Apple Expects 'Significantly Higher Memory Costs' in June Quarter and Beyond

[Greenmeenie]

I’ve noticed supplies of iPad Pros & iPad Airs have been drying up at places like Target & Best Buy. Just a couple of weeks ago there were some great sales on these items, but now you can’t get them in most configurations… at least in the third party big chain stores near me.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Like Apple haven't historically ripped users off for RAM. It's been going on for decades, this is business as usual.

If you knew what you were doing, you never used to buy a Mac with upgraded RAM from Apple. You buy base level RAM, get your own third party SODIMM and replace it yourself. Then they started soldering it in so you couldn't do that and they could trap consumers.

And people wonder how Apple has "record profits" every quarter! They're like a restaurant charging $80 for a $17 bottle of wine.

 

[JohnC1959]

And people wonder how Apple has "record profits" every quarter! They're like a restaurant charging $80 for a $17 bottle of wine.

Well yeah, that's how it works. You charge people as much as you can get away with unless you're a charity. There are other choices. People even have the option of buying the cheapest phones from either Apple or other companies, but on the whole they CHOOSE to buy the more premium ones. As a consumer I wish they were charging less just to be nice but I know that's not how ANY company works.

 

[Yamcha]

That really sucks. I'm glad I purchased an M5 MacBook Air now if it means prices for Macs will go up soon. The PC market is already super expensive because of the ram increase. Apple is actually affordable at the moment, but I guess that will change soon.

 

[anthony131]

Dear Apple,

Apple Reports Record-Breaking 2Q 2026 Results: $29.6B Profit on $111.2B Revenue

Apple today announced financial results for the second fiscal quarter of 2026, which corresponds to the first calendar quarter of the year. For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $111.2 billion and net quarterly profit of $29.6 billion, or $2.01 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $95.4...

www.macrumors.com

 

[Macalicious2011]

was going to wait until July to get new MacBook 24/2 but might be smart to go ahead now

Don't wait.

It's inevitable that apple will adjust prices for ssd and ram upgrades.

This week I changed a 48gn 512GB Mac Mini M4 pro order to 64gb 1TB. 😎

I will use it as an AI employee there not connected to a screen. I might order two more next month.

 

[noraa]

They should make memory in house like they've done with many other things.

That’s not really how things work. Apple may design a lot of their chips, but someone else (typically TSMC) manufactures them. Technically Apple already does design its own RAM as it’s integrated directly in the A and M series SOCs.

Now, if Apple could start manufacturing their own chips, that’d be amazing - but that would also take a really, really long time for Apple to make happen.

 

[FattiesGoneWild]

With full scale war about to pop off, good luck with that.

 

[Macalicious2011]

That’s not really how things work. Apple may design a lot of their chips, but someone else (typically TSMC) manufactures them. Technically Apple already does design its own RAM as it’s integrated directly in the A and M series SOCs.

Now, if Apple could start manufacturing their own chips, that’d be amazing - but that would also take a really, really long time for Apple to make happen.

You’re only as strong as your weakest link. It doesn’t matter how great Apple Silicon is if production if bottlenecked by RAM. Apple have huge cash reserves. Time to get creative with those funds even if impact would take 3-5 years to materialise.

 

[noraa]

You’re only as strong as your weakest link. It doesn’t matter how great Apple Silicon is if production if bottlenecked by RAM. Apple have huge cash reserves. Time to get creative with those funds even if impact would take 3-5 years to materialise.

For all we know Apple is looking at building their own fabs, but it’ll take more than 3-5 years for something to come out of it. Look how long it took Apple to develop its own modem after buying Intel’s modem division. Hardware is, well, hard.

 

[Macalicious2011]

For all we know Apple is looking at building their own fabs, but it’ll take more than 3-5 years for something to come out of it. Look how long it took Apple to develop its own modem after buying Intel’s modem division. Hardware is, well, hard.

Hard but worth it if you judge by apple silicon. Designing your own chips provides a clean slate for tackling problem rather than being constrained by legacy x86 ways of thinking.

 

[noraa]

Hard but worth it if you judge by apple silicon. Designing your own chips provides a clean slate for tackling problem rather than being constrained by legacy x86 ways of thinking.

Again, Apple already designs its own chips. Designing and manufacturing are very, very different things. Using a 3rd party manufacturing fab is hardly a legacy x86 way of thinking.

 

[Macalicious2011]

Again, Apple already designs its own chips. Designing and manufacturing are very, very different things. Using a 3rd party manufacturing fab is hardly a legacy x86 way of thinking.

Yes. Manufacturing is hard. Th first 1-2 yield might be crap too.

 

[robertosh]

I know that I’m a bit paranoid on this but I think that the memory issue is here to stay. Consumer memory is condemned to disappear, also the fact of having a full fledged computer at home. Memory modules, even if AI bubble explodes, will be owned by 4 or 5 companies and the end user will be limited to use just terminals that run everything in the cloud, both processing and storage and of course under a nice monthly subscription. Paranoid mode OFF.

 

[JPack]

That’s not really how things work. Apple may design a lot of their chips, but someone else (typically TSMC) manufactures them. Technically Apple already does design its own RAM as it’s integrated directly in the A and M series SOCs.

Now, if Apple could start manufacturing their own chips, that’d be amazing - but that would also take a really, really long time for Apple to make happen.

Apple doesn’t integrate RAM into any of its chips. RAM merely sits on top or beside the SoC. And, no Apple certainly does not “design” its own RAM.

 

[Macalicious2011]

I know that I’m a bit paranoid on this but I think that the memory issue is here to stay.

This is correct. GPUs run large language models in high bandwidth memory. The more memory, the bigger bigger model and more workloads you can serve. Over the next 5 years, demand for AI compute will 50-100x.

Basically, demand for RAM will not drop and prices are therefore unlikely to fall.

 

[d686546s]

I wouldn't be surprised to see a price adjustment by iPhone 18 Pro at the latest. All these Chinese Ultra phones are between 1,699 and 1,999 Euro now, which means the iPhone 17 Pro Max is at least 300 cheaper

They will either increase prices or cut costs elsewhere.

My wife and I had a 15 and 15 Pro, respectively, which I upgraded to a 17 and 17 Pro for that reason. Maybe unnecessarily, but I don't see a world in which the next few generations aren't either more expensive or worse in some ways.

 

[svish]

Price of new models will definitely be higher. Higher storage models will have higher upgrade costs. Waiting to see what will happen.

 

[Macalicious2011]

They will either increase prices

It's inevitable. Microsoft Surface and Legion Go Z1 Extreme handheld have recently been price hiked by a few hundred dollars.

Apple might keep base prices low to make products look "cheaper" in headlines, but I can envision upgrades for higher storage capacity increasing by $150-200. Enterprise customers will off course pay for the hike because it's a business expense.

 

[JMalone]

And people wonder how Apple has "record profits" every quarter! They're like a restaurant charging $80 for a $17 bottle of wine.

Jfc here’s a guy who thinks the profit margins are over 60 percent and that production costs, supplier costs, wages, energy, taxes and rents remain stagnant.

 

[Geekett]

Probably Apple will increase prices of next models, not current ones, because they keep prices stable during the year, in both ways. They don’t lower prices even if the market is down during the cycle of a product

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

They are giving forewarnings of price increases which I believe they will offset with spec bumps - either introduce OLED, double storage, introduce new form factors, etc. M5/M6 bumps will be pricey. Could even see a Jobsian rationalisation of product lines - just to simplify supply chain.

Yep I'm very curious about the price of the MBP 14 OLED. It starts at 2500€ currently, wondering if they'll price it at 3000, and whether it'll replace the pro or be another option

 

[knappeduivel]

I mean, really??? Apple has been ripping us off for decades and they have the BALLS to talk about memory prices? THAT is effing priceless.

It would be really weird if Apple did not talk about ballooning memory prices.

 

[Greenmeenie]

And people wonder how Apple has "record profits" every quarter! They're like a restaurant charging $80 for a $17 bottle of wine.

I remember those days as an artist in the 90s and early 2000s. We’d buy the Apple Power Mac with the basic ram and then buy more ram at much cheaper prices from CRUCIAL. I miss those days! 😂

 

[d686546s]

I remember those days as an artist in the 90s and early 2000s. We’d buy the Apple Power Mac with the basic ram and then buy more ram at much cheaper prices from CRUCIAL. I miss those days! 😂

Not just the Power Macs, you could even upgrade Apple laptops fairly easy. I put more RAM into my iBook at the time.

Good old days.