Apple Plans Price Increases Amid Memory Chip Shortage, CEO Says

Apple plans to raise prices on some of its products to offset increasing memory and storage chip costs, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal, according to a Reuters report by Juby Babu.

The tech giant did not specify when price increases would take effect, how large they might be or which products would be affected.

A surge in artificial intelligence-driven demand for data centers has intensified competition for memory and storage chips, driving prices higher and tightening supplies across the technology industry.

Industry groups representing automakers, retailers and electronics manufacturers warned earlier this month that growing demand for memory chips could increase consumer prices and disrupt supply chains.

"Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable," Cook told 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," he added.

Cook, who is expected to hand leadership of the company to John Ternus in September, did not specify when price increases would take effect, how large they might be or which products would be affected.

Apple is reportedly preparing to launch its first foldable iPhone alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max later this year.