Tim Cook warns Apple RAM and storage price hikes coming

Apple CEO Tim Cook says rising DRAM and NAND costs have crossed a line where price increases are “unavoidable,” driven by the AI boom and intensified demand for the same memory chips. Apple has managed to shield customers so far through inventory timing, suppl

For months, Apple customers have felt like the worst of the memory crunch never really reached them. Tim Cook’s latest comments suggest that feeling may be running out.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal. the Apple CEO said price increases are now “unavoidable” as the cost of DRAM memory and NAND storage continues to climb. Cook tied the pressure directly to the AI surge. where cloud providers and AI companies are competing for the same chips used in consumer devices.

Apple has largely kept those increases from turning into immediate sticker-price hikes. Cook’s position is that the company has delayed the impact—successfully for now—but the underlying economics are getting harder to outrun.

Apple’s ability to hold the line began before prices surged. The company entered 2026 with inventory secured before memory costs accelerated. and it used its size to negotiate supply agreements that many competitors could not match. Earlier this year. Apple also leaned on product configuration changes instead of straightforward price increases—removing lower-capacity options from some Macs rather than raising sticker prices.

That strategy helped Apple absorb more of the hit than rivals, but Cook framed the next stage as tougher. Apple is already moving toward a new wave of AI-focused products. After WWDC, the company is testing its next-generation Siri experience and broader Apple Intelligence upgrades. Those features increase memory demands. and Cook’s remarks help explain why some of Apple’s most advanced Siri capabilities are currently limited to devices with higher RAM configurations.

Apple also has bigger hardware plans on the horizon. The company is expected to launch new Macs and its long-rumored foldable iPhone later this year—moves that could require larger memory allocations for increasingly capable on-device AI features. Reports have already suggested that the iPhone 18 Pro could start at around $1,399 this fall, a $300 increase over its predecessor.

Cook said Apple is willing to use its financial resources to help secure memory supply. But he ruled out building Apple-owned memory or storage manufacturing facilities. “We can’t do everything. We know what we’re good at,” Cook said.

Even with Apple’s leverage over suppliers. that decision leaves it exposed to the same market forces tightening across the industry. Memory suppliers, increasingly focused on AI infrastructure customers, may keep shortages in play longer than the tech sector would prefer. Analysts quoted in the report warn that shortages could persist into 2027. meaning Apple’s long run of absorbing higher costs may finally be reaching its limit.

The question now is not whether prices will rise, but when and how directly they will show up for customers—especially as Apple’s next generation of AI features depends on the very memory and storage that are getting more expensive by the month.

Apple Tim Cook DRAM NAND RAM costs storage costs AI boom Apple Intelligence Siri iPhone 18 Pro Macs memory suppliers cloud AI demand