Tim Cook Says Apple Price Increases Are 'Unavoidable' Due To Memory Costs (macrumors.com)
- Reference: 0183951660
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/06/18/0054201/tim-cook-says-apple-price-increases-are-unavoidable-due-to-memory-costs
- Source link: https://www.macrumors.com/2026/06/17/apple-increasing-prices/
> Apple is [1]raising its prices to offset the high cost of memory and storage , CEO Tim Cook [2]told The Wall Street Journal . Apple is no longer able to absorb the increased prices and will need to pass some of the cost on to consumers. "Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable," said Cook. "We're doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we've been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable."
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> Growing demand for memory and storage chips from AI companies has led to chip shortages and higher costs. The Wall Street Journal suggests Apple will need to increase device costs "substantially" to maintain its current profit margins given the cost of memory chips and SSDs. Research firm TechInsights claims Apple will need to make the iPhone 18 Pro around $270 more expensive to keep its existing profit margin.
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> Apple is struggling more with memory chips, but storage chips are also an issue. "There's less supply at a time when consumers want devices and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases," Cook told The Wall Street Journal. Cook said Apple will use its cash to increase memory supply, but he did not give details on what that means. Apple does not plan to create its own memory and storage factories. "We can't do everything," Cook said. "We know what we're good at."
Cook likened the memory shortages to a hundred-year flood. "I've never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years," he said.
Further reading: [3]Smartphone Market To Shrink 15% This Year Due To Memory Crisis
[1] https://www.macrumors.com/2026/06/17/apple-increasing-prices/
[2] https://www.wsj.com/tech/apple-price-increases-memory-supply-199845b1
[3] https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/26/06/17/2022201/smartphone-market-to-shrink-15-this-year-due-to-memory-crisis
Wow (Score:2)
You know things are bad when Apple's top procurement guy can't even get any good deal rates anymore.
Yeah, we're fucked .
Re: (Score:2)
Apple has enough money to invest in additional production capacity. No one wants to dump billions investing in new manufacturing capacity that will take at least a year to come online and may only start producing when the market returns to normal though. Apple certainly can afford to take that risk and if the memory market continues like it is for the next few years then Apple would make an absolute killing with such a move.
Re:Wow (Score:4, Informative)
> Apple has enough money to invest in additional production capacity.
I don't know if you've checked recently but Apple does not make RAM. They don't actually manufacture chips. They contract TSMC to make their CPUs. They buy commodity chips like RAM.
> No one wants to dump billions investing in new manufacturing capacity that will take at least a year to come online and may only start producing when the market returns to normal though.
Yes that's why the RAM manufacturers (which are not Apple) are charging lots of money now for RAM.
> Apple certainly can afford to take that risk and if the memory market continues like it is for the next few years then Apple would make an absolute killing with such a move.
1) There is a difference between having lots of money and having the resources to do something. Apple does not manufacture RAM. 2) How would Apple "make a killing" again? Apple does not sell components to anyone. Apple will certainly do everything they can to secure supply of components; they do not sell components like RAM, CPUs, etc.
Re: (Score:3)
I remember reading somewhere that Apple kind of foresaw this coming and purchased extra memory so they wouldn't have to raise prices as long as possible.
It looks like they've reached the end of their extra supply.
Re: (Score:3)
> we're fucked
Perhaps not. There are Chinese fabs that can't make HBM, but can make DDR5. Corsair is now (as of about 2 weeks ago) selling modules with CXMT RAM. That's the first time one of the "major" RAM module manufacturers have turned to Chinese chips.
That may be the answer to the DDR5 shortage over the next year or so.
I know where this is going (Score:3)
[1]Apple is doing the meme. [imgflip.com]
[1] https://imgflip.com/i/aunjtk
Re: I know where this is going (Score:2)
My thoughts were pretty much in line with this, though even before this shortage, apple's effective price for ram still makes today's ram prices look cheap. And they don't even use particularly good components, they use sk hynix, who makes the absolute shittiest ram you can buy. And then they convince their customers that it's a premium product worth paying a premium for -- basically selling their customers a polished turd.
Yeah... (Score:1)
the shareholders still have to get their daughters a new mercedes this year, so...
Has the rise in the cost of RAM (Score:3)
even overtaken the Apple tax? Their infamously charge a metric fuckton for machines with extra memory. Their base machines may be competitive, but individual spec boosts or their separate components certainly weren't. Just look back a few years to see articles talking about just how insanely expensive Apple RAM was:
[1]https://wccftech.com/apple-sel... [wccftech.com]
700% higher than comparable Corsair back in 2019.
Memory is currently 400% higher than it was in 2024.
[1] https://wccftech.com/apple-sells-16gb-ram-for-400-almost-700-higher-price-than-other-oems/
Or (Score:1, Funny)
Radical idea: that fat cats that have been getting rich beyond belief for decades could take a tiny bit less and not pass the cost on to the consumer for once.
Re: (Score:2)
> They could build a memory fab of their own from petty cash if they actually wanted to... but they don't. They would rather raise prices and blame others.
Which RAM manufacturer should they buy and with what money? Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix are all public companies worth over $1T each. Apple does not have over $3T in cash. But somehow that's their fault that RAM prices are so high and they have not solved the problem.
Re: (Score:2)
> If they can develop their own processors, they can certainly do their own memory!
The problem with memory is manufacturing them at the lowest costs not developing it. Memory is standardized and considered a commodity due to the huge number of patents surrounding it. The problem right now is the RAM manufacturers are getting lots of money not to make consumer grade RAM like DDR5. They are getting lots of money to make HBM for AI servers. Where would Apple make this RAM? Certainly not at Micron, SK Hynix, or Samsung. TSMC could manufacture if they were not fully booked making AI CPUs, AMD
Re: (Score:2)
They developed their own processors and have them manufactured by a third party.
Re: (Score:2)
I bet if they wanted to buy a $1T company they could. It wouldn't be all in cash, but their market capitalization is over $4T. Sell a few $100B in bonds, issue new stock, talk with a few bankers, ... Antitrust laws (not just in the US) might prevent an acquisition but not the financing.
That said, they probably don't want to. A large acquisition can be very, very distracting to management and is usually a new loss over time.
Re: (Score:2)
> Sell a few $100B in bonds, issue new stock, talk with a few bankers,
This isn't a small business loan. The number of banks that could lend hundreds of billions is very small.
> . Antitrust laws (not just in the US) might prevent an acquisition but not the financing.
There are other obstacles. Samsung's RAM business is a part of their chip business. They would have to separate it from their foundry business. It is highly unlikely Samsung would ever agree to that. Samsung and SK Hynix are South Korean companies. I would think the country of South Korea would object to the sale. That leaves Micron which is in the US. That's where Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, etc would all s
Re: (Score:2)
Buying an existing company is not going to bring the prices down. The supply remains the same. And spending $1T for memory is crazy. Instead like the MP said, "They could build a memory fab of their own from petty cash if they actually wanted to... "
Re: (Score:2)
> And spending $1T for memory is crazy. Instead like the MP said, "They could build a memory fab of their own from petty cash if they actually wanted to... "
Building one would take years if Apple had the personnel, the expertise, site, etc. And at the end of the it, Apple built a manufacturing plant that does not fit into their strategies. After all, Apple does not manufacture their own CPUs. They contract TSMC to make them.
Re: (Score:3)
You don't buy a RAM company, you start one. The existing companies refuse to expand to meet demand, which is the whole reason for this mess.
Oh no less than 300% profit margin! what to do! (Score:3)
Heaven forbid Apple have to forego their insane profit margins in the name of consumer affordability. They'd rather charge you$18000 for a slab of glass than let go of 300% profit
Re: (Score:3)
> Heaven forbid Apple have to forego their insane profit margins in the name of consumer affordability. They'd rather charge you $18000 for a slab of glass than let go of 300% profit
Yeah, pretty much.
I'm mostly an Apple user. I own a Mac. I own an iPhone. This has been true since late last century and 2007, respectively. I do not own an Apple tablet.
I was shopping for a tablet the other day to use for viewing sheet music, and the only hard requirement for that sort of thing is that it must not be significantly smaller than 8.5x11. The smallest Apple device that met that requirement was the iPad Air 13-inch for $750.
So I decided to see what sort of Android tablets existed. I ended
Small Violin (Score:4, Interesting)
A lot of factories run on a 10% or less Net Profit. These guys have to raise prices or go under. Apple is going from an obscene profit to a profit that 99% of the world can only dream about.
Apple could easily eat the cost increase, but when pure greed drives every business decision....
Re: (Score:2)
>> Cook likened the memory shortages to a hundred-year flood. "I've never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years," he said.
> 100 or 40, which one is it Tim?
Both. The hundred year flood is a rare event and he hasn’t seen it. Just because it is a hundred year flood doesn’t mean it happens every hundred years.
Burst Already (Score:3)
The AI bubble should burst soon.
Lovely (Score:2)
A bunch of companies that have no hope of being profitable in the near-term hoovering up huge amounts of capital as well as causing significant global market distortions for anyone needing memory or storage. I guess the question is which of these black holes should be getting the most short interest?
no longer able to absorb the increased prices (Score:2)
So the 4.37 trillion dollar company cant Absorb the increase. DOnt need AI to translate that to Were going to keep upping the cost of the phone to keep our markup high.
Re: (Score:2)
They're a public company...not a charity. If you were a shareholder, would YOU want Apple to eat these sudden supply chain cost spikes?
I wouldn't.
Re: no longer able to absorb the increased prices (Score:2)
You forgot the "posted from my $2799 iphone 22 pro max" tagline
Re: (Score:2)
Nope, I'm an Android person and I'm not an investor in Apple for what it's worth.
Bold lie (Score:2)
You can absorb it, Timmy. It's called give up some margins
Or you could just... (Score:1)
Eat less avocado toast. Apparently that is the solution to money problems. Geez!
Spin this into the Intel deal (Score:2)
They announced with Trump. I know, intel doesn't do memory. If I were their new CEO, I would call my top guy into the office and have him tell me how we could get this done. In 6 months.
Apollo 13 time - don't tell me about what you can't do, only tell me what you can.
Simple Solution (Score:1)
design notebooks for customer-upgradeable/swappable LPCAMM2. Guess who likes to sell DRAM with a healthy mark-up and likes to solder it to the boards?
No surprise (Score:2)
No surprise here. Why is this even news? Every product that uses memory is raising their prices. This "story" is merely Apple mollifying their customers.
Re: (Score:1)
Perhaps it's because Apple have a $1 Trillion cash flow sitting in the bank and not wanting to off set a bit to cover the temp price hikes, so got to fleece the Apple customers some more
Re:No surprise (Score:4, Informative)
> Perhaps it's because Apple have a $1 Trillion cash flow sitting in the bank and not wanting to off set a bit to cover the temp price hikes, so got to fleece the Apple customers some more.
I think you are confusing that Apple stock is over $1T with Apple having $1T in cash in the bank. They do not. According to their [1]annual report [cloudfront.net] dated September 25, 2025, they had about $35B in cash.
[1] https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0000320193/c636d8a7-8025-47d2-9b13-bcf5465343b3.html
Re: No surprise (Score:2)
Which is chump change, of course.
Re: (Score:3)
> they had about $35B in cash.
They also have Marketable securities worth $18.763 billion and stuff. And long-term assets. But then they also have current and long-term liabilities. The difference between total assets and liabilities, ignoring PPE, comes to about $24 billion. Their income after tax for the financial year was $112.010 billion. So where did all that money go?
"Common stock repurchased" $90.052 billion and $15.413 billion in dividends.
Turns out, the bulk of the profits are going into stock repurchase programs.
Re: No surprise (Score:1)
They no more have a trillion dollars than Elon Musk does. There's a massive difference between money and speculative valuation.
Re: (Score:2)
I would think he would declare Apple is going to build a memory FAB for their products and keep the costs of production low and profit from 1 more part of the supply chain they control in full.