Apple is signaling a 5% to 10% price increase for the iPhone as surging memory chip costs squeeze its hardware margins, a move Tim Cook flagged through The on June 18, 2026. The shift suggests Apple plans to absorb some of the inflation itself and pass the rest on to buyers.
That matters because Apple booked $56.994 billion in iPhone revenue last quarter and still authorized a fresh $100 billion buyback, underscoring how much room it has to maneuver while still choosing to protect pricing. Gene Munster said Cook’s disclosure shows the memory-cost problem is large, and he read the move as a sign that memory chips still have more room to run.
The timing is what makes the signal land now. Micron Technology is due to report Q3 on June 24, and the memory supplier has already been guiding to $33.5 billion in revenue with an 81% gross margin while rationing supply to just 50% to 67% of key customer demand. It also said DRAM price increases ran in the mid-sixties percentage range sequentially in fiscal Q2, while NAND prices were up in the high-seventies percentage range. That is the backdrop for Apple’s decision, and it helps explain why memory makers and related names have been moving sharply.
There is still a gap in what Apple has said publicly. The company has not specified which iPhone models will see the increase or when it will take effect, which leaves buyers guessing even as the broader market prices in a stronger memory cycle. For readers tracking the next product cycle, that makes the unresolved question less about whether prices rise and more about how quickly Apple chooses to push the increase through. Related coverage has also focused on Apple Iphone 17 Pro and Apple Iphone 17 Pro Max AI features, while another report has examined whether Apple Iphone 18 Pro Max could keep launch prices steady despite memory costs.
