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Apple is about to get more expensive, and outgoing CEO Tim Cook is laying the blame squarely on artificial intelligence. Cook told the Wall Street Journal that price increases are "unavoidable" across Apple's product lineup, as the AI boom drives ferocious demand for the memory chips packed into every iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Cook did not specify which products would be hit or by how much, nor did he clarify whether the looming price hikes would touch the iPhone 18, expected to launch in September alongside Apple's first foldable phone and the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max. "We're doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us," he said, adding that Apple has tried shielding customers for as long as it could before the math simply stopped working.
The core problem is memory and storage, particularly DRAM, where supply is increasingly being diverted toward high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers instead of consumer devices. "There's less supply at a time when consumers want devices, and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases," Cook said. RAM prices alone have more than doubled since October, and the war in Iran has compounded the squeeze by disrupting global helium supplies, a gas essential to semiconductor manufacturing.
Cook signaled Apple may lean on unconventional fixes. Asked whether restrictions on working with Chinese memory manufacturers should ease, he responded that "everything needs to be on the table." He also said Apple is willing to tap its massive cash reserves to help expand global memory supply, though he ruled out building its own chip factories. "We're willing to use our balance sheet to help be a part of the solution," he said, while stressing that more capacity, not Apple-built plants, is the actual goal.
President Trump separately announced that Apple has agreed to work with Intel on domestic chip production, a move that sent Intel shares surging more than 10% on the news. The federal government already holds a 10% stake in Intel.
Analysts expect the broader smartphone market to feel the pain too. Research firm Omdia projects global average smartphone prices will jump roughly 20% in 2026 to an all-time high, with Apple's next iPhones potentially costing up to $150 more than the iPhone 17 lineup. Cook will hand the CEO role to John Ternus in September after 15 years running the company.
