Another price hike from Apple? Analysts reveal why the cost of iPhones could rise
The price increases for Macs, iPads, and other devices present a new challenge for Apple, which is under pressure from rising memory and storage costs.
Apple has already made its move with price increases across much of its product lineup, but the product everyone is watching remains the same: the iPhone. The company has left its phone out of the first round, along with the Apple Watch and AirPods, although several analysts interpret this pause as a tactical decision, not a guarantee. The reason lies in a very specific part of the supply chain: memory and storage have become more expensive at an unusually rapid pace.
The explanation isn’t just about Apple. The pressure stems from the components market disrupted by the expansion of artificial intelligence data centers. Major memory suppliers are allocating more capacity to higher-margin products, such as HBM, server DRAM, and enterprise SSDs, while manufacturers of smartphones, laptops, and tablets are competing for a more expensive supply. In this context, the iPhone is particularly vulnerable because it requires fast memory, ample storage, and very tight margins.
The first impact has already been seen in other products from the brand. Reuters reports price increases for the MacBook, iPad, HomePod, and Apple TV, with specific examples such as the MacBook Neo, which goes from $599 to $699; the 512 GB MacBook Air, from $1,099 to $1,299; the 1 TB MacBook Pro, from $1,699 to $1,999; and the 128 GB iPad Air, from $599 to $749. These moves indicate that Apple has begun passing on to consumers a portion of the cost that it had previously absorbed.
Why the iPhone might be next
The iPhone isn’t just any product at Apple. It’s the company’s main hardware business and also the gateway to services, accessories, and future upgrades. That’s why a price increase has more implications than it would for a Mac or an iPad: it could affect the upgrade cycle, competition with Android, and the entry price for each generation. Analysts cited by the SCMP and Reuters believe that Apple might prefer to separate the bad news from the big September launch, so that the conversation surrounding the new models isn’t dominated by the price.
Moreover, this pressure does not appear to be temporary. TrendForce has noted that contract prices for conventional DRAM rose sharply in the first quarter of 2026 and are expected to continue rising in the second quarter. It also forecasts sharp increases in NAND Flash, the type of memory essential for storage. The problem for Apple is that these price increases affect precisely two components that it cannot easily cut from a premium iPhone without compromising its technical specifications.
The most likely scenario is not a simple, uniform price increase, but rather a combination of adjustments: more expensive Pro models, base versions with less room for improvement, less aggressive discounts on previous generations, or changes to the initial storage capacity. There may also be differences based on market, taxes, and exchange rates. But the bottom line is the same: the memory crisis triggered by the AI race has long since spread beyond servers and data centers. The effects on the average consumer’s wallet are already more than tangible.
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For Apple, the challenge will be to gauge how high it can go without slowing down the upgrade cycle. For users, the practical implication is more immediate: if the iPhone was the last major product shielded from this wave of price increases, that protection may have its days numbered.
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