Overview
- Apple CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal that price increases are unavoidable because rising DRAM and NAND costs have become unsustainable for the company.
- Cook signaled this change in tone on Wednesday after months of pressure from AI-driven orders that suppliers are prioritizing for servers.
- Apple will negotiate new supply deals and use its balance sheet to help expand partner capacity but it ruled out building its own memory fabrication plants.
- The company has already adjusted its lineup and pricing quietly this year, for example removing the lowest‑tier Mac mini and raising that starting price.
- Analysts estimate the consumer impact could be hundreds of dollars on flagship phones and predict memory shortages and higher prices could persist into 2027 as chipmakers shift capacity to high‑bandwidth AI products.