Tim Cook says apple price increases ‘inevitable’ due to memory costs

Apple is raising prices to compensate for the high cost of memory and storage, Apple CEO Tim Cook said. The Wall Street Journal. Apple is no longer able to absorb the price increase and will have to pass on part of the cost to consumers.

“Unfortunately, price increases are inevitable,” Cook said. “We are doing our best to mitigate the huge increases imposed on us and we are trying to protect our customers from these increases, but the situation has become untenable.”

Cook did not specify which products would benefit from price increases, or by how much prices would increase. The iPhone 18 Pro and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max arriving in September could be more expensive than the iPhone 17 Pro and ‌iPhone 17 Pro‌ Max. iPad and Mac prices may increase in the near future.

Apple has already increased the price of the Mac mini from $599 to $799 by eliminating its lowest model. Apple also eliminated several higher-tier ‌Mac mini‌ and Mac Studio options.

Growing demand for memory and storage chips from AI companies has led to chip shortages and rising costs. The ‌Wall Street Journal‌ suggests that Apple will need to “significantly” increase the cost of devices to maintain its current profit margins, given the cost of memory chips and SSDs. Research firm TechInsights says Apple will need to make the ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ around $270 more expensive to maintain its existing profit margin.