CRUCIAL QUOTE
“This is a hundred-year flood,” Cook told the Wall Street Journal earlier this month. “I’ve never seen anything like it in any area in over 40 years.”
Read more Trump Media Stock Hits All-Time Low—Down Almost 50% In 2026
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
How much the next iPhone costs. Apple’s next run of phones—the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max and the rumored foldable iPhone Fold/Ultra—are expected to be unveiled in September. Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC he estimates the higher chip costs will mean price increases for iPhones of about $150 to $200 per phone, and the company on Thursday left the door open for more hikes when it said the chip crisis has “reached a point where we need to begin raising prices on a number of products.”
TANGENT
Apple isn’t the only company raising its tech prices. Nintendo told customers its flagship console will cost $50 more come September, and Sony and Microsoft also recently hiked the cost of their PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Lenovo has upped its PC and server pricing, and Dell and HP have also raised their laptop prices.
Read more Seventh Person Arrested For Reflecting Pool Vandalism
Key background
The surge in demand for memory chips for AI data centers has put a strain on the supply left for consumer products. Sassine Ghazi, CEO of Synopsys, a semiconductor company, told CNBC much of the world’s memory chip supply is “going directly to AI infrastructure, but many other products need memory,” which has left other industries “starved.” Memory contract prices surged 80% to 90% in the first quarter of 2026 alone, according to Counterpoint Research, after shooting up 50% in the last quarter of 2025. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley predict the undersupply of chips will persist and keep memory prices heavily inflated through at least 2027.
Read more SpaceX Could Acquire T-Mobile As It Expands Into Wireless, Analyst Says
ForbesHow AI Is Driving Up The Costs Of Phones, Games And ComputersBy Conor MurrayForbesAI’s Hidden Cost: The Global Memory Shortage Threat To Affordable TechBy Tim BajarinForbesThe World’s Largest Tech Companies: Memory Chips Skyrocket Amid AI Data Center BuildoutBy Rashi Shrivastava