Higher Apple prices

Apple raised the prices of its Macs and iPads a week after Chief Executive Tim Cook said the soaring costs of memory and storage chips would force the company’s hand. The company briefly took down its Apple Online Store early this morning as it typically does when announcing new products. When it came back online, the price tags for Mac computers rose roughly 15pc to 20pc, and iPad prices rose 15pc to 25pc. iPhone prices were unchanged, though the company hinted at more increases in a statement. The WSJ decided to make an educated guess about how much more the next iPhone could cost, using the anticipated but as-yet-unannounced iPhone 18 Pro. Its analysis — based on the current markup of memory and storage chips and projections from research firm TechInsights — shows why the price of the base model could rise by $200 or more.

(Adapted from “Apple Raises Prices On Macs, iPads by $200 Or More On Some Models,” by Rolfe Winkler, published on June 25, 2026, by the Wall Street Journal)

‘Zombie’ unicorns

Fantastic beasts roam Silicon Valley. Locals are familiar with the unicorn, a startup valued at more than $1bn, the centaur (worth $100m) and the decacorn ($10bn). Lately another creature has been stalking the land: the “zombie” unicorn: a firm once worth $1bn-plus but now a mere shadow of its former self. Falling valuations spell horror for venture capitalists. More recently launched funds have been returning markedly less money to investors than those of earlier vintages, according to the World Economic Forum. By May 2026, 332 of the 1,900 unicorns in a database maintained by Stanford University had raised money at a valuation at or below their peak. Of those, 212 were valued at under $1bn. As many as 383 had disclosed no new funding in the previous three years; 41 of these had lost unicorn status. While some unicorns may have raised no money because they did not need it, others may be struggling to justify mythical valuations.

(Adapted from “Zombie Unicorns Are Haunting Silicon Valley,” published on June 21, 2026, by The Economist)

Jio’s IPO

Jio Platforms, the telecom unit of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, has announced what analysts say could be one of India’s biggest share sales. India’s largest telecom operator, which has more than 500m subscribers, is expected to raise around $4bn (£3.02bn), according to media reports. Investors will be watching the listing closely as a test of appetite for new offerings after months of volatility in the country’s stock markets. “The proposed listing of Jio will demonstrate to the world that India can build technology companies of global scale, global capability, and global value,” Mr Ambani, one of the world’s richest men, said. Launched in 2016, Jio shook up India’s telecom sector with low-cost mobile data plans, soon racking up millions of users. The company has since expanded into areas including cloud computing, enterprise services and artificial intelligence. Last year, Jio and rival Bharti Airtel signed separate deals with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring the Starlink internet service to India.

(Adapted from “Asia’s Richest Man Ambani Announces What Could Be India’s Biggest Share Sale,” by Nikita Yadav, published on June 19, 2026, by BBC)

WFH is here to stay

Work from home is hardly over. In fact, it’s probably here to stay. The past couple of years have seen a drumbeat of big companies announcing, to great fanfare, that they were requiring employees to spend more time in the office. Home Depot, Target, Microsoft, 3M, Intel — the list goes on and on. But across the broader economy, the evidence suggests that the return to the office has stalled out. An average of 26pc of paid, full days were worked from home in May, according to a monthly work-from-home survey run by economists Jose Maria Barrero, Nicholas Bloom and Steven Davis. That is down, but not by much, from the 27pc registered two years earlier. Remote-work rates appear to have reached a new equilibrium, with far more people working from home at least part of the time than before the pandemic.

(Adapted from “Work From Home Is Here To Stay — Even If Some CEOs Don’t Love It,” by Justin Lahart, published on June 15, 2026, by the Wall Street Journal)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, June 29th, 2026