Apple CEO Warns of Unavoidable Price Rises Amid AI Boom

The Impending Price Hike

Apple CEO Tim Cook has warned that the prices of Apple products will have to increase due to the new demand for memory chips from the artificial intelligence boom. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Cook stated that his company has been 'trying to shield customers from the increases' but that it had become 'unsustainable.'

The Impact of AI on Semiconductor Demand

Cook explained that there's 'less supply at a time when consumers want devices and the memory guys are passing along huge price increases.' The rapid expansion of AI data centres has forced consumer electronics companies into fierce competition as supplies for key components are dwindling, driving prices sharply higher. Chips have undergone quarterly price increases of at least 50 percent since late 2025.

The Financial Implications

Citing an estimate from research firm TechInsights, the Journal reported that Apple would need to increase the price of its iPhone Pro model by $270 to maintain its current profit margin. Cook described the current situation as a 'hundred-year flood' in chip price increases, a phenomenon he has not experienced in his career.

The Future Outlook

Cook emphasized that memory and storage costs are both concerns for Apple, with particular emphasis on the DRAM (dynamic random access memory) market due to AI infrastructure. He suggested that more supply is being allocated to high-bandwidth memory, which is used a lot in AI servers. When asked about potential easing of restrictions on working with Chinese memory and storage companies, Cook stated that 'everything needs to be on the table … I think we should look at all supplies.'