As we reported last week, current Apple CEO Tim Cook says Apple price increases are “unavoidable,” due to rising costs for components like SSD and memory costs.
Cook told The Wall Street Journal that Apple can no longer absorb the increased prices of memory and storage chips and will be forced to pass at least some of the cost on to consumers.
“Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable,” said Cook. “We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.”
Unfortunately, for customers considering the purchase of a current model Apple product, Cook didn’t offer any additional information, including the timing or amount of the price hike. However, keep in mind, Apple generally doesn’t give advance warning of price increases, meaning they could be wanting customers to accept the price hikes before they come.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman feels like price hikes are on the way sooner, not later”.
Gurman doesn’t claim to have any inside information. Instead, he seems to be speculating as to the timing of the increase.
From another camp. 9to5Mac‘s Ben Lovejoy says there are a three good reasons why price hikes could be imminent.
First point: Apple has long fiercely protected its profit margins, which are the envy of the entire electronics industry. Those margins have got to be taking a heavy hit. A price increase on the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro lineups, as well as other products, give them a headstart on getting its margins back to where Apple believes they should be.
Point two: New Apple CEO John Ternus takes over on September 1. Announcing price increases alongside the launch of the iPhone 18 Pro lineup in September would certainly be a bad look for him.
Third, Apple reports its fiscal Q3 earnings in early July, the final earnings report under outgoing CEO Tim Cook. It also would not be a good look for to step down alongside news of reduced profits.
Research firm TechInsights recently claimed that Apple will need to increase the price of the iPhone 18 Pro by around $270 to keep its existing profit margin.
This is all mere speculation until Apple makes an official announcement. But, if you’re planning on buying a current model Apple device or other product, you might want to start reaching for that Apple Pay button sooner rather than later.