Outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook has warned that price increases on iPhones, Macs, iPads, and other Apple products are unavoidable following a fourfold surge in memory chip costs driven by AI's insatiable demand for hardware. The situation has been dubbed RAMageddon by industry observers, and Cook told the Wall Street Journal that the cost pressures are simply unsustainable for Apple to absorb indefinitely.

What Is Causing the Problem

The global shortage of memory chips, specifically DRAM and NAND storage, is a direct consequence of the AI infrastructure boom. Training and running large AI models at scale requires enormous quantities of high-bandwidth memory, and the surge in demand from data centre operators including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta has created a supply crunch that is flowing through to every device manufacturer that uses the same chips. Apple's iPhones, Macs, iPads, Apple Watch, and Vision Pro all contain memory and storage components that have become significantly more expensive to source.

Cook did not specify which products will be affected first or when price increases will be announced, but the timing is notable. Apple is expected to launch its next iPhone in September 2026, which gives the company a natural moment to announce revised pricing. Research firm TechInsights told the Financial Times that Apple would need to add approximately $270 to the price of the next iPhone Pro simply to maintain its current profit margin. The iPhone 17 Pro currently starts at $1,099.



The AI Irony

The situation puts Apple in an uncomfortable position. The company has been under significant pressure to demonstrate a credible AI strategy for its devices following a $250 million false advertising settlement earlier this year, paid after Apple failed to deliver the AI features it promised at WWDC 2024. Its WWDC 2026 event showed genuine progress, particularly the rebuilt Siri and on-device AI processing capabilities. But more on-device AI processing requires more memory, which is precisely the component category that has become four times more expensive. Apple is being squeezed by AI from both ends: pressured to add AI capabilities while the hardware those capabilities require has become dramatically more costly.

What Nigerian Buyers Should Know

Apple products in Nigeria are already priced at a premium relative to most Nigerians' purchasing power, with flagship iPhones typically landing above N1.5 million through authorised channels. A price increase of the scale TechInsights is projecting would push the next iPhone Pro further out of reach for many Nigerian buyers who are currently considering upgrading. If you are planning to buy an iPhone 17 Pro and can do so before September, the current pricing may represent the last opportunity before costs increase. Waiting for the new model could mean paying substantially more for a device that is incrementally better.