The base model 13" MacBook Air released in 2020 was $1,299. Today, Apple raised the price of the current base model to... $1,299.

The base model 14" MacBook Pro released in 2021 was $1,999. Today, Apple raised the price of the current base model to, you guessed it, $1,999.

And of course it should go without saying that the current models are substantially better.

Edit: don't know where that $1,299 came from, Apple's announcement says $999: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/11/introducing-the-next-...

That's a 30% increase. Over 5.5 years, that's right about 5% per year.

The base model 13" MBA was $799. I remember because I needed a laptop for our son to continue attending school during COVID shutdown.