Tim Cook Confirms Apple Will Raise Prices Amid 'RAMageddon' Memory Shortage

Cook Breaks Apple's Silence on Price Hikes

Apple CEO Tim Cook has confirmed that the company will raise prices on its devices, citing an "unprecedented" surge in memory chip costs fuelled by global AI demand. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Wednesday, Cook said the situation had reached a tipping point. "There's less supply at a time when consumers want devices and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases," he told the Journal. "We definitely need memory pricing and supply to return to reasonable levels for consumer products. That's the bottom line."

The confirmation marks a significant shift for Apple, which until now had absorbed rising memory costs rather than passing them on to consumers. Cook had spent months signalling that pressure was building. During Apple's fiscal second-quarter earnings call in late April, he warned of "significantly higher memory costs" in the June quarter and beyond, saying the company would "explore a variety of options" — language that stopped short of confirming hikes.

What Is 'RAMageddon'?

The memory shortage, nicknamed "RAMageddon" across the tech industry, stems from AI companies consuming enormous quantities of memory chips for data centres, leaving far less supply for consumer devices. Memory prices rose 50% in the final quarter of 2025 and were projected to climb another 40% to 50% early this year, according to the Journal. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix sought DRAM price increases of 60% to 70% in the first quarter alone.

The crunch reaches well beyond Apple. Nothing CEO Carl Pei recently said memory chips now account for more than 50% of a smartphone's total hardware bill of materials — more than the processor and display combined. An AMD executive has warned that DDR5 prices may not normalise until 2028, while a coalition of nine US trade associations has urged the Trump administration to act on what they call "an urgent imbalance" threatening everything from medical devices to cars.

What Comes Next for Apple

Cook did not specify which products would see increases or when, but the timing places incoming CEO John Ternus — set to take the helm on 1 September — squarely in charge of implementing the changes. Some analysts expect Mac and iPad adjustments before the autumn product cycle. For the iPhone 18 Pro, expected in September, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has suggested Apple may hold prices steady despite sharply rising component costs, including a 50% jump in camera module costs.

Last September, Apple raised the iPhone 17 Pro's price by $100 whilst holding base models steady. Whether Cook's successor can maintain that selective approach amid sustained memory inflation remains an open question.