Across the computing industry, computer memory (both in the form of RAM and flash storage) has only been getting more and more expensive – largely due to supply shortages caused by AI datacenter buildout. Memory prices have up to quadrupled in recent months, and it’s likely going to worsen.
That leaves the question: will Apple be adjusting its own memory prices?
New Macs coming soon
Apple is likely going to be releasing new Macs very soon, with M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models expected imminently. While Apple is yet to adjust its pricing, if the company were to do so, it’d likely do it during a new product rollout.
That said, I personally find it unlikely that Apple will adjust its pricing with these new Macs, though it is certainly possible.
Even though memory prices have skyrocketed, Apple’s memory prices already had a very high profit margin baked into them. With current memory prices, Apple isn’t losing money, so there isn’t an immediate need to adjust.
For example, Apple charges $400 to upgrade from 16GB to 32GB of unified memory across its Mac lineup. At the moment, a stick of 16GB DDR5 (which isn’t exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, but its close) costs around $230 at the time of writing.
At the higher end, Apple charges $800 to upgrade from 64GB to 128GB of unified memory. On its own, a kit of 64GB DDR5 costs around $700 at the moment.
This is definitely much closer, and Apple’s margins are potentially going to be taking a beating compared to normal. However, its important to remember that Apple likely has long term supply agreements in place, so it seems rather unlikely that there’ll be an immediate increase in Apple’s memory pricing – though it might mean upcoming Macs will be harder to get in a timely manner because of supply shortages.
M6 Macs later in the year
... continue reading