Tim Cook says iPhone prices will rise due to memory chip costs

Apple plans to increase prices of its products to offset rising costs of memory and storage chips, according to Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook.

The company is facing higher component costs as growing demand for artificial intelligence-driven data centres has increased competition for memory and storage chips, tightening global supply and pushing prices up.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Cook said the company had tried to absorb the extra costs but could no longer continue doing so.

“Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable,” Cook said, adding that Apple had been trying to protect customers from the impact of rising costs, but the situation had become unsustainable.

Cook did not specify when the new prices would take effect, how much they would increase, or which products would be affected.

The move comes as the global technology industry faces mounting pressure from a shortage of key components, largely driven by the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure.