Tim Cook Confirms Apple Will Raise Prices Amid Memory Crunch

From PC Mag: If you've been holding off on Apple hardware purchases, you might want to buy soon. CEO Tim Cook has confirmed the company will soon raise prices to offset the cost of acquiring memory and storage chips amid a global supply shortage.

“Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable,” Cook tells The Wall Street Journal. “We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable."

Although Cook didn’t provide specifics, the Journal expects price hikes to hit iPads and Macs first, followed by the new iPhone 18 Pro models expected in September. The outlet estimates that the starting price of Apple’s flagship smartphone could increase by $200. So, you may have to pay $1,299 for the base iPhone 18 Pro this year, up from $1,099 on the iPhone 17 Pro.

This comes as AI companies are spending big on memory and storage chips for their data centers and other infrastructure. PC and smartphone manufacturers have had to pay higher prices to acquire these chips, and many of them, including Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung, have already passed on the rising costs to customers.

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