Memory Prices & iPhone Manufacturing: 2027 Will Be Even Worse – Tough Decisions for Apple | News

The current problems of the storage market have already been discussed many times. Given the enormous price increases, things are looking quite positive for the three leading producers Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron, but less so for the rest of the market. A current market study indicates that we have not yet reached the end of the spiral and that the shortage is affecting more and more types of storage. Apple is particularly hard hit with the iPhone, as it is one of the largest customers in the world with 250 million devices per year. JPMorgan calculates how difficult the situation will be for Apple in the coming year.

Apple is having supply problems…
Memory could account for up to 45 percent of iPhone component costs in 2027, but today the share is only around 10 percent. While Apple has always been able to obtain special conditions in the past due to the enormous purchase volumes, the balance of power has shifted significantly – even without Apple, the three leading manufacturers would find sufficient customers. These are primarily companies that invest enormous amounts of money in building AI infrastructure. They are usually prepared to secure capacities early, with high advance payments and above-average prices.

…and was already responding with delays
In the Mac sector, Apple has already postponed the introduction of some new devices in order to respond to the delivery bottlenecks. With the iPhone, however, a decision that was made before the price explosion turns out to be something that could perhaps no longer be handled differently: not to release all the new models of the iPhone 18 at the same time, but to start with the Pro versions and the Ultra model, and only bring the basic version, the Air and the e variant a few months later.

Higher prices? Or worse margins?
The difficult question for 2027 is whether to pass on the sharply increased costs to customers or whether it would be better to burden your own margin in favor of market share. What was once considered unthinkable has now long since become an option for Apple. Sales in the services sector have long since overtaken all hardware divisions except for the iPhone – and appealing to more users also means selling more additional offers.