Higher memory costs are putting phone prices under pressure

Memory chips—the parts that hold a phone’s active data and its files—have usually become cheaper over time, letting manufacturers add capacity without continually raising retail prices. That pattern is breaking as demand from AI data centers tightens supplies and lifts the cost of the RAM and storage chips used in phones. Reporting ahead of Apple’s iPhone launch suggests that even the industry’s most powerful buyer cannot fully sidestep the increase. Phone makers can absorb some of the hit, offer less memory in cheaper models, or charge more, making higher prices a broader supply-chain issue rather than an Apple-only decision.