Price evolution of a MacBook Air in the United States

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

The MacBook Air was introduced in 2008 in which will always remain one of Steve Jobs’ most iconic presentations. Younger generations might take portability for granted, but when Jobs slid the MacBook Air from a manilla envelope, it was hard to believe that a computer could be that thin, and that something that thin wouldn't break.

The MacBook Air was a reinforcement of Apple’s commitment to always push the boundaries of design and technology.

For Apple, a company that had historically always produced very high-end products (and still does), the Macbook Air became the smaller brother to their flagship laptop computer, the MacBook Pro, and a great option for all those who identified with Apple’s values and aesthetics, but did not necessarily work in design, video editing or other industries that require a lot of computing power. In other words, the MacBook Air became the perfect laptop for business people, reporters, students, and more.

The prices in this article always refer to the lowest spec, cheapest, 13-inch version of the latest MacBook Airs available at any given point in time. This does not mean there haven't been cheaper, and definitely more expensive options available.

Apple sometimes keeps selling older versions of their MacBook Air at a lower price after releasing a newer version, and they most definitely always offer spec upgrades which can make it a lot more expensive than what you see here. So once again, these prices are for the latest 13-inch, entry-level over the years.

Price evolution of a MacBook Air

The average price of a MacBook Air between 2008 and 2023 was $1,187, with the lowest price being $1,799 in 2008 and the highest $1,799 in 2008 (at least within the timeframe we have data for).

Absolute price of a MacBook Air per year

We collected data from several sources in order to write this article. You can check such sources at: CNET and Apple Newsroom .

The absolute price of a MacBook Air in the the United States has gone from $1,799 in 2008 to $1,099 in 2023. That's an absolute increase of $-700, or -38.91% in a period of 15 years. (go to the next section for inflation-adjusted values).

This increment has not been linear though. During this period of 15 years the price of a MacBook Air actually decreased year over year 8 times, in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2023.

The biggest absolute price decrease in the price of a MacBook Air was in 2009, when the price dropped by $-300, or -16.68%. The biggest price increase was $200, or 20.02% in 2018.

So yes, it's had its ups and downs, but overall, price increases outweight the deceases, making a MacBook Air pricier than it used to be.

Inflation-adjusted price of a MacBook Air 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 a MacBook Air in the the United States, in that same 15 years period between 2008 and 2023, but adjusting prices to inflation (aka. in today's money).

When we adjust for inflation, we see that the price of a MacBook Air also peaked in 2008, when it cost $2,672 (in today's money), and was at its lowest in 2023 when it sold for $1,157.

The biggest drop in adjusted price happened in 2009, when the inflation-adjusted price dropped by $-528 (-19.76%). Even when adjusting for inflation, the biggest price increase of a MacBook Air was still in 2018. However, the $200 jump actually felt like $225 to the consumer due, to the effect of inflation.

The average price of a MacBook Air during this period of time, adjusting for inflation, has been $1,552, and the most current price of $1,099 is 29.21% 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 a MacBook Air, we see that it has varied ± 48.81% over this period of time, and is currently 29.21% cheaper than the average over these years.

So the price of a MacBook Air is really going down! You don't find the price of many things going down over a long period of time, so let's take this win and hope the trend continues!

FAQs about the price of a MacBook Air in the the United States