Apple faces pressure as Samsung hikes up DRAM prices

The AI industry’s unsatiated hunger for memory chips has led to skyrocketing DRAM prices, and that’s shaping up to make new tech in 2026 a lot more expensive. This also means consumers will have to shell out even more money for new devices and even the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer – Apple will have to pay up.

According to a report from South Korea, Samsung has hiked up its LPDDR DRAM chip pricing by a cool 80% compared to what it was charging Apple in Q4,2025. The report, which comes from industry sources, claims that SK Hynix, the other major DRAM manufacturer, has hiked up its DRAM pricing by a whopping 100%.

Historically, Apple has been able to absorb component price hikes through long-term agreements with key suppliers, but it seems that will not be the case this time around. According to the new report, Apple has signed a deal with Samsung that will only cover DRAM unit prices for the first half of the year.

This almost surely means that the upcoming iPhone 18 series and other new Apple devices will arrive with higher price tags. There is some hope, though, as analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is confident that Apple will still absorb the rising component costs and keep its iPhone pricing at bay as it aims to increase its market share.

Source (in Korean)