Apple has confirmed that higher prices are coming for some of its products as the company faces rising costs for memory and storage components. CEO Tim Cook shared the update in a recent interview, explaining that Apple can no longer absorb the sharp increases being passed on by suppliers.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Cook said Apple has worked hard to protect customers from higher costs, but the current situation has become difficult to sustain as demand for memory chips continues to surge across the technology industry.
“Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable. 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.”
Tim Cook, Apple CEO
AI Demand Is Reshaping the Memory Market
Cook pointed to the growing demand for high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers as a major reason behind the shortage. Large technology companies continue to invest heavily in artificial intelligence infrastructure, and that demand has pushed memory and storage prices significantly higher over the past year.
The pressure arrives at an important time for Apple, with the iPhone 18 lineup expected later this year and new Mac and iPad updates also on the horizon. While Cook did not reveal which products will see price increases first, recent changes to Mac pricing suggest that some hardware categories could be affected sooner rather than later.
He also warned that memory supply remains tight even as consumers continue buying devices that require larger amounts of RAM and storage. Apple now faces the same supply challenges affecting many PC and smartphone manufacturers.
Cook said he has never witnessed a commodity price swing of this scale during his four decades in the technology industry, describing the current situation as a “hundred-year flood.” As a result, customers considering a new Apple device may want to keep an eye on upcoming pricing announcements.
