Apple users may need to prepare for a sharper price jump on the next flagship iPhone. Reports suggest the iPhone 18 Pro could rise by almost Rp 5 million per unit, with CEO Tim Cook signaling that higher prices may soon become unavoidable.
Cook pointed to surging costs for memory and storage components as the main pressure point. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, he said Apple has tried to absorb production costs for as long as possible, but the current market conditions no longer make that easy.
Pressure from memory and storage costs
Cook said Apple has worked to protect customers from cost increases, but described the situation as unsustainable. He did not specify which products would be affected or when any price changes would begin.
Analysts believe the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, expected to launch in September, could be among the first devices to see pricing adjustments. Other Apple products such as the iPad and Mac are also said to face potential impact.
TechInsights estimated that Apple may need to raise the iPhone 18 Pro price by around US$270 to preserve its profit margin. At the current exchange rate of around Rp 17,848 per US dollar, that equals roughly Rp 4.8 million, close to Rp 5 million.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple may need a significant price increase if it wants to keep current profit levels. The company also faces added pressure from the need to increase RAM capacity in its next-generation devices to support new AI features.
AI demand is tightening supply
The broader problem extends beyond Apple. Demand for memory chips and storage has surged because AI companies need large volumes of memory to train and run generative AI models.
That shift has tightened global supply and pushed prices higher across the industry. Cook said memory makers are passing on steep increases, making the environment especially challenging for Apple.
He called it a level of pressure he had never seen in more than four decades in technology. Tekno.kompas.com noted that Samsung, Microsoft, Sony, Dell, HP, Nintendo, and Valve have also acknowledged cost pressure from rising memory and storage prices.
The exact scale and timing of any Apple price change remain unclear. For now, the market is watching September closely to see whether Apple turns these cost pressures into a real-world price increase.
