New claims have emerged that Apple’s recent increases in iPhone prices may continue next year. The company accepted the higher DRAM and NAND memory prices that Samsung demands from smartphone manufacturers. This development may put additional pressure on the production costs, especially of the new generation iPhone models. This news, which comes right after the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models went on sale at prices 100 dollars higher than the previous generation, shows that Apple may continue to reflect cost increases on end-user prices. Moreover, it is stated that the price increase is not limited to new models only, some devices in the iPhone 17 and iPhone 16 series are also affected by the $ 100 increase.
In news originating from South Korea, it was reported a few days ago that Samsung started to renegotiate with smartphone manufacturers, including Apple, regarding DRAM and NAND memory prices. According to the latest information, Apple and Samsung reached an agreement on new prices after these negotiations. It is claimed that Apple will pay approximately $2 per gigabit for LPDDR5X RAM and $0.33 per gigabit for NAND storage, starting from the first quarter of 2027. On the other hand, it is stated that Samsung’s prices in the third quarter of 2026 are at $ 1.50 per gigabit on the LPDDR5X side and $ 0.26 on the NAND side. If these figures are correct, there will be a significant increase in the unit cost Apple pays for memory components.
Samsung’s memory price increase could affect iPhone costs
Memory and storage components are among the notable items of the total hardware cost, especially in high-capacity flagship phones. While the increase in prices per gigabit may seem limited at first glance, the total cost for Apple could grow significantly when considering production volumes of millions of devices. In addition, the increase in RAM capacity and storage options in iPhones over time may increase the impact of more expensive memory supply on the cost per device. It is not yet known whether Apple will cover this increase entirely from its own margins. The fact that the company has already increased the sales prices of some iPhone models recently strengthens the possibility that at least some of the new costs may be reflected in the prices in the future.
It is reported that Samsung is negotiating prices again not only with Apple but also with other major smartphone manufacturers. The news specifically states that Oppo and vivo did not accept the new prices requested by Samsung. It is not yet clear which memory suppliers the two manufacturers will work with instead. It is thought that this information can become clearer by disassembling the future flagship phones of the brands in question and examining the components used. This difference in supplier preferences of smartphone manufacturers also reveals that companies do not follow the same method against increasing memory costs.
The real question on Apple’s side will be to what extent the alleged new agreement with Samsung will be reflected in the prices of the 2027 iPhone. Memory cost alone does not determine the final price of a phone; Processor, screen, camera components, production costs, logistics and regional taxes also affect pricing. Despite this, the double-digit increase in RAM and NAND may increase cost pressure, especially in iPhone models with high storage capacity. Therefore, it would not be surprising if a similar price update was brought to the agenda again after the $ 100 increase applied by Apple in the 2026 model family. Still, it is not possible to say for sure how much the 2027 iPhone prices will change unless there is an official statement from the company.