Tim Cook Says iPhone Price Hikes Are Unavoidable as the AI Memory Crunch Reaches Buyers
Tim Cook Says iPhone Price Hikes Are Unavoidable as the AI Memory Crunch Reaches Buyers
Publish Date: 2026-06-19 10:18:00
Source Domain: www.techtimes.com
Apple CEO Tim Cook has signaled that price increases are coming for its devices — the clearest sign yet that a record surge in memory-chip prices is reaching American consumers’ wallets.
In a June 17 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Cook said price increases are unavoidable, explaining that Apple had tried to absorb the soaring costs passed to it and shield customers, but that the situation had become unsustainable. Notably, Cook did not say which products would rise or by how much; the focus on September’s iPhone 18 Pro comes from analysts and the Journal’s own reading, not from Apple. A 40-year veteran of technology supply chains, Cook likened the memory crunch to a once-in-a-century flood, saying he had never seen anything like it.
Why AI Demand Raises the Price of the Memory in Your Phone
The culprit is AI, and the mechanism is a zero-sum reallocation of factory capacity. Three companies — Samsung, SK hynix, and Micron — make the overwhelming majority of the world’s DRAM and NAND. AI accelerators need high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which stacks DRAM dies vertically, and a gigabyte of HBM consumes roughly three to four times the wafer capacity of the standard memory inside a phone, while earning several times the profit margin. So the makers have rationally converted production lines toward HBM for AI servers — which simultaneously shrinks the supply of ordinary DRAM and flash for phones and laptops and gives the chipmakers little economic reason to switch back. The result is structurally scarcer, pricier consumer memory.
The Consumer Math, With Caveats
For buyers, the projected math is steep — though it is an estimate for a phone that does not exist yet. According to research firm TechInsights, the DRAM and NAND inside an iPhone 17 Pro cost roughly $39 and $13 today; for the iPhone 18 Pro, due in September, those could jump to about $145 and $51. That alone would push the phone’s component and build cost up about 25%, from $582 to $726, and…
