Im waiting for an AI that mines coins or some other crossover. Preferably both from the same company, so I know I’m only getting screwed by one and not multiple shady brands.
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Apple Best Positioned to Weather DRAM Price Surge, Says Counterpoint
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The upside to Apple’s price policy is that they HATE changing price points, either way. They are high, but steady. I don’t think they will increase RAM update pricing until they really, really have to.
We MAY see a delay in for instance upticks in the amounts offered when introducing new models, which is less transparent to the users. But I highly doubt that we will see an actual price increase on RAM from Apple.
Once? Apple absorbs price variations of different types all the time. They are easily the most stable in terms of retail pricing in this industry. It goes both ways, we also don’t get price drops just because raw material prices go down.
But that’s just standard consumer psychology. We will complain and moan when Apple doesn’t pass a price drop on, but shrug when they don’t pass a price increase on.
I will bet you 5 Being Right Points(TM) that they won’t increase RAM upgrade pricing in 2026.
Apple, because of its sheer size, was able to lock in the production runs needed to keep a decent supply of DRAM available to the company.
Soooo...apple uses unified memory in the A and M series chips. Doesn't that mean that they fab their own vs buy on the open market?
Not talking about storage, just RAM.
Not talking about storage, just RAM.
Apple uses RAM chips, they’re just part of the SoC package (multiple components form a single chip package).
I was joking that the only good thing about the RAM price increase is that now Apple's RAM upgrade pricing makes more sense.
That's why I want to upgrade now
Would've perfect if they offered the Mac mini M5 models 12 months after the 2024 Mac mini M4 two Octobers ago.
Haha, good ole days. I'd give my left nut to teleport back to the mid 90s.
Back to when we were all dreaming of time travelling 30 years into the future
Any specific examples of downgrades?
Some Windows laptops already started at 4GB before this price hike… contrary to what people angry at 8GB M1 Macs would like to believe.
Hopefully Apple will not change upgrade prices for RAM/storage increase on the MacBooks. At the same time it is possible that with M6 MacBook Pro redesign, Apple could very well increase it to $250, up from the current $200 for each upgrade. Also extremely happy that all MacBooks now have 16GB base RAM already. Otherwise with this memory shortage and price hikes, Apple would have held on to 8 GB for much longer.
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Thing is none of us know what Apple pays for RAM or storage. We have educated guesses at best.
Issue here is that for a PC. You have to purchase RAM/Storage (when building your own). So getting ram/storage on the PC side is going to be directly affected. While Apple purchases the memory and storage ahead of your mac purchase. They offer it in specific configurations. So while there maybe a price increase, its not the same for them. Maybe in the low single digit % range. Will just have to wait and see.
Back to when we were all dreaming of time travelling 30 years into the future
If I'd popped out and seen this future, I would have gone right back through the portal.
I wouldn't. I have memories of having to pay £85 for a measly 4MB of RAM just so I didn't have to schedule a date days in advance in my calendar for OS/2 Warp to finish booting up on my PC.
I’m pretty sure RAM is part of the M and A series soc cpu chips themselves. Or something soldered on
Apple and Samsung are best equipped to handle rising memory chip costs that could drive down global smartphone shipments by 2.1% in 2026, according to new data from Counterpoint Research.
Image credit: iFixit
In its latest projection for the smartphone market next year, the firm has downgraded its forecast from a previously expected 0.45% growth, citing a memory shortage that has pushed component costs up 10% to 25%. Chinese brands like Honor and Oppo are said to face greater pressure due to lower profit margins, particularly in the entry-level segment where costs have jumped 20% to 30% since early 2025.
"Apple and Samsung are best-positioned to weather the next few quarters," said Counterpoint senior analyst Yang Wang. "But it will be tough for others that don't have as much wiggle room to manage market share versus profit margins."
The memory crunch is being caused by chip manufacturers prioritizing advanced memory for AI servers over basic DRAM used in smartphones. The shift has already created supply constraints, and Counterpoint expects they will persist through 2026.
Based on the data, Counterpoint says average smartphone prices could rise 6.9% globally next year as manufacturers pass costs to consumers or push buyers toward premium models. Some brands may downgrade other specs like cameras or ship devices with less memory to offset the impact, but ultimately Apple's supply chain clout and vast cash reserves are expected to shield it from these more extreme compromises. Analysts expect Apple to absorb higher DRAM costs in the short term without immediately adjusting retail prices.
Article Link: Apple Best Positioned to Weather DRAM Price Surge, Says Counterpoint
The 90's were a fascinating time in computing evolution, the 80's were pretty slow but in the 90's especially 95 onwards things just exploded in performance and how fast it was evolving.