Report: iPhone Memory Costs Set to Quadruple by 2027

[k1121j]

Why do i feel like this whole memory thing is more price fixing/gouging then shortage because of AI

 

[WarmWinterHat]

So with 90-100 Billion in profit each year Apple can't or won't build their own RAM factory? But Tesla/SpaceX can build a state of the art Fab Chip factory in Texas?

The SpaceX fab is not going to be producing anything until other than prototypes until almost 2030, if there are no delays, and since it's Musk and Intel, you know there will be. I'd be surprised if it's fully running before 2032.

As for Apple, well, I guess they could. I don't think Cook wants Apple to own/operate the component manufacturing processes, chips or otherwise. We'll see what Ternus thinks.

 

[Porco]

If I had the choice between a cheaper device with no AI available and a more expensive device with AI all over it, I’d save the… $5 or whatever.

 

[DailySlow]

Some careful de-bloat, more client-forward applications, offloading and re-stationing some apis onto iCloud servers, and some more tweaks I scarcely can mention.

 

[DailySlow]

Or NVIDIA locking in memory on hand using big-bucks leverage and hedging that “bank” of memory: to use or to sell. Either way they’ll be raking it in.

 

[apparatchik]

Chinese RAM manufacturers are catching up, and local companies will get better prices, and possibly government subsidies. Furthermore, Chinese RAM may not be directly suitable for integration with Apple’s SoCs.

But it will releave some pressure from memory markets as those OEM pivot from South Korean providers to Chinese ones.

 

[gummybear2026]

Chinese RAM manufacturers are catching up, and local companies will get better prices, and possibly government subsidies. Furthermore, Chinese RAM may not be directly suitable for integration with Apple’s SoCs.

Chinese RAM manufacturers have a 3 year technological lag behind major competitors.

 

[Ctrlos]

More importantly, they are ruining the environment. Those new data centers won’t run on hope and happiness.

Trickle down energy shortages ahoy. Good old corporations. Passing the fun onto everyone else for a few quid in their coffers.

We’re fecked aren’t we?

We were. Then nobody paid for AI and now they’re in panic mode. I reckon by 2027 the market will be flooded by a cheap overproduction of RAM because the data centre expansion will have stalled and OpenAI will have gone bust.

 

[DailySlow]

I agree. This is a manufactured manufacturing crisis with potential for significant speculative profit first and foremost, not necessarily a physical memory shortage.

 

[asiga]

So, there’s no solution that consumer electronics can apply? No way of making RAM from another path? If that’s the case, we’d better stop using computers and go back to pen and paper. Maybe then somebody would think that a solution should be found.

 

[klasma]

Chinese RAM manufacturers have a 3 year technological lag behind major competitors.

In a trade-off between quadruple prices and slower memory, manufacturers of entry-level smartphones might very well opt for the latter.

 

[GtrDude]

That means Apple will pay .4 cents for the chips in each phone vs. .1 cent.
I'm ok with that

 

[Populus]

the problem is not AI. It's the fact that it's legal to corner the market with borrowed money. This is analog to misusing patent protection to create a monopoly. Not sure how to solve this but it's been unhealthy for open markets for decades. Leveraged buyouts, buying up land, buying up natural resources and now microchips all on borrowed money that makes it impossible for normal revenue driven businesses to compete. If apple is under pressure because of chip prices what are the chances of independent smaller companies to create innovative products?

The problem is that it would take years to pass legislation about this… also, where should this be regulated? In the US? Asia? China? Taiwan?

 

[Populus]

I’m thinking that maybe this is a good time to purchase an iPhone 17e… and the M5 Mac mini whenever Apple finally releases it.

If a Mac mini isn’t released on the next month and a half, I’ll have to get an M5 MacBook Air… despite being a thermally constrained device.

 

[crsh1976]

Don't even joke about that - https://www.xda-developers.com/90s-syncronys-softram-scam/

You call it a joke, some call it a business opportunity not to be missed out on!

It's been 30 some years, time to try you luck again.

 

[pbau]

i mean... this is only predicted by todays AI rush.

In 3 months it can simply fail and we will see prices back or lower than usual anyway..

there is no way to tell or predict what 2028 will be - Apple at this point has no interest to secure and lock in those prices as well - thats my assumption only too

 

[boswald]

You could leave out the word "iPhone" and describe the entire tech industry. 🙁

 

[RealKeishav]

I think it’s a do or die for investors of these AI companies an example of sunk cost fallacy

 

[KES3059A3]

F*** AI

 

[Wanted797]

*golf clap*

 

[Wanted797]

That’s fine, my 512 GB 13 mini will last until 2028, probably longer.

I have a 256 but haven’t used half of it.

I’m thinking the same… maybe things will be better then… maybe a new mini will exist.

Maybe I’m too optimistic.

 

[MacStudioPlease]

Heres an idea....CANT AI SOLVE ITS OWN RAM CRISIS? I mean for me i use it as a chat bot to vent to, get reasonable accurate info for, and to occasionally generate a silly image. But the damn thing is supposed to cure cancer and change the world for the better apparently if you believe the hype. Cant it fix the problem its causing? Wouldn't that be a good proof of its abilities beyond a chat bot and image/video generator?

That's actually AGI. Being able to think for itself and make genuinely new things.

What the world is using are LLMs. Glorified knowledge bases that can talk back in conversational English Vs SQL queries.

 

[drunkaviator]

So with 90-100 Billion in profit each year Apple can't or won't build their own RAM factory? But Tesla/SpaceX can build a state of the art Fab Chip factory in Texas?

How would they go about doing this; they have literally no expertise in chip fabrication. These facilities perform among the most complicated technical feats possible, and companies like TSMC keep the entire process almost a complete secret. Apple has none of the proprietary knowledge to accomplish this, they would literally have to buy TSMC out to do this.

 

[reyesmac]

Ram for me but not for thee. Funny how when AI shows up ram prices conveniently rise so average people can't access the amounts needed to use it at the level the big dogs will.

 

[mjkidk]

MAYBE… we don’t need new phone models every year anymore.