Apple to Raise Product Prices Due to Memory Chip Shortage

Apple CEO Tim Cook, who is nearing the end of his tenure, has issued a stark warning to the company’s loyal customers. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Cook stated that the company plans to raise product prices due to a surge in the cost of core components. The price increase is triggered by soaring costs of memory and storage chips in the global market. Cook emphasised that the current situation has reached an unsustainable point for the company’s margins. “Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable. We have done our best to mitigate the impact of the significant cost increases imposed on us and tried to protect customers, but the situation has become unsustainable,” Cook said, as quoted on Thursday (18/6). This component crisis stems from extremely high demand from artificial intelligence (AI) companies. The surge in demand has pushed memory and storage chip costs to extreme levels, triggering a severe RAM shortage now known in the tech industry as ‘RAMmageddon’. Although he confirmed the plan for price increases, Cook did not specify which products would be affected or when the new pricing policy would take effect. However, market speculation points towards the launch of the iPhone 18 series scheduled for September, as well as the potential announcement of Apple’s first foldable phone. Industry analysts predict that this memory chip crisis will likely drive up the selling price of iPhones, though not all models may experience the same level of increase. Apple is not the only tech giant succumbing to supply chain pressures. Microsoft previously raised the price of its Xbox console in 2025, followed by Sony increasing PlayStation prices in April 2026. Cook’s statement comes two weeks after his emotional final appearance as host at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on 8 June 2026. During the second quarter earnings report in May, he had also warned that memory chip costs would have a growing impact on Apple’s business. Given these conditions, consumers are advised to prepare for price adjustments across Apple’s device lineup in the near future, particularly ahead of the autumn product release cycle.