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Chronicles

The story behind the story

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In an interview, Tim Cook says Apple price hikes are “unavoidable” to offset surging memory and storage chip costs, and “the situation has become unsustainable”

The CEO tells the Journal in an exclusive interview that soaring costs make price increases ‘unavoidable’

Wall Street Journal Rolfe Winkler

Context & Ripple Effects

Apple’s earlier coverage had already tied iPhone growth to supply constraints and flagged currency as a pressure point. The newer coverage shifts the constraint from product availability to the cost of memory and storage inputs.

The immediate follow-up reports that Apple raised prices on Macs, iPads, and other products by 15%–25% while leaving iPhone pricing unchanged, turning the stated cost pressure into a selective pricing response rather than a uniform portfolio move.

First-order effects

  • Apple must choose between absorbing higher memory and storage costs in hardware margins or passing part of them through to buyers; the subsequent coverage indicates it did so for Macs, iPads, and other products.
  • Customers shopping outside the iPhone line face higher upfront device prices, while Apple preserves unchanged iPhone pricing in the reported move.

Second-order effects

  • Selective increases make product-category pricing a more active tool for Apple: higher-cost device lines can bear the adjustment while iPhone pricing remains a competitive and volume-sensitive exception.
  • Rival device makers using the same memory and storage supply base face a similar margin-versus-price trade-off, particularly in PCs and tablets where Apple’s reported increases reset visible price points.

Third-order effects

  • If component-cost volatility persists, consumer-device pricing may become less synchronized across a vendor’s lineup, with suppliers’ input costs more directly determining which categories receive increases.
  • The episode points to hardware companies relying more heavily on portfolio-level margin management during supply shocks, rather than treating retail pricing as fixed across product cycles.

The trend: This is one data point in a broader shift toward component-cost volatility being passed through selectively to consumer electronics pricing.

Related: Apple · Tim Cook · Apple raises Mac, iPad, and other product prices by 15%-25%, saying it · Tim Cook estimates iPhone revenue would have grown “absent the supply

Related Coverage

Discussion

  • @autismcapital @autismcapital on x
    @Polymarket Damn. Really thought Apple was going to subsidize the technology during the RAM crisis and that would be their move to lock everyone into their ecosystem who had previously been holding out. Shame.
  • @stocksavvyshay Shay Boloor on x
    Tim Cook says $AAPL will raise prices as surging AI-driven memory & storage costs from $MU, Samsung & SK Hynix make absorbing the increases “unsustainable.” Cook called chip shortage “a hundred-year flood” & said price hikes could hit Macs and iPads before the iPhone 18 launch. […
  • @briansozzi Brian Sozzi on x
    Apple CEO Tim Cook on coming price increases to WSJ: Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable," he said. “We're doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we've been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation
  • @vadimyuryev Vadim Yuryev on x
    oh man.. I'll lose my bet if Apple raises prices of a current product on an identical SKU.. I know we were expecting price increases on the MacBook Ultra which Apple does with redesigns, but I was hoping the Mac mini and Mac Studio would stay the same $$$ at the same storage.
  • @nicnguyen Nic Nguyen on x
    Tim Cook, in an exclusive interview with @WSJ, says Apple is raising prices due to soaring chip prices. Here's why the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro could start at $1,299—or higher. With @RolfeWinkler: https://www.wsj.com/...
  • @mweinbach Max Weinbach on x
    I'm shocked they had to do it this early, but I bet we see ~$100-200 increases in iPhone prices and maybe similar in Mac Apple can weather this better than most, but it's going to be an increase regardless
  • @dylanmcd8 Dylan on x
    Aw man the foldable iPhone is gonna be $2500 and the MacBook Ultra $4,000 😭 😭 😭
  • Rolfe Winkler Rolfe Winkler on linkedin
    Apple plans to raise prices, Tim Cook told me in an exclusive interview.  Hyperscalers have driven up the cost of memory and storage so much that iPhones …
  • @shiraovide Shira Ovide on bluesky
    Personal tech advice: If you're thinking of buying a smartphone or any other consumer electronics this year, buy it now.  —  You know AI-induced computer chip inflation is real when even Apple is like, ehhhhh we cannot deal.  —  www.wsj.com/tech/apple-p...
  • r/MU_Stock r on reddit
    Apple to Raise Prices Due to Memory Chip Crunch.  “This is a hundred-year flood,” said Cook.  “I've never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years.”
  • r/MacStudio r on reddit
    Apple to Raise Prices Due to Memory Chip Crunch, Tim Cook Says
  • r/apple r on reddit
    Apple to Raise Prices Due to Memory Chip Crunch, Tim Cook Says
  • r/wallstreetbets r on reddit
    Apple to Raise Prices Due to Memory Chip Crunch, Tim Cook Says
  • r/technology r on reddit
    We Did the Math on Why the iPhone 18 Pro Could Cost $1,299
  • Augustus Christensen Augustus Christensen on linkedin
    Here's the latest red flag that AI might actually make everything more expensive.  The next iPhone Pro might cost $1,299. …
  • r/SKHynix r on reddit
    Apple to Raise Prices Due to Memory Chip Crunch, Tim Cook Says