RAM prices are out of control. Should Apple users be worried?

Macworld

You have undoubtedly heard about the recent massive spike in RAM prices. RAM for consumer devices like desktops, laptops, graphics cards, and smartphones (DDR, GDDR, and LPDDR memory) has skyrocketed in recent weeks. Prices are 50-100 percent higher than they were back in the summer, with some premium 32GB DDR5 kits going for as much as $400 at Amazon!

The problem, as it so often is, traces back to AI. The massive rush to build more AI datacenters at all costs has already increased demand for water and electricity, and previously sucked up much of the supply chain for the chips we use in consumer devices. RAM appears to be the latest culprit—AI data centers are using up a lot of the supply of DDR memory, but the GPUs they use often use a different kind of RAM called HBM—high bandwidth memory. Manufacturers have begun shifting some production to keep up with demand, making the DDR memory used in consumer devices even more scarce.

It has gotten so bad that Samsung reportedly can’t even sell RAM to Samsung.

The situation has caused prices to rise for PC desktops and laptops, graphics cards, and plenty of other consumer devices. But Apple products haven’t been affected—at least not yet. But will the surge in RAM pricing eventually make our iPhones and Macs more expensive? The situation is complicated.

Apple’s supply contracts

If nothing else, Apple is a big and popular monolithic producer of consumer goods with a locked-in supply chain. Apple doesn’t buy RAM month-to-month; it negotiates big, long-term contracts for parts in extremely high volumes. So for Apple, RAM likely hasn’t gotten more expensive yet, because they locked in prices months or even years ago for a huge long-term supply.

What we don’t know is when Apple negotiates its supply contracts and how long this surge in RAM pricing will last. A Citi report published on X last year revealed that Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron supplied DRAM for iPhone 17, but it’s unclear whether Apple negotiates contracts before each phone release or whether they are the same for Mac chips. Because the unified memory chips in Apple’s processors are soldered to the chip, there aren’t teardowns to reveal the make or model of the RAM.




The M5 chip starts at 12GB of RAM in the iPad Pro and maxes out at 32GB of RAM in the MacBook Pro, but Apple hasn’t had to raise prices over the previous generationsApple

There’s also the possibility that Apple’s prices go up to cover the threat of additional costs. When airlines raise ticket prices due to a surge in the price of oil, that’s usually an artificial increase. Major airlines buy fuel on long-term contracts and hedge prices by locking in rates well in advance of a price spike. Airlines are raising prices because they can, and we have seen many other industries use inflation and tariffs as cover to raise prices by a much larger amount than the increase in their actual costs. Also, prices rarely go down once costs stabilize, but that’s another issue.

In other words, even if Apple isn’t paying more for RAM right now, it might have to in the near future, and it might raise prices regardless. There’s just no way to know.

Apple’s big margins

Historically, increases in RAM prices affect products in which RAM is a huge part of the total cost. On an inexpensive smartphone, where RAM might be 10 or 15 percent of the total bill of materials (BOM), a doubling of RAM costs can completely destroy the slim margins it sells at.

Apple’s typical RAM cost is estimated to be more like 4 percent of the BOM cost, and Apple’s margins are high—in the 20-30 percent range for most products, and higher on high-end Macs. Apple also charges a lot for additional RAM in Macs—you’ll pay $200 more for 8GB, essentially $20 worth of RAM. Even if Apple’s cost for RAM doubles, it still has margin to spare.

Granted, Apple is very protective of its margins and doesn’t ever want to make less profit on each sale. But it certainly has the ability to withstand a few months or even a year of a big DRAM price surge without losing money, even at current prices.




The M5 iPad Pro starts with 12GB of RAM—but also has a four-figure price tag.Britta O’Boyle

Apple’s steady pricing

The full retail price of an Apple product rarely changes. It has been known to happen, especially in specific regions where a big swing in the exchange rate and/or taxes that must be included in the price necessitate a shift. In general, though, Apple’s pricing is incredibly steady.

When the company raises prices, it does so with the introduction of a new product. For example, Apple likely wouldn’t raise the price of the iPhone 17 due cover rising component costs, but would rather just raise the iPhone 18’s price when it is introduced. One notable exception, however, was in March 2002, when it hiked the price of its new G4 iMac jus two months after its launch due to “significant increases in component costs for memory and LCD flat-panel displays.” Of course, Apple was a much different company back then.

Apple just released a number of its higher-priced products: the iPhone 17 line (including an overpriced iPhone Air), M5 MacBook Pro, and M5 iPad Pro. Its next big product lineup will be higher-priced M5 MacBook Pros (which have margin to spare), M5 MacBook Air, and perhaps some real budget value products like a low-cost MacBook and iPhone 17e.




The iPhone 17e is one place where Apple could recoup rising memory costs.Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd

In other words, Apple’s next products are a mix of some high-end, high-margin Macs and value products that by definition have to come in well under the rest of the product line. It would surprise me if we saw higher starting prices for those products due to the current RAM situation.

Nobody really knows what Apple will do with pricing, and anyone who claims differently is as trustworthy as a magic 8-ball. But our educated guess is that Apple won’t adjust its prices due to the RAM shortage in the short term. If this supply crunch lasts through the year to the fall 2026 product cycle, there’s a very good chance we’ll see some higher prices on specific SKUs to offset Apple’s increased costs and preserve its overall margins.