, they continued to exemplify Apple's commitment to integrating cutting-edge technology with intuitive design.

The prices in this article refer to the cheapest version of the latest iMac model at any point in time. Sometimes Apple kept selling an older version of their iMacs at a lower price after releasing a new version, and they most definitely always offer spec upgrades which can make it a lot more expensive. So once again, these prices are for the entry-level of the latest mode.

Price evolution of an iMac

The average price of an iMac between 1998 and 2023 was $1,180, with the lowest price being $1,299 in 1998 and the highest $1,299 in 1998 (at least within the timeframe we have data for).

Absolute price of an iMac per year

Our data source for this article was: history-computer.com .

The absolute price of an iMac in the the United States has gone from $1,299 in 1998 to $1,299 in 2023. That's an absolute increase of -, or 0% in a period of 25 years. (go to the next section for inflation-adjusted values).

This increment has not been linear though. During this period of 25 years the price of an iMac actually decreased year over year 3 times, in 2000, 2007, 2014.

The biggest absolute price decrease in the price of an iMac was in 2000, when the price dropped by $-300, or -23.09%. The biggest price increase was $300, or 30.03% in 2004.

With the price increasing most years, it comes as no surprise that the price of an iMac today is higher than what it used to be some years ago.

Inflation-adjusted price of an iMac per year

As accurate as the information above might be, it can also be somehow deceiving. This is because the value of money changes over time, usually decreasing. That means that $1 of today's money cannot buy as much as $1 in the past. This phenomenon is called inflation, and can make it complicated to compare historical pricing data. Luckily, we can adjust for it and calculate what a dollar value of the past would be equal to in today's money.

So let's not take a look at the evolution of the price of an iMac in the the United States, in that same 25 years period between 1998 and 2023, but adjusting prices to inflation (aka. in today's money).

When we adjust for inflation, we see that the price of an iMac also peaked in 1998, when it cost $2,493 (in today's money), and was at its lowest in 2020 when it sold for $1,324.

The biggest drop in adjusted price happened in 2000, when the inflation-adjusted price dropped by $-607 (-24.74%). Even when adjusting for inflation, the biggest price increase of an iMac was still in 2004. However, the $300 jump actually felt like $464 to the consumer due, to the effect of inflation.

The average price of an iMac during this period of time, adjusting for inflation, has been $1,723, and the most current price of $1,299 is 24.61% below that average. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Conclusion

Now, as we've explained earlier, the absolute price of a product does not necessarily represent its affordability fairly. For that we have to look at its inflation adjusted price, or in other words, the price evolution in today's money.

When we look at the inflation-adjusted price of an iMac, we see that it has varied ± 33.91% over this period of time, and is currently 24.61% cheaper than the average over these years.

Even when adjusting prices for inflation, an iMac prices are still higher in 2023 than they were in 1998. And not just a bit more expensive, we are talking about a significant increase no matter how you look at it!

So if there had to be one single take away from this article it would be this: The average person has to make a bigger economic effort to purchase an iMac today than in the past.

FAQs about the price of an iMac in the the United States