{"id":532732,"date":"2026-07-04T13:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T13:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/532732\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T13:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T13:32:11","slug":"ram-jam-why-apple-other-tech-firms-prices-have-spiked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/532732\/","title":{"rendered":"RAM Jam: Why Apple & other tech firms’ prices have spiked"},"content":{"rendered":"

A ‘hundred-year flood’ is the uncharacteristically dramatic phrase Apple CEO Tim Cook used to justify the price rises the company announced on most of its prices last week.<\/p>\n

That being said, the price increases were pretty dramatic too.<\/p>\n

Many were in the 15-20% range \u2013 which is a lot of money when you\u2019re talking about products that cost hundreds or even thousands of euro. Other increases, though, went above the 30% mark \u2013 with a few stretching beyond 50%.<\/p>\n

The Apple TV is an example of that \u2013 it went from \u20ac189 to \u20ac299.<\/p>\n

An iPad Air went up by \u20ac160 to \u20ac839 \u2013 roughly a 23% jump.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the 14 inch MacBook Pro got an extra \u20ac300 added to its price tag \u2013 or 15%.<\/p>\n

And if you happen to be one of the few people who wants the highest end Mac \u2013 a Mac Studio M3 Ultra \u2013 you\u2019ll now be forking out \u20ac6,399 for the privilege. That\u2019s \u20ac1,300 more than it would have cost just just over a week ago.<\/p>\n

Adding to the drama of Apple\u2019s price hike was just how far across its product range that it stretch. In fact, one of the few product lines that was absent was the iPhone \u2013 which is by far Apple\u2019s most popular product, and the main driver of its profit.<\/p>\n

But even there, there\u2019s an expectation that we will see the price of that rise when the company unveils its latest model in September.<\/p>\n

Big Sur-price<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

What\u2019s particularly remarkable about it is that even Apple seems to have been caught off-guard by this<\/p>\n

In the middle of March the company unveiled an entirely new laptop line – called the MacBook Neo – which was targeted primarily at casual users and students.<\/p>\n

And it was quite keenly priced \u2013 especially for an Apple product \u2013 at \u20ac699.<\/p>\n

Now, though, that price is starting at \u20ac799.<\/p>\n

That means that, just weeks after hitting the market, Apple has substantially raised the price. You\u2019d imagine that, if they knew this was coming, they\u2019d have just launched it at that higher price to begin with.<\/p>\n

In a broader sense, though, Apple being forced into this kind of move is a bit of a surprise.<\/p>\n

Of course they\u2019ve raised prices before \u2013 but they tend to do so sparingly, and they tend to time them to coincide with the launch of a new model. They\u2019re rarely so wide-ranging, and don\u2019t tend to be nearly as severe either.<\/p>\n

That is in large part due to Apple\u2019s enviable ability to manage its supply chain and keeping a lid on its cost base.<\/p>\n

Before he became CEO, as Apple\u2019s chief operations officer, Tim Cook masterminded the company\u2019s modern supply chain and all of the low-cost manufacturing in China \u2013 and more recently Vietnam and India \u2013 that has been at the core of its business model for decades now.<\/p>\n

They have also been very good at negotiating really good deals with suppliers \u2013 and squeezing those deals for all their worth.<\/p>\n

Part of that is because of the amount of buying power Apple has \u2013 particularly when it comes to smartphone components. But part of it is just how clever they are at finding multiple uses for those components.<\/p>\n

Across their product range you have examples of multiple products that \u2013 under the hood \u2013 are essentially the same.<\/p>\n

For example, some of the parts that are used to power an iPhone are the same parts that are used to power an iPad. in many cases, an iPad is just an iPhone with a bigger screen.<\/p>\n

At the same time, some of the more powerful Macs and MacBooks share components with the higher end iPads.<\/p>\n

The new MacBook Neo is a perfect example of this kind of component repurposing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s powered by a processor that first appeared in the iPhone 16, launched in 2024. The smartphone line has since moved on from this chip but it\u2019s by no means obsolete \u2013 it\u2019s still plenty powerful enough to be the workhorse behind an entry-level computer.<\/p>\n

So, with a fair few of the chips sitting in its inventory, Apple created an entirely new product line to put it to good use.<\/p>\n

As a company they\u2019re really good at taking one piece of technology and applying it in different ways and different form factors \u2013 which all goes towards improving their economies of scale and buying power.<\/p>\n

Chain reaction<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Though it is worth saying that while Apple has, for a long time, been really good at managing their supply chains and keeping their costs down – they haven\u2019t tended to pass the benefit of that on to consumers.<\/p>\n

Generally speaking Apple products are priced at a premium to other brands\u2019 equivalents \u2013 and while you can argue about whether that\u2019s justified or not \u2013 it ultimately means Apple typically enjoys a much healthier profit margin than pretty much every other consumer technology company.<\/p>\n

Dell, for example, last year had a profit margin of around 5% for its consumer and commercial product division. Samsung\u2019s consumer products tend to sell at a profit margin of around 20%.<\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s margin, meanwhile, tends to sit in the 30-40% range. In its most recent quarter, its gross margin was just shy of 50%.<\/p>\n

So when Tim Cook claims that they tried their best but that it had become \u2018unsustainable\u2019 to protect consumers from rising component price increases, there\u2019s a little asterisks to add there.<\/p>\n

The truth is Apple probably could have shielded their customers a little bit more \u2013 but it would have meant taking a hit to their profits.<\/p>\n

All that being said, though, there is no denying Cook\u2019s central point that the key technologies behind computers and smartphones have gone through some dramatic price rises in the past year.<\/p>\n

So much so that it\u2019s gotten a name – RAMageddon.<\/p>\n

Battering RAM<\/p>\n

\"ZHENGZHOU,<\/p>\n

A reference to Random Access Memory or RAM \u2013 a key component in pretty much every device \u2013 RAMageddon refers to the dramatic shift in prices lately.<\/p>\n

One that\u2019s making everything \u2013 from high-end PCs to memory cards \u2013 more expensive.<\/p>\n

One industry data source, TrendForce, suggests the price of RAM had almost doubled in the first three months of the year. It\u2019s predicted to have enjoyed another 60% rise in the most recent quarter.<\/p>\n

Another company \u2013 Counterpoint Research \u2013 suggested that certain types of RAM had almost tripled in price between September last year and March of this year.<\/p>\n

And the blame for this has been put at the door of AI.<\/p>\n

Because there is extraordinary demand for high-end computer components right now \u2013 the likes of RAM and computer processors \u2013 because they are what power the servers, which power the data centres, which power AI.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s estimated that more than $2.5 trillion will be invested in AI this year \u2013 and most of that is going towards building out new data centres, or expanding and upgrading existing ones to allow them to handle more data.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not necessarily the case that the RAM that\u2019s being bought for these data centres is the same as what\u2019s needed for your computer or smartphone \u2013 it\u2019s often far more powerful than that.<\/p>\n

But it is probably being made by the same company \u2013 because there are only a small number of companies able to manufacture at that scale and complexity.<\/p>\n

They each have a limited amount of manufacturing capacity \u2013 so if they\u2019re making a choice between devoting production lines towards RAM for consumer devices, made by companies like Apple that are trying to squeeze supply chains, or RAM for deep-pocketed tech firms who are throwing hundreds of billions of dollars around in a desperate attempt to get an edge on their rivals – then the choice is relatively obvious.<\/p>\n

That leaves the consumer market with a supply shortage \u2013 and, of course, when you\u2019ve strong demand and weak supply, that pushes up the price.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an almost identical dynamic to what happened with computer processors a few years ago.<\/p>\n

Nvidia would traditionally have specialised in the relatively niche market of graphics processors for high-end PC gaming. But, when it turned out its most powerful chips were ideal for powering AI data centres, it started to focus more of its supply in that direction – because they were willing to pay an awful lot more for a processor than the average consumer was.<\/p>\n

And that led to dramatic shortages of consumer products \u2013 followed by dramatic price rises.<\/p>\n

Its flagship RTX graphics card would have cost you less than $700 when it launched nine years ago. The equivalent processor today would cost you around $2,000.<\/p>\n

Tech-tonic shift<\/p>\n

\"stock<\/p>\n

This, of course, means that Apple isn\u2019t the only company that\u2019s had to raise prices recently.<\/p>\n

In some cases, we\u2019ve seen companies make similar, sweeping price changes to Apple\u2019s.<\/p>\n

In other cases, firms have opted to quietly (and regularly) add a bit to their prices every few weeks as they try to keep up with the market.<\/p>\n

In April, Samsung raised the prices on some of its flagship phones and tablets, Dell increased the cost of its PCs at the end of last year.<\/p>\n

The same has happened with Lenovo, Asus and HP.<\/p>\n

(In certain cases companies have opted to downgrade the amount of processor power or RAM that\u2019s offered in specific models – kind of like Shrinkflation but for computers.)<\/p>\n

The same trend has been impacting businesses, too, because the cost of servers has increased.<\/p>\n

In fact you would struggle to find any consumer tech company that has not had to raise prices in the past six to 12 months. No part of the industry is immune, which has created some really strange market dynamics \u2013 particularly in the gaming industry.<\/p>\n

Because, when it comes to games consoles, they\u2019ve traditionally tended to follow a predictable life cycle.<\/p>\n

A new games console is released \u2013 usually at a relatively high price \u2013 and then, over time, the price of the console starts to fall.<\/p>\n

This is in part thanks to the economies of scale that are enjoyed as more consoles are sold \u2013 as well as the manufacturers\u2019 desire to widen its customer base \u2013 but it largely hinges on the fact that the console\u2019s components get cheaper and cheaper over time.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s been the way these things have worked for decades now.<\/p>\n

When the PS2 launched in Europe in 2000, it sold here for the equivalent of roughly \u20ac480. By 2004, a more compact but just-as-powerful version of the same console was selling for around \u20ac149.<\/p>\n

But the dramatic rise in processor and RAM prices has totally turned that trend on its head.<\/p>\n

When the PS5 launched in Ireland in late 2020, the base model cost \u20ac400. Today, the cheapest PS5 you can buy costs \u20ac600.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a 50% price increase on a product that has now been on the market for more than five and a half years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a similar story with Microsoft\u2019s Xbox \u2013 the Series S launched here in 2020 at \u20ac300 but now costs \u20ac350. And Microsoft recently announced it would be adding another $100 (\u20ac87 at current conversion rates) to that from 1st August.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Nintendo\u2019s Switch 2 only hit the market a year ago. At the time its European RRP was \u20ac470 in Europe but the Japanese firm recently announced it would be raising that to \u20ac500 due to “changes in market conditions”.<\/p>\n

Sale, away<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While this is clearly bad news for consumers, it could come at a cost to the tech companies too.<\/p>\n

Their price rises are coming against a backdrop of high inflation across the board \u2013 all while concerns around job security, the impact of AI and the general direction of the global economy weigh on people\u2019s minds.<\/p>\n

This is compounding the financial pressure households are facing after years of high inflation.<\/p>\n

As a result most people feel their spending power has waned \u2013 and could weaken further in the years to come.<\/p>\n

And if you have a situation where people are worried about their financial situation, or in the thick of feeling financial pressures, the first thing they\u2019re going to curtail is spending on luxuries like games consoles.<\/p>\n

And even where it\u2019s less of a luxury and more of a necessity \u2013 like a phone or a laptop \u2013 the people that might have upgraded every two or three years may now look to do so every three or four years instead.<\/p>\n

Or they might opt for an entry level device, rather than one of the premium options.<\/p>\n

Research firm IDC is currently predicting that the smartphone market could see sales decline by 14% this year \u2013 which would be its biggest ever fall. It thinks the PC market would decline by more than 11%.<\/p>\n

And while you might think that the tech firms\u2019 higher prices will cushion the blow for them, that may not be the case.<\/p>\n

After all, if they\u2019re raising prices in order to make up for the higher costs they\u2019re being charged by component manufacturers then they\u2019re not really going to feel the benefit.<\/p>\n

The reality is the main winners from this inflation cycle will be a handful of companies \u2013 including a few that you may never have heard of before, like SK Hynix and Micron Technologies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A ‘hundred-year flood’ is the uncharacteristically dramatic phrase Apple CEO Tim Cook used to justify the price rises…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-532732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}