Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple boss Tim Cook says prices to rise due to memory chip costs

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 178 posts

Re: Apple boss Tim Cook says prices to rise due to memory chip costs

#61

Post by Maakuth »

frollogaston wrote: post #32
cm2187 wrote: post #22

There was a very interesting podcast that went into all the details of the AI supply chain shortage [1] The key takeaway for smartphones isn't so much that iphones will cost $150-200 more, which apple customers have shown they can stomach. But that cheap $200 chinese smartphones will need have to hike prices by about the same amount, which will decimate that market. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDG_Hx3BSUE

I'd expect the iPhone price hikes to be less even in absolute $ than with the cheap phones. iPhones already had relatively large margins (as a %) for the newly increased costs to partially eat into.

Why would you expect Apple to give up their margin? The DRAM price hikes affect every smartphone vendor, even Samsung through opportunity cost. That means the competition will also need to hike their prices. And the competition has lower margin, so they have less choice here.

Re: Apple boss Tim Cook says prices to rise due to memory chip costs

#63

Post by yieldcrv »

brailsafe wrote: post #26
cm2187 wrote: post #22

There was a very interesting podcast that went into all the details of the AI supply chain shortage [1] The key takeaway for smartphones isn't so much that iphones will cost $150-200 more, which apple customers have shown they can stomach. But that cheap $200 chinese smartphones will need have to hike prices by about the same amount, which will decimate that market. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDG_Hx3BSUE

> But that cheap $200 chinese smartphones will need have to hike prices by about the same amount, which will decimate that market. Hmm. Even if iPhone users can theoretically stomach the increase, they have many other options available, whereas if the cheap $200 phones are the bottom of the market, there's no other real options. I'm in the ~$450 USD Pixel range atm, and never buy the current flagship or anything. If…

If the smartphone is not economically viable, it will go away

Apple’s margin targets aside, the prices are rational

Trendy teens and 20 something’s still have iPhones, many just also have point and shoot cameras. This is more of a desire to be present in some contexts alongside aesthetics (of the photos and the gear), than a rejection of having 2 teraflops in their pocket.

It’s important to understand the why

Re: Apple boss Tim Cook says prices to rise due to memory chip costs

#64

Post by frollogaston »

Maakuth wrote: post #61
frollogaston wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd expect the iPhone price hikes to be less even in absolute $ than with the cheap phones. iPhones already had relatively large margins (as a %) for the newly increased costs to partially eat into.

Why would you expect Apple to give up their margin? The DRAM price hikes affect every smartphone vendor, even Samsung through opportunity cost. That means the competition will also need to hike their prices. And the competition has lower margin, so they have less choice here.

Because Apple's main competition is themselves a few years ago, when they sold an iPhone or whatever to a happy customer who might return for an upgrade even though it still works. Not many people are switching platforms nowadays.

Re: Apple boss Tim Cook says prices to rise due to memory chip costs

#65

Post by [deleted] »

teiferer wrote: post #42
brailsafe wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But that cheap $200 chinese smartphones will need have to hike prices by about the same amount, which will decimate that market. Hmm. Even if iPhone users can theoretically stomach the increase, they have many other options available, whereas if the cheap $200 phones are the bottom of the market, there's no other real options. I'm in the ~$450 USD Pixel range atm, and never buy the current flagship or anything. If…

> Plenty of younger people are already reverting to more primitive phones That's an effect that has always been claimed (younger generations rejecting new tech and going offline/low-tech/anti-...) but it's never been more than a minor very temporary fad. In the mid to long term, younger people are always at the forefront of tech adoption and it would be very surprising if it was different this time.

[deleted]

Re: Apple boss Tim Cook says prices to rise due to memory chip costs

#66

Post by MadnessASAP »

kg wrote: post #52
esperent wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you can't fully compare their RAM to a loose DIMM stick Why?

IIRC modern Apple devices integrate the memory into the whole SoC instead of making it separate on the board and replaceable. It's definitely not swappable like a DIMM or CAMM module would be. Can't find a photo of a decapped M4 chip to prove it, though...

Its not integrated to the SoC, it is soldered to the mainboard though.

Re: Apple boss Tim Cook says prices to rise due to memory chip costs

#67

Post by mrweasel »

cm2187 wrote: post #48
teiferer wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Plenty of younger people are already reverting to more primitive phones That's an effect that has always been claimed (younger generations rejecting new tech and going offline/low-tech/anti-...) but it's never been more than a minor very temporary fad. In the mid to long term, younger people are always at the forefront of tech adoption and it would be very surprising if it was different this time.

I can't tell the difference between a 5 years old smartphone model and the latest generation.

For the average consumer, I'd argue that any phone made in the past 10+ years would be absolutely fine.

It issues are: battery life/battery replacement, lack of updates, developers targeting newer devices only.

In Apples case a good solution would be to rollback at least part of the liquid glass UI updates, as it severely affects older devices. Then announce upfront that every Apple phone will be supported for no less than 10 years after the device was removed from the market. That would be good for everyone, except Apple shareholders.

I understand that Apple pricing, compared to inflation haven't changed that much since the first iPhone, but for many of us it really does push the limit. I simply do not get enough value to justify purchasing a new iPhone, or in many cases a second hand one. My perceived value peaked around the iPhone 7 era, everything after is pointless. Apple doesn't really cater to my needs, and that's their choice, I just feel a bit stuck.

Re: Apple boss Tim Cook says prices to rise due to memory chip costs

#68

Post by prmoustache »

frollogaston wrote: post #38
prmoustache wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't want to build a huge factory if you believe the market might deflate suddently. A lot of industries got bitten by greed and the sudden deflation of demand and huge unsold inventory post COVID. The reality is the market was overly and abnormaly inflated and consumers who bought the stuff during COVID period were equipped for the next ~10 years in stuff like sporting goods and had no reason to buy new items i…

But they are building huge datacenters for AI. The investment appetite is there. So there must be some worse bottleneck when it comes to memory itself.

The one building the datacenters aren't the ones making the chips. A construction of a datacenter can be halted suddently and an order of chips cancelled. We might assume that the chip makers are ready to supply said datacenters, just they don't necessarily feel necessary to build new factories for the consumer market which itself might not be ready to spend the same amount of money on RAM chips. And building factories do not magically create price reduction, quite the contrary. The consumers buying $150-200 smartphones aren't necessarily ready to buy $400 ones. Most would just buy on the second hand market and replace less often their phones instead.

Whales being whales, they will pay the highest end iphone at any price, no question. But the market is not made entirely of whales.

Re: Apple boss Tim Cook says prices to rise due to memory chip costs

#69

Post by theturtletalks »

Maakuth wrote: post #61
frollogaston wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd expect the iPhone price hikes to be less even in absolute $ than with the cheap phones. iPhones already had relatively large margins (as a %) for the newly increased costs to partially eat into.

Why would you expect Apple to give up their margin? The DRAM price hikes affect every smartphone vendor, even Samsung through opportunity cost. That means the competition will also need to hike their prices. And the competition has lower margin, so they have less choice here.

Apple has services and the App Store that still collects 30%. I don’t think they will raise iPhones prices by much but rumors say the iPhone Foldable is coming and that will be $2K+. People will pay it and that will subsidize the other models.

Re: Apple boss Tim Cook says prices to rise due to memory chip costs

#70

Post by dist-epoch »

noobermin wrote: post #3

Tbf, this current era of capitalism really is a lot where absolutely no one wants to enter the market and take advantage of a clear overpricing of memory for consumers but simply wants to charge the same amount as everyone else. So much for "efficient markets."

This is Capitalism working exactly as intended - resources (RAM) are allocated to those which can use them most productively (AI data-centers)

And the AI data-centers are using the RAM so productively, that they are willing to buy them at any price whatsoever.

Post reply on HN