Tim Cook Warns Apple Price Hikes Are Unavoidable As Memory Costs Soar
Life comes at you fast, doesn't it? Just a few days ago, we wrote about Apple's upcoming iPhone Fold, anticipated to debut in the neighborhood of $1,999, could potentially shield iPhone 18 Pro buyers from price hikes. And now? One of Apple CEO Tim Cook's final acts is to go on record saying "price increases are unavoidable" as memory costs continue to soar.
There was some optimism that Apple would be able to weather the storm of skyrocketing component costs, given its massive purchasing power and deep relationship with suppliers. However, the reality is that no company is immune as AI upgrades drive unprecedented demand for components like memory and storage chips.
In speaking with The Wall Street Journal, Cook said Apple is doing its "best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed on to us, and we've been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable."
That is the extent of his comments, and if you're the type that view the glass as being half full, it is still possible that the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max will land at the same $1,099 and $1,199 launch prices as the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, respectively.
Whether that ends up being the case remains to be seen, but given Cook's comments, we can expect price increases on at least some Apple devices. The iPhone is Apple's biggest seller by a wide margin, but it also rakes in billions of dollars per quarter from its Mac devices, iPad tablets, and smart watches. For example, Apple's most recent earnings (PDF) reflected quarterly earnings of $57 billion for its iPhone sales, $8.4 billion for Macs, $6.9 billion for iPads, and $7.9 billion for its wearables category.
Cook's warning over pricing comes on the heels of Apple releasing the MacBook Neo, it's most affordable MacBook ever starting at $599 for the general public, and $499 with an education discount. The MacBook Neo sparked a response by players in the Windows ecosystem, including Intel, which launched its budget-focused Core Series 3 Wildcat Lake processors in April.
It also comes just ahead of Cook stepping out of his role as CEO of Apple this September, to be replaced by John Ternus, who has been with the firm for 25 years.
