Apple has agreed to pay double for the Samsung 12GB LPDDR5X memory chips that it requires for ongoing iPhone 17 production, claims a report from Korean news outlet Dealsite.
The report’s sources tell it that Apple recently held emergency meetings with Samsung’s semiconductor division to insure needed delivery volumes of RAM for the first half of this year. The modules, used in the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro, have already roughly doubled in price since early last year, increasing from around $30 to the neighborhood of $70.
While Samsung had originally planned to call it a victory if they were able to negotiate a 60% increase in price for the LPDDR5X modules, when it opened negotiations with a 100% markup with the intention to negotiate from there, Apple reportedly immediately agreed to the 2X increase.
If the reports are correct, it illustrates how desperate smartphone makers are to ensure they have a sufficient memory supply for their devices. The desperation is spurred greatly by memory manufacturers like SK Hynix and Micron redirecting their production efforts toward high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI servers. That decision has left mobile DRAM in extremely short supply.
While Samsung is providing memory for Apple’s devices, it also needs to meet memory needs for its own smartphones and other devices. As such, the Dealsite report says the initial production of the Korean firm’s Galaxy S26 is using a 50/50 split of LPDDR5X from Samsung’s semiconductor division and Micron, with both suppliers hitting Samsung with steep price increases after the first batch.
Despite rising costs, Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently said Apple is working to keep the retail price of its upcoming iPhone 18 Pro lineup at the same level as this year’s iPhone 17 Pro devices.