Apple, Microsoft Raise Prices Amid DRAM Shortage; Memory Costs Surge 260%

According to CNBC, Apple and Microsoft announced significant price increases this week in response to a global memory chip shortage that has driven up component costs dramatically. Apple raised prices on a range of iPads and Macs, with CEO Tim Cook calling the memory situation a "hundred-year flood," while Microsoft increased the Xbox Series S price by $100 to approximately $500. Micron's average selling price for DRAM in the latest quarter rose more than 260% from a year ago, with the company's gross margin more than doubling to almost 85%.

For smaller companies, the crisis is more severe. IDC analyst Nabila Popal described the situation as an "absolute existential crisis" for smaller electronics manufacturers and low-cost device makers, who face difficulty securing memory supplies as vendors prioritize large-scale customers. Mono Technologies, a startup founded in 2024, saw its cost for 8 gigabytes of DRAM jump from $35 to $300, forcing founder Tomaž Zaman to consider price increases of at least one-third or drastically reducing product specifications.