# Apple faces price hikes for iPhone 18 Pro as AI-fueled chip shortage bites > Source: > Published: 2026-06-20 13:26:17+00:00 # Apple faces price hikes for iPhone 18 Pro as AI-fueled chip shortage bites Memory chip costs have nearly quadrupled, and Tim Cook says price increases are now unavoidable for Apple's flagship products The iPhone has gotten more expensive before. But a potential $1,299 starting price for the iPhone 18 Pro would represent something different: not a premium upsell, but a cost-driven increase forced by a global memory chip shortage that Apple can no longer absorb. In a Wall Street Journal interview published June 17, Apple CEO Tim Cook said price hikes across Apple’s product lineup are “unavoidable” as memory chip costs surge. The culprit is AI, which has hoovered up manufacturing capacity for high-bandwidth memory used in data centers, leaving consumer electronics fighting over what’s left. ## The numbers behind the squeeze According to TechInsights analyst Mike Howard, the cost of 12GB LPDDR5X DRAM, the type of memory used in flagship smartphones, has jumped from $39 to $145. That’s a 272% increase. NAND flash storage hasn’t fared much better. The price for 256GB NAND has climbed from $13 to $51, a 292% surge. These aren’t niche components. They’re in every iPhone, iPad, and Mac that Apple ships. Forecasts now peg the iPhone 18 Pro base model at $1,299 to $1,399 in the US market. That would make it the first time Apple has pushed the Pro’s entry price past the $1,200 mark, a psychological threshold the company has carefully avoided for years. ## Why AI is eating your phone’s memory supply Data centers powering AI models from the likes of Nvidia, Google, and Microsoft require enormous quantities of high-bandwidth memory, or HBM. That memory is manufactured on the same wafers used to produce the LPDDR5X DRAM and NAND flash that go into smartphones and laptops. In 2026, AI-driven demand is consuming the lion’s share of available wafer capacity. Apple has historically insulated itself from supply shocks through long-term contracts with memory suppliers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. Those agreements locked in prices and guaranteed volume. But the current shortage is so acute that even Apple’s purchasing power isn’t enough to fully shield the company from rising input costs. The iPhone 18 series represents the first major Apple product lineup to face these supply constraints at full scale. Previous generations benefited from contracts negotiated before the AI memory boom accelerated. ## What this means for investors and the broader market Cook’s language about price hikes being “unavoidable” suggests Apple is passing through a significant portion of costs, but the company’s margin trajectory over the next two quarters will tell the real story. Samsung, Google, and every other Android OEM source memory from the same constrained pool. If Apple is raising prices, competitors face the same math. The difference is that Apple has pricing power most Android makers don’t. Mid-tier manufacturers with thinner margins are in a much tighter spot. For investors in the memory chip sector, companies like SK Hynix and Micron are benefiting from elevated prices and strong AI demand. Analysts expect the shortage to persist through at least 2027. **Disclosure:** This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our [Editorial Policy](https://cryptobriefing.com/editorial-policy/).