Apple shares faced heavy selling pressure after the company announced its first-ever global price increase for Mac and iPad products, driven by soaring costs of memory chips and storage components. The stock closed down over 6%, marking its sharpest drop since April 2025 amid investor worries that Apple's strategy of absorbing cost increases on behalf of consumers may be coming to an end.
Globally, attention is focused on this price hike as a significant turning point in the tech industry. The 'AI Boom' has triggered a phenomenon called 'Memory Panic,' where device makers worldwide compete intensely for memory chips, causing prices to surge rapidly and cost pressures to be passed on to consumers.
Apple stated that the rapid expansion of AI data centers worldwide has driven unprecedented demand for DRAM and NAND Flash storage components.
Earlier, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that the company can no longer absorb rising costs, likening the situation to a 'once-in-a-century flood' and describing it as an unprecedented crisis in his 40 years in the technology industry.
Counterpoint Research data shows that prices for memory and storage components have increased fourfold over the past three quarters. This is due to chip manufacturers shifting production capacity toward High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) used in AI servers by companies like Nvidia, OpenAI, Microsoft, and major cloud providers, inevitably raising costs for chips used in computers and smartphones.
One of the biggest beneficiaries of this crisis is memory chip makers such as Micron, which recently reported revenue growth of more than four times and a gross margin reaching 84.9%. Conversely, electronics manufacturers are struggling with cost pressures, with Apple being the latest to officially announce price increases after PC, game console, and other electronics makers had already started raising prices.
Historically, Apple has increased its average selling price by discontinuing lower-capacity models, raising baseline specifications, or steering customers toward Pro and higher-capacity versions. It also uses pricing on storage upgrades as a key tool to boost ongoing revenue from customers. However, these past strategies can no longer shield customers from rising component costs driven by the AI trend.
The price adjustments have taken effect in Thailand via Apple Store Thailand, with several models seeing increased prices, such as:
Other product categories like HomePod and Apple TV 4K have also seen price increases in the Thai market.
Although Apple has not yet raised iPhone prices in this round, Counterpoint Research analysts estimate that rising component costs may force Apple to increase iPhone prices by about $150–$200, particularly for Pro models requiring more RAM to support Apple Intelligence features.
International Data Corporation (IDC) also forecasts that all new iPhone models will move to 12GB RAM, further increasing demand for memory chips and potentially triggering a new global price hike cycle for premium smartphones.
Previously, consumers were accustomed to Apple absorbing cost increases itself. This price hike announcement may mark the start of a new era where AI not only changes how technology is used but also drives hardware costs higher across the industry, ultimately requiring consumers worldwide to share in these expenses.
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