Apple may raise iPhone and Mac prices as memory chip costs surge, Tim Cook says

Apple may be forced to raise iPhone and Mac prices as a global memory chip shortage drives up component costs. Tim Cook reportedly says the company can no longer absorb rising expenses indefinitely, potentially impacting future devices including the iPhone 18 lineup.

Published By: Deepti Ratnam | Published: Jun 18, 2026, 03:22 PM (IST)

Apple is reportedly planning to increase the prices of future iPhones, Macs, and other devices. The report comes at a time when rising memory and shortage costs continue to put pressure on the company's supply chain.

As per a recent report, Apple CEO Tim Cook has acknowledged that the tech giant may no longer be able to absorb the growing cost concerns regarding key components. This will lead to price increase which in difficult to avoid. During his interview with The Wall Street Journal, Cook said Apple has been working to protect customers from rising component prices. Nevertheless, he also admitted that the situation is becoming hard to manage as memory shortage is continues to rise and impacting the technology industry.

Cook reportedly said, "Unfortunately price increases are unavoidable."

He further 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."

Reason behind memory chip prices is rising

These latest concerns have rises because of a lack of components in the area of memory, specifically DRAM and storage chips, globally. Much of the pressure is coming from the increasingly rapid expansion of AI infrastructure, as per industry experts.

Memory makers have been putting a greater effort into high bandwidth memory (HBM), a dedicated memory type that is used in data centres and AI servers, over the course of the last year. The surge in the demand for AI hardware is causing a shift in resources, with a decrease in investment in memory products that are frequently used in consumer devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

The change has reportedly caused memory and storage manufacturers to see prices soaring.

What happens to future iPhones?

The timing of the shortage is crucial for Apple which is on a mission to continue the extension of its AI plans. According to a recent report from DigiTimes Asia, the iPhone 18 series may be different with 12GB of RAM, as opposed to the 8GB that the current generation of iPhone models has.

Some new Apple Intelligence features, AI enhancements to Siri, and future functionality that may be included in iOS 27 are likely to be made possible by the extra memory.

More memory would enable Apple to offer more advanced AI experiences, but it would also make components more expensive, as memory prices continue to rise.

The iPhone 18 Pro might end up being a lot more costly

Another element of the WSJ report was the impact that increased component costs might have on future iPhone prices. According to market research firm TechInsights, the base iPhone 18 Pro could see its DRAM prices rise from approximately $39 to $145.

Storage costs will also see a dramatic rise, from an average of $13 to $51 for the same storage device.

With assembly, manufacturing, and other parts costs added to that, the total cost of an iPhone 18 Pro could reportedly rise by almost 25 percent from iPhone 17 Pro.

Apple will likely eventually shift some of those costs onto consumers in order to boost profit margins. The report indicates that the price of the base iPhone 18 Pro may be $1,299, compared with the current base $1,099 iPhone 17 Pro.

What this could mean for Apple customers

While Apple has not officially announced any price increases for its products, but Cook's comments on it suggests that the company is currently monitoring the situation and will take decisions accordingly. If memory shortage persists, then future Apple products might see price increase and could become more expensive across multiple categories. Another factor is AI related demand in rising, leading to the price rise for iPhones, Macs, and iPads.

If you are planning to upgrade in the coming years, then future Apple devices may not only bring powerful AI capabilities, but they also witness higher price tags. Apple's ultimately price rise will likely be depends on how the memory market evolves in coming years.

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