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Tim Cook delivered a message on June 17 that Apple shareholders probably didn’t want to hear: device prices are going up. The outgoing CEO told the Wall Street Journal that rising memory chip costs have made price increases “unavoidable,” pointing to a supply squeeze driven by the insatiable appetite of AI data centers.
Cook described the surge in demand for memory and storage chips as a “hundred-year flood.”
The AI infrastructure boom is eating everyone’s lunch
The memory chips that go into your iPhone are the same fundamental components that hyperscale tech firms are hoovering up to build AI infrastructure. DRAM and NAND flash, the two types of memory critical to both smartphones and data centers, are caught in a tug-of-war between consumer electronics and the AI buildout.
TechInsights, a semiconductor industry research firm, estimates that if Apple passes the full cost increase through to consumers, the upcoming iPhone Pro model could see its price tag rise by approximately $270.
The products expected to be affected span Apple’s core hardware lineup: iPhones, Macs, and iPads, all ahead of the company’s projected fall 2026 hardware launches.
A CEO’s parting gift
The timing of this announcement carries its own subtext. Cook is slated to step down as CEO in September 2026, with hardware chief John Ternus lined up as his successor.
Cook has navigated Apple through multiple supply chain crises during his tenure, from the pandemic-era chip shortages to the US-China trade tensions that threatened to upend Apple’s manufacturing model. Each time, the company managed to avoid meaningful price increases on its flagship devices, instead finding efficiencies elsewhere in the supply chain.
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