Apple is currently planning to increase the prices of its products because the cost of the memory chips it uses has gone up a lot. The company‘s leader, Tim Cook, who is about to step down as chief executive, shared this information with the Wall Street Journal. He mentioned that these price increases are “unavoidable” since the situation with memory chips has become “unsustainable.”
Cook hasn’t said exactly when the price rises will happen or which products will be affected.
It’s also unclear if the iPhone 18, which is set to come out in September, will be included in these price hikes.
Memory chips are very important parts of smart devices like smartphones, but the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) has made these chips more expensive in recent months.
Later, US President Donald Trump said that Apple had agreed to work with the chipmaker Intel to produce its chips within the United States. He wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he decided to help Intel because “we need to design and build our chips right here in America.”
The BBC has reached out to both Apple and Intel for their responses to these developments. Last August, the Trump administration announced that the federal government would take a 10% stake in Intel. Intel’s stock price went up by more than 10% when US stock markets opened on Thursday.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Cook said, “We’re doing our best to reduce the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to protect our customers from these increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.”
He added, “At the same time, there’s less supply, and consumers want devices. The memory chip makers are passing on huge price increases. We definitely need memory pricing and supply to return to reasonable levels for consumer products. That’s the bottom line.” The price of RAM, which is usually one of the cheaper parts of a computer, has more than doubled since October 2025.
Besides the rising demand from AI, the war in Iran has also disrupted the global supply of helium, a gas that’s essential in making semiconductors, which has further increased the cost of computer chips.
According to research firm Omdia, the average selling price of smartphones is expected to go up by about 20% in 2026, reaching an all-time high.
Apple’s new phones are likely to cost up to $150 more than the iPhone 17s, as the company is expected to upgrade their features to support new AI capabilities, according to Omdia’s smartphone market analyst Chiew Le Xuan.
Most smartphone brands have already raised prices, reduced promotions, or lowered specifications to maintain their profit margins in response to rising costs. He added, “This is the new pricing reality, not a temporary spike.”
Other technology companies have also mentioned challenges in the chipmaking industry. In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which makes the most advanced chips for companies like Apple, Nvidia, and AMD, said it wouldn’t rule out price increases as inflation has increased its costs.
Earlier this year, Samsung said that it expects memory chip shortages to make electronic devices more expensive. In April, Sony raised the price of its PlayStation 5 consoles by £90 in the UK and $100 in the US due to “continued pressures in the global economic landscape.”
The iPhone 17 has been very popular since its release in September. Sales of Apple devices went up by 17% in the first three months of 2026 compared to the same period a year ago, partly because of strong demand in China.
Apple also removed the entry–level option for its Mac Mini compact computers and increased the starting price by about $200 (or £150) earlier this year.
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