Will iPhone and MacBook prices increase? Tim Cook says Apple price hikes are unavoidable- here’s why

Apple Inc’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tim Cook on Wednesday (local time) announced that the company will raise prices on its products to offset soaring costs of memory and storage chips.

Cook told The Wall Street Journal, “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, however, did not offer details on the timing or scale of the planned price surge, nor which products would see a price jump. The company’s next major product launch is expected in September, when it unveils the iPhone 18 lineup, which is also likely to include a new foldable iPhone.

According to the report, Apple could introduce price increases, especially for Macs and iPads, very soon. Last month, in between launch events, the company raised the initial price of the Mac Mini.

Memory and storage prices both issues for Apple: Cook

The Apple CEO said that prices for both memory and storage pose an issue for the company; although he focused on the DRAM market in particular and called out rising allocations going to so-called high-bandwidth memory, used for artificial intelligence (AI) servers.

He said, “There’s less supply at a time when consumers want devices and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases,” and added, “We definitely need memory pricing and supply to return to reasonable levels for consumer products. That’s the bottom line.”

Memory and storage chips demand skyrockets

The demand for memory and storage chips has suddenly skyrocketed from AI companies, driving prices so high that the iPhone maker would have to raise its product prices substantially to maintain its profit margins. Research firm TechInsights estimated that passing the higher cost on to consumers while maintaining the company’s profit margin could roughly add $270 to the price of the next iPhone Pro model.

Since 2025, when major tech firms, including Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon, started announcing massive increases in their capital spending budgets, the cost of memory and storage chips has jumped by 4x. TechInsights anticipates that both prices will continue increasing into 2027.

Cook, who has worked in electronic supply chains throughout his career, including stints at IBM and Compaq before joining Apple, said he has never experienced such a massive spike in prices and called it a “hundred-year flood.”

China houses major domestic memory and storage manufacturers

According to the report, China has developed major domestic memory and storage manufacturers; however, American companies would generally need government approvals to engage with them due to national security restrictions. When asked whether those restrictions could be relaxed, Cook said, “Everything needs to be on the table,” adding, “I think we should look at all supply.”

Apple to use its financial resources to address concerns

He also suggested that Apple could deploy its financial resources to help address memory supply constraints, though he did not provide specific plans. “We’re willing to use our balance sheet to help be a part of the solution,” he said. “Obviously, more capacity is needed.” However, he emphasized that Apple does not intend to establish its own memory or storage manufacturing facilities using its cash reserves or chip-design expertise.

As Cook is set to hand over the reins of the company to John Ternus in September, it remains to be seen whether the company will announce the price hike before he departs.