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- Apple plans price hikes due to surging memory, storage chip costs: Tim Cook
Apple plans price hikes due to surging memory, storage chip costs: Tim Cook
Bay Area Times
June 18, 2026
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Top stories today:
- Apple plans price hikes due to surging memory, storage chip costs
- Fed holds rates in Warsh debut, signals hikes ahead
- Altman, Amodei, Hassabis urge U.S.-led AI coordination at G7 summit
- OpenAI poaches Gemini co-lead for AI architecture research
- Midjourney enters healthcare with ultrasound body scanner
0. Data and calendar
All values as of 6 AM ET / 3 AM PT, other than S&P500 and NASDAQ close (4 PM ET / 1 PM PT).
All times are ET.
Listen to our AI-generated podcast summarizing today’s newsletter (beware of hallucinations):
1. Apple plans price hikes due to surging memory, storage chip costs: Tim Cook
The iPhone 18 Pro is expected to start at $1,299, +18% from the iPhone 17 Pro’s base price:
“Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable,” Cook said.
Macs and iPads may see price increases sooner than other Apple devices.
Cook pointed in particular to the DRAM market, citing rising allocations toward high-bandwidth memory for AI services.
+30% in DRAM wafer production by 2027 is estimated by Morgan Stanley.
DRAM and NAND prices are +300% since last year and are expected to keep rising into 2027
Apple spends low tens of billions annually on memory and storage, but Cook said it won’t build its own fabs.
Separately, a 2nd-gen iPhone Air is said to be in testing with a second rear camera and longer battery life
Spring 2027: launch is expected.
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3. Fed holds rates in Warsh debut, signals hikes ahead
The Fed held rates at 3.50%-3.75% on Wed. in a unanimous vote.
“We have the capability and commitment to deliver on our price stability,” Warsh said.
Warsh did not submit a projection in the Fed’s pared-back statement.
2-year Treasury yields rose 16 bps to 4.21%, while the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.7% after the decision.
-1.2% in the S&P 500.
9 of 19 officials projected at least one rate hike by year-end
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5. Altman, Amodei, Hassabis urge U.S.-led AI coordination at G7 summit
