Despite a steep rise in NAND and RAM prices, Apple will supposedly not increase iPhone and Mac prices. Instead, TF International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes Apple will take the hit to its gross margins to increase market share.
The supply-crunch has already forced Apple to negotiate prices with its vendors every quarter, rather than the usual six-month cycle.
AI demand is driving a memory crunch
Thanks to the AI boom, DRAM and NAND chips are facing a severe supply crunch. Big tech companies are buying up large volumes of memory for their AI data centers. Because those orders are more profitable, chipmakers are prioritizing them, leaving fewer resources for consumer devices.
This has led to NAND and DRAM pricing increasing by more than 100% in the last few months. And the situation will apparently only worsen in 2026, with the supply crunch expected to last until 2027.
Even Apple has not been spared from the volatile AI market. It is now negotiating memory prices every quarter. Due to this, the company will be looking at another round of price hikes in Q2 2026. And that’s still a good thing, as Kuo says in a post on X, that non-AI companies can’t secure supply even if they are willing to pay.
Apple bets on market chaos
While higher DRAM and NAND prices will squeeze Apple’s profit margins, the company does not appear to be planning any price hikes. Instead, Kuo says Apple will use the current “market chaos” to its advantage by holding prices steady and gaining market share. Over time, it will make up the money through its growing services business.
All other PC and laptop makers have already raised prices of their machines and even reduced the base RAM to 8GB. Apple has stuck to its guns, not raising product prices at all. Given the scenario, this makes devices like the $499 M4 Mac mini and the entry-level iPhone 17 even more attractive.
For the iPhone 18, too, Apple apparently intends to avoid raising prices as much as possible. It is aiming to keep the starting price unchanged for marketing purposes. That plan isn’t final, though, and with the DRAM and NAND supply crunch intensifying, a lot could still change in the coming months.
Rajesh has been writing about consumer technology for over a decade, with a strong focus on iPhones, Macs and Apple’s ecosystem. He enjoys digging into Apple software updates, hardware changes, and discovering new Mac apps that make work faster and more enjoyable.
