Apple is anticipating “considerably greater reminiscence prices” heading into the rest of 2026, CEO Tim Prepare dinner mentioned Thursday throughout Apple’s second-quarter earnings name, because the tech large faces down the reminiscence scarcity impacting the remainder of the trade.
Prepare dinner — who’s stepping down as CEO on Sept. 1 and might be changed by John Ternus, the corporate’s senior vice chairman of {hardware} engineering — mentioned Apple was partially unaffected by the reminiscence scarcity throughout this quarter, because it already had numerous units in inventory. However past June, prices will rise.
“We consider reminiscence value will drive an rising impression on our enterprise, and we’ll proceed to judge this,” Prepare dinner mentioned. “We’ll have a look at a variety of choices.”
As AI knowledge facilities proceed to be constructed to satisfy rising demand for AI providers, their want for reminiscence and different parts has lowered the availability for shopper units, driving up the prices of laptops and telephones like Apple’s MacBooks and the iPhone, in addition to exterior storage merchandise.
Analysts are how Apple will meet demand amid elevated reminiscence prices and provide constraints within the coming quarters, mentioned Nabila Popal, senior analysis director on the Worldwide Information Company.
“Whereas Apple stays higher positioned than its rivals to handle the reminiscence disaster and get the availability it wants, the important thing query might be deciding the right steadiness strategically between rising costs and sustaining profitability or specializing in gaining share by not rising costs,” Popal mentioned.
Prepare dinner mentioned the present major constraint is the “availability of superior nodes our SOCs are produced on,” relatively than reminiscence, which has affected the iPhone. Going ahead, he mentioned this is able to probably additionally impression the Mac Mini, Mac Studio and MacBook Neo particularly, given their synthetic intelligence instruments and recognition.
Clients have pounced on the desktop Mac Mini and Mac Studio to make use of with AI brokers, Prepare dinner mentioned, and it could take a number of months for the availability of these computer systems to get well. He did not say when the MacBook Neo can be restocked to satisfy demand.
“The shopper response to Mac Neo has simply been off the charts, with higher-than-expected demand and the March quarter file for purchasers,” Prepare dinner mentioned.
Total for the quarter, Apple introduced income of $111 billion, up 17%, which Prepare dinner largely attributed to the “extraordinary demand for the iPhone 17 lineup.”
Through the name, Prepare dinner highlighted Apple Intelligence AI options built-in into the iPhone 17 as a driver of its recognition, together with its improved digicam, design, efficiency and sturdiness.
“We’re seeing double-digit development within the majority of the markets we observe,” Prepare dinner mentioned. “And we set a brand new March quarter file for upgraders as effectively.”
With US firms now capable of apply for refunds on duties they paid to the US authorities because of President Donald Trump’s international tariffs in 2025, Prepare dinner mentioned Apple is following the method and can “reinvest any quantity we obtain again into US innovation and superior manufacturing.”
Trump had invoked the 1977 Worldwide Emergency Financial Powers Act to justify elevating taxes on gadgets imported from throughout the globe final yr, however the Supreme Court docket struck down these tariffs in February. Previous to the ruling — which mentioned the emergency powers legislation didn’t authorize using tariffs to counter nationwide emergencies — the US authorities collected round $166 billion in income from US firms, together with Apple.
Apple on AI
When requested about AI, Apple famous that it’s “clearly investing extra” throughout working expenditure and R&D. Whereas AI is “a extremely essential funding space for Apple,” the corporate might be exploring it incrementally on prime of its typical product improvement and launch.
In response to trade analyst Emarketer, Apple’s AI technique and its partnership with Google Gemini for Siri might be very important transferring ahead.
“The outcomes counsel Apple is continuous to climate the worldwide reminiscence chip crunch, pointing to the tech large’s provide chain resilience,” Emarketer senior tech analyst Jacob Bourne mentioned in an announcement. “The query is whether or not incoming CEO John Ternus can translate this momentum into a reputable AI technique (and) Apple’s willingness to lean on exterior AI innovators.”
Through the earnings name, Prepare dinner would not be drawn on what to anticipate subsequent from the Siri AI overhaul past teasing its impending arrival, nor did he touch upon the rise of AI brokers in telephones (and the way it would possibly play into future iPhones). However he did acknowledge that the collaboration with Google on AI goes effectively, saying, “We’re pleased with the place issues are, and we’re pleased with the work that we’re doing independently as effectively.”
And although Prepare dinner might be CEO for yet another full quarter and its subsequent earnings report, when requested if he had any recommendation for his successor, Ternus, he famous that one of the essential choices he’ll make is the place to spend his time — ideally, the place will probably be of biggest profit to the corporate and its prospects. And likewise, to always remember Apple’s north star.
“We’re about making the most effective merchandise on the planet that basically enrich different folks’s lives,” Prepare dinner mentioned. “If you happen to preserve specializing in that and make your choices round that, it is going to produce an important enterprise, and we’ll be capable of construct extra merchandise and do it over again.”
