Apple may increase prices across some of its products as rising memory and storage chip costs, driven by booming demand from Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centres, continue to squeeze the company’s profit margins, according to a report.
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company can no longer absorb the sharp increase in component costs and may eventually pass part of the burden on to consumers.
Tim Cook Says Price Hikes May Be Unavoidable
“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,” Cook was quoted as saying.
However, he did not specify when the price increases would take effect, how much prices could rise, or which Apple products would be affected.
AI Demand Tightens Memory Chip Supply
The report said the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure is increasing demand for memory and storage chips, creating supply shortages for consumer electronics manufacturers.
Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), a key component used in smartphones, laptops, and other electronic devices, has become particularly scarce as chipmakers divert more production toward high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers.
Cook said growing volumes of memory supply are being allocated to AI data centres, leaving less availability for consumer products.
“There’s less supply at a time when consumers want devices and the memory companies are passing along huge price increases,” he said, adding that memory pricing and supply need to return to reasonable levels.
Industry Warns of Higher Consumer Prices
Industry associations representing automakers, retailers, and electronics manufacturers have also warned that AI-driven demand for semiconductors could disrupt supply chains and lead to higher prices for a wide range of consumer products.
Meanwhile, Apple had earlier announced that John Ternus, the company’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, will succeed Tim Cook as Chief Executive Officer from September 1, 2026. Cook will transition to the newly created role of Executive Chairman, where he will continue to support the company on strategic and policy matters.
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