Apple to raise prices due to memory chip costs

Apple plans to raise product prices as memory chip costs surge, outgoing chief executive Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal, calling the increases "unavoidable" and the supply situation "unsustainable." [1] Cook said the company has tried to shield customers from the rising component costs but can no longer absorb them. "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," he said. [1] He did not specify which products would be affected or when the price hikes would take effect. [1] The price of RAM, typically one of the cheapest computer components, has more than doubled since October 2025. [1] The surge is part of a broader global memory supply shortage that began that year, driven by a structural reallocation of manufacturing capacity toward high-margin products for AI data center infrastructure, according to a 2026 Kearney's PERLab analysis. [2] That analysis projects the shortage will last at least until 2030. [2] "There's less supply at a time when consumers want devices and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases," Cook said. [1] The AI boom has concentrated chip production on components for data centers, creating scarcity in consumer and enterprise PC markets. [2] Nvidia, which controls more than 80% of the market for GPUs used in AI model training and deployment, has seen its valuation soar past $5 trillion in 2025 amid the demand surge. [4] The war in Iran has compounded the problem by disrupting the global supply of helium, a gas crucial in semiconductor manufacturing. [1] Cook, who is due to be replaced by John Ternus as CEO in September after 15 years in the role, said: "We definitely need memory pricing and supply to return to reasonable levels for consumer products. That's the bottom line." [1] Apple has already raised the price of its Mac Mini compact computers by about $200 earlier this year. [1] The company reported a 17% increase in device sales in the first three months of 2026 compared to the same period a year earlier, helped by strong demand in China. [1] The iPhone 17 lineup, launched last September, has been popular, though it remains unclear whether the upcoming iPhone 18, expected in September, will carry the new price increases. [1]