iPhone Prices Are Going Up: For years, Apple managed to dodge the price hikes that hit nearly every other phone maker. That streak may finally be ending. In a candid interview with The Wall Street Journal, outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook admitted what the company has spent months trying to avoid saying out loud: iPhone 18 pricing is very likely going up, and there’s not much Apple can do about it.
What Cook Actually Said
| Quote/Claim | Detail |
|---|---|
| On price hikes | Called them “unavoidable” |
| On Apple’s efforts so far | Says Apple tried to “shield customers,” but it’s now “unsustainable” |
| On the supply crunch | Described it as a “flood that happens once every hundred years” |
| On manufacturing memory in-house | Ruled out — Apple won’t build its own chip fabs |
| On using Apple’s balance sheet | Willing to spend aggressively to secure supply |
| Timing/magnitude of hikes | Not specified |
Cook, who steps down as CEO on September 1 after more than a decade at the helm, didn’t say which products would be affected or by how much — but the iPhone 18 lineup, expected around September 2026, sits squarely in the crosshairs given the timing.
Why This Is Happening Now
The root cause traces back to AI’s voracious appetite for memory. A pivotal moment came in October 2025, when OpenAI struck a deal with Samsung and SK Hynix to secure roughly 40% of global memory chip production — about 900,000 chips a month — to power AI data centers. That single deal helped trigger quarterly DRAM and NAND price increases of 50-90% since late 2025.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| AI data center demand | Diverts DRAM/NAND production away from consumer devices |
| HBM memory for AI servers | Uses ~3x the silicon wafer space of standard DRAM |
| Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron | Now directing 30-40% of DRAM output to AI/HBM |
| Memory chip market size | Growing from ~$220B (2025) to ~$890B by end of 2026 |
| Analyst price hike estimate | iPhone 18 could rise by roughly $270 |
Apple Isn’t Just Sitting Back
What makes Apple’s position different from most of the Android world is its sheer financial muscle. As we covered when Apple was reportedly paying nearly double the going rate to lock down Samsung’s DRAM supply, the company appears to be using its balance sheet not just to protect its own margins, but to limit how much memory competitors can secure at all. That strategy has already shown cracks elsewhere — Apple discontinued the base 256GB Mac Mini M4 entirely rather than absorb rising memory costs, quietly pushing buyers toward the pricier 512GB tier instead.
This Is a Bigger Industry Story Than Just Apple
Apple is far from alone here. We’ve tracked how the same memory crunch is quietly squeezing mid-range OLED phones across the entire industry, and PC analysts now expect smartphone makers globally to face a 12% memory chip shortfall in 2027 — equivalent to roughly 134 million units short of demand. Apple holding the line longer than competitors was never going to last forever; this is simply the moment that streak appears to be ending.
The Bottom Line
Cook’s comments don’t confirm an exact number, but the direction is unmistakable: the iPhone 18 series — expected with the A20 chip and Apple’s first foldable — is likely to cost more than its predecessor, even if Apple stages the increase carefully to avoid sticker shock. With memory shortages projected to persist into 2027 at minimum, this isn’t a one-cycle blip. It’s the new normal buyers should plan around.
Sources: ABC News; The Daily Beast, citing Tim Cook’s interview with The Wall Street Journal.
