Tim Cook: Apple price hikes "unavoidable" amid memory shortage

Tim Cook says Apple price increases are "unavoidable" amid a memory shortage, with Macs and iPads likely affected first.

File photo: iPad Pro M4

Because of the current AI bubble

Apple has confirmed that prices will rise across its product lineup, citing a worsening global memory shortage. 

Tim Cook: Apple price hikes "unavoidable" amid memory shortage

CEO Tim Cook delivered the news in a Wednesday interview with The Wall Street Journal, speaking with unusual candor for a company that rarely discusses pricing in advance.

Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable, he said. 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. 

Cook didn't specify which products would be affected or when. Apple's next major event is expected in September, likely bringing the iPhone 18 lineup and possibly the company's first foldable iPhone.

Some changes could come sooner, though. Macs and iPads may be hit first, following a pattern Apple already used with the Mac mini last month—quietly dropping the cheapest storage tier, which raised the effective starting price without changing any single configuration's price. Cook's comments suggest more direct hikes are coming next.

He pointed to both memory and storage, but singled out DRAM, noting that demand for high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers is squeezing supply for consumer devices.

There's less supply at a time when consumers want devices, and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases, Cook said. We definitely need memory pricing and supply to return to reasonable levels for consumer products. That's the bottom line.

Notably, Cook steps down as CEO on September 1, handing the role to John Ternus while moving to executive chairman—making this one of his final major statements at the helm.

The news also follows the launch of the MacBook Neo, Apple's cheapest notebook yet, which ships with just 8GB of RAM, less than many current iPhones and iPads. 

Anyone eyeing a higher-end Mac may want to buy sooner. Apple hasn't said whether the increases will apply only to new products or extend to those already on sale.

What do you guys think?

Source: The Wall Street Journal