No consumer tech enthusiast needs this reminder that we’re in a memory shortage crisis. And while the average consumer is the one feeling the brunt of it, we’re not alone. The next console generation is as risk of getting delayed, as are the next generation of graphics cards. Those not getting delayed are costing more to make. And I bring all this up because it is recently claimed that Apple agreed to pay double the price of LPDDR5X RAM from Samsung.
This comes via Korean outlet DealSite, which cites “an official from the semiconductor industry”, per machine translation, in its report. The insider claims Apple has recently met with Samsung’s Device Solutions division to ensure stable memory supply and negotiated supply volumes for the first half of the year. The latter “had initially se a strategy with the goal of raising the price of LPDDR5X for Apple iPhones by about 60%.
That being said, Samsung, following the common haggling tip of setting the high initial price and expecting the final agreed price to be lower, proposed a 100% price increase as the opener. This was apparently done to get a feel for what the reaction to a 60% premium would be like. Instead of haggling, Apple “immediately accepted this, so the price was set as is. That’s how far smartphone companies are willing to go to secure memory inventory”, the exec said.
Not Passing The Cost To The Consumer Yet
Worth noting though that the LDPPR5X RAM that Apple had secured was for the iPhone 17 line. The bitten fruit company has so far not announced a price hike for them at least not yet. So it’s probably safe to say that it has absorbed the cost of higher memory prices. A prior rumour also points to the iPhone 18 family maintaining their prices when they release. It remains to be seen if that will still be the case when September rolls around.
(Source: DealSite, Ming-Chi Kuo / X)
