The cause is the whole thing, cost of shipping (container, gas, etc), cost of components (RAM, SSD, etc), cost of tariff, cost of lobbying and lawsuits, and overall inflation cost.
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/06/25/apple-explains-why-it-r...
Don't trust a fox to count your chickens.
Also RAM is impacting other components such as SSD
Year Average Spot Rate (USD)
2006 $1,825
2007 $1,775
2008 $1,383
2009 $1,350
2010 $1,900
2011 $1,450
2012 $2,000
2013 $1,750
2014 $1,900
2015 $1,125
2016 $1,350
2017 $1,525
2018 $1,775
2019 $1,490
2020 $3,008
2021 $8,608
2022 $5,500
2023 $1,575
2024 $4,740
2025 $3,150
2026 (YTD) $3,835