With the gasoline example, there's also the issue of cash management. Gas is a low-to-no margin item for most gas stations. They make their money on the incidentals you buy or the repair service if they have one. So they jack up their price immediately so they have enough cash in hand to pay for the next shipment when it comes in at the higher price. They lower it more slowly because they never know when it's going to jump back up again, and they don't want to be caught flat-footed.
It's going to vary a lot more with synth companies. Some may keep a lot of cash on hand and can wait until their costs actually go up. Others may operate with much smaller margins and have to pump up prices now to afford the next batch of components and still be able to eat. And some may be very conservative and take the opportunity to increase prices so they keep a big cash margin to ride out drops in demand, and others may delay as long as possible to get one over on those who have raised their prices.
I doubt it's from a "let's screw the customer!" perspective, but it can easily look like it from outside.
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