Наталя Хандусенко Gadgets 18 June 2026, 09:36

"Unfortunately, price increases are inevitable": Apple will raise prices due to memory chip shortage

Apple plans to raise prices for its products to compensate for the rising cost of RAM and memory chips.

This was stated by the company's CEO Tim Cook, Reuters reports .

The hype around artificial intelligence and the expansion of data centers has provoked a fierce struggle among electronics manufacturers for scarce basic components, leading to a sharp jump in prices.

"Unfortunately, the price increase is inevitable," he noted. "We are doing everything possible to cushion the blow from the huge increase in the price of components that is being passed on to us, and we tried to protect our customers from the increase in cost, but the situation has become critical."

Cook, who will hand over the leadership of the company to John Turnus in September , did not disclose when and by how much prices might increase, as well as which products would be affected.

The company is concerned about the cost of both RAM and onboard memory, with a particular focus on the DRAM market, Cook said. He noted that more manufacturing capacity is now being allocated to high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers.

“Supply is shrinking just when consumers need new devices, and memory manufacturers are passing on the huge cost increase to us,” he said. “We definitely need memory prices and supply to get back to a reasonable level for consumer products. That’s the key.”

China has leading domestic manufacturers of RAM and embedded memory, but American companies will likely need licenses to work with them under national security regulations.

When asked whether these restrictions should be eased, Cook said: "We need to look at all possible options," adding: "I think we need to look at any available sources of supply."

Cook indicated that Apple is prepared to use its cash reserves to increase memory supply, but he did not provide details. "We are prepared to use our balance sheet to help solve this problem," he said. "Clearly, the market needs more capacity."

At the same time, Cook clarified that Apple does not plan to use its capital and experience in developing chips to build its own factories for the production of RAM and embedded memory.