AI boom blamed for iPhone price hike as chip shortage hits ordinary phone buyers
Most forms of tech are sadly going to cost more thanks to hardware shortages, yet it was Apple's recent event that hammered it home for many as a full slate of iPhone prince increases were revealed; even including some older models.
Tech is seen as a bad investment most of the time as its value almost immediately starts to decline after you've purchased it, and that has typically held true for both the consumer and manufacturer alike.
Hardware shortages triggered by overwhelming AI demand – especially in the realm of memory – have switched things up dramatically, however, as for the first time we're seeing some of the most popular gadgets get more expensive at a time when they should be dropping in price.
You now have to pay more money for games consoles that came out nearly six years ago, and good luck trying to buy any form of RAM as the amount of money needed to purchase sticks has increased by over 400% in some cases.
Advert
Where most 'ordinary' people have been impacted though is with phones, as the recent iPhone valuation bumps from Apple have made people realise quite how unaffordable new devices have become these days, with many worried that the days of 'budget' devices are gone forever.
Apple increases iPhone prices across the board
While the fancy new foldable iPhone Duo has no previous version to compare its jaw-dropping $1,999 price tag to, every other iPhone – including both the iPhone 18 Pro and every device released in last year's line-up – has received a bump up in price by $100.
You'll now need to fork out $1,199 for the iPhone 18 Pro, and both the iPhone 17 and iPhone 16 have also seen increases, taking them to $899 and $799 respectively.
The prospect of paying $799 for an iPhone that came out over two years ago now is simply ridiculous, but it's something that people simply have to deal with now due to hardware shortages, and AI is undeniably at the heart of the issue.
It's far from just iPhones – or Apple specifically – that have been hit too, with the company also raising the price of MacBooks and iPads by as much as $500 in some cases, although most got a bump between $100 and $300 depending on the components found inside.
Why has AI caused tech prices to go up?
In essence, AI requires a large amount of memory in order to function, and already overwhelming demand with the promise for exponential growth in the coming years has caused both existing and future supply to be dominated by the tech.
Memory is used in just about every single piece of tech to some degree, so almost everything electrical that you buy is going to be subject to increased prices on the manufacturing side, which are then passed onto the consumer.
It's especially painful for devices like phones, laptops, games consoles, and desktop computers though – notably also because these devices typically need to be equipped with enough memory to support the use of AI – and that's why we're seeing big price bumps across the board.
This is impacting older devices disproportionately because the memory being used is the same, so while the iPhone 18 might have a fancy new processor and massively upgraded cameras, it's likely using the same or similar memory components as the iPhone 16 and it's likely among the most costly parts too.