Apple could face further pressure to increase iPhone prices in 2027 after reports that it has agreed to pay Samsung higher prices for DRAM and NAND memory beginning in the first quarter of next year.
According to recent supply-chain reports, Apple is expected to pay close to $2 per gigabit for LPDDR5X memory and around $0.33 per gigabit for NAND storage from Q1 2027. Those figures would be higher than reported third-quarter 2026 prices.
The reported increase comes amid a broader shortage of memory chips, with demand from artificial intelligence data centres putting additional pressure on supplies of DRAM and NAND components.
Memory costs have already become an important factor in the smartphone industry. TechInsights says memory prices have continued climbing through the iPhone 18 launch period and are expected to remain elevated into 2027.
Apple has already increased prices for its latest premium iPhones. The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 in the United States, which is $100 more than the starting price of the iPhone 17 Pro.
The increase is not limited to the entry-level storage configuration. Higher-capacity iPhone 18 Pro models have also seen larger year-over-year price differences, with the 1TB version costing $300 more than the comparable iPhone 17 Pro configuration.
Older iPhone models have also experienced price increases in Apple’s current lineup, adding to concerns that rising component costs could continue affecting consumer prices.
However, the reported Samsung memory agreement does not automatically mean that Apple will raise iPhone prices by the same amount.
The price Apple pays for memory is only one part of the overall cost of producing an iPhone. Manufacturing, processors, displays, cameras, software development, logistics and other components also contribute to the final price.
Apple could potentially absorb some of the additional memory expense through its margins rather than passing the entire increase to customers.
At the same time, continued increases in memory costs could give the company another reason to reconsider pricing for future iPhone models and storage configurations.
The wider memory shortage is linked partly to strong demand from AI infrastructure. Major technology companies are purchasing large quantities of advanced memory for data centres, putting pressure on supplies available to consumer electronics manufacturers.
TechInsights estimates that memory costs have already risen substantially during the current iPhone 18 cycle and expects further increases beyond Apple’s latest launch.
The reported Samsung pricing also illustrates how quickly component costs can change in the current market. Apple is reportedly set to pay about $2 per gigabit for LPDDR5X, compared with approximately $1.50 per gigabit in the third quarter of 2026, while NAND pricing is reported to rise from around $0.26 to $0.33 per gigabit.
These figures represent memory component prices rather than retail iPhone prices. A percentage increase in memory costs does not translate directly into an equivalent percentage increase at the checkout.
For consumers, the main question will be whether Apple passes a greater portion of these additional costs on to customers when its next generation of iPhones arrives.
At present, reports point to increased component costs rather than a confirmed 2027 iPhone price increase. Any future pricing decision will ultimately depend on Apple’s supply agreements, production costs, product configurations and pricing strategy.
The continuing rise in DRAM and NAND prices nevertheless means memory costs are likely to remain an important factor for smartphone manufacturers as the industry moves into 2027.
