Apple Reportedly Accepts Even Higher RAM and Storage Prices in 2027

Apple has reportedly agreed to pay Samsung higher prices for DRAM and NAND storage chips starting in the first quarter of 2027, according to a DigiTimes report citing Chinese publication Jiemian News. The deal marks a 30% to 40% cost increase driven by a memory chip shortage fueled by massive AI data center buildouts.

The semiconductor market is undergoing a squeeze. According to DigiTimes, Apple has agreed to pay nearly $2 per gigabit for DRAM and $0.33 per gigabit for NAND storage entering early 2027. That represents a steep climb from pricing seen in the third quarter of 2026, where LPDDR5X hovered around $1.50 per gigabit and NAND flash traded at approximately $0.26 per gigabit, as corroborated by SammyGuru.

The Anatomy of the 2027 Memory Crunch

Memory manufacturers including Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have aggressively reallocated their manufacturing capacity toward High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and server-grade DRAM. Hyperscale AI providers and cloud operators are locking up long-term supply agreements to feed massive artificial intelligence infrastructure projects.

This dynamic leaves consumer electronics giants competing for shrinking silicon wafers. Industry insights shared on X and reported by SammyGuru indicate that Apple moved quickly to lock down its supply chain, reportedly becoming the first major smartphone manufacturer to settle its memory pricing and production volume allocations for 2027.

Other consumer hardware brands are feeling the immediate pressure. Competitors like Oppo and vivo reportedly rejected Samsung’s proposed price hikes earlier in the third quarter of 2026, though their alternative supply paths remain less clear. Semiconductor foundries are realizing higher margins by shifting volume toward high-priced server components, leaving mobile device makers with fewer economic levers.

Consumer Pricing Implications and Hardware Costs

It remains entirely unclear whether this newly reported component cost agreement will force Apple to push retail prices even higher across its hardware lineup, or if these early 2027 expenses have already been baked into current consumer pricing models. Apple has already grappled with acute component inflation throughout 2026.

Former CEO Tim Cook previously characterized the broader memory component squeeze as a “100-year flood” that made price adjustments “unavoidable.” Those pressures manifested swiftly across the ecosystem:

• Mac and iPad lineups saw sweeping retail price increases ranging from $100 to $300 beginning in June.
• HomePod, HomePod mini, Apple TV, and Vision Pro hardware also absorbed retail bumps.
• iPhone 18 Pro baseline models debuted in the U.S. carrying starting prices $100 higher than their iPhone 17 Pro predecessors, alongside across-the-board price bumps for older legacy iPhone tiers.

Ecosystem Dynamics and the Chip Wars

Samsung sits in a uniquely advantageous position. While its own mobile device division faces the identical memory cost crunch, its semiconductor fabrication arm captures massive upside revenue by supplying high-priced DRAM and NAND to competitors like Apple.

Photo: sammyguru.com