TL;DR: Apple is the latest tech company to announce that AI is driving up the cost of its products. CEO Tim Cook told the Wall Street Journal that price hikes are “unavoidable” thanks to memory and storage chips becoming exponentially more expensive—and big jumps on everything from iPhones to MacBooks could hit your wallet very soon.

What happened: Cook said Apple has tried to “shield our customers from the increases”—but the current AI-driven memory squeeze is like a “hundred-year flood.” Between October 2025 and February 2026 alone, memory prices surged up to 90%.

RAMageddon’s gadget price bumps aren’t new. But the hike hits different when it’s a juggernaut like Apple—nearly 7 in 10 smartphones sold in the US in the last quarter of 2025 were iPhones, per Counterpoint Research. Cook didn’t give a clear timeline or an exhaustive list of which products would see a markup, but Apple already raised the price of the Mac mini last month due to AI demand.

The painful forecast: iPhones were a luxury tech product to begin with, with the current Pro line starting at $1,099. The WSJ’s own analysis projects that the iPhone 18 Pro could start at a stomach-churning $1,299—assuming Apple wants to roughly maintain its profit margin, which was a plump 47% for the iPhone 17 Pro. The bill to build the phone could climb from $582 to $726, per WSJ, and the chief offender is DRAM: The memory that ran Apple an estimated $39 in the iPhone 17 Pro could balloon to $145 in the 18 Pro.

Siri’s ironic joke: AI is the reason your iPhone will soon cost more—and yet Apple is also hoping it’s a reason to upgrade. This price bump comes right on the heels of the buzz around the rebooted Siri AI, Apple’s long-delayed bid to finally make money off an AI push that’s so far cost it more than it’s returned. (Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has even floated that a better Siri makes it likelier Apple will start charging a subscription for the feature.)

Bottom line: The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, alongside Apple’s first foldable phone, are reportedly arriving this fall, but WSJ says the sticker shock could reach Macs and iPads before then. If you need a new iPhone any time this decade, the math says buy now—or invest in a very durable phone case. —WK

Also at Apple…

• The second-generation iPhone Air—slimmer and slightly cheaper compared to the flagship Pro model—is slated to release next spring.

Worth tracking down—if you don't already have one

I am, by any measure, a casual AirTag user. Mine live on my keys and handbag—I check them maybe once a month (if that), usually when I put my keys anywhere other than their one designated spot in the house for some inexplicable reason.

Before Apple launched the AirTag in 2021, I used Tile trackers. Since then, the AirTag has been my go-to. So when Apple announced a new version in January, I thought: “What could possibly be different?” The answer was, in part, a promise that Precision Finding is better and the speaker is 50% louder (among other small things). Which led to the thought, “Are they actually better?” To find out, I enlisted three colleagues whose tracking needs look very different from mine.

How we tested it: We put the second-generation AirTags through their paces starting mid-April. I attached mine to my keys; Emma clipped one to her dog's collar; Kelley ran Gen 1 and Gen 2 side by side on her kid’s stroller; and Zack had one in his carry-on bag while traveling.

The Good: The Precision Finding improvement is real—Emma, Kelley, and I all found it noticeably more accurate for zeroing in on exactly where something is. The louder chime is also an upgrade—it was Zack’s main note. Also, they’re the same price as Gen 1 ($29 for one and $99 for four).

The Complicated: Emma, who checks the app multiple times a day to track her dog Kona, said live tracking was "much more accurate" than the original in her suburban town. For Kelley's side-by-side test in a dense city, Gen 1 occasionally showed a more recent location update than Gen 2.

The Bad: The extended Precision Finding only applies to the iPhone 15 or newer models (excluding iPhone 16e).

Verdict: Signal. (If you're buying new, they’re still a great option—and now the default choice. If you already have a Gen 1, there’s no need to upgrade right now.) —SM

Imagine flying to Ireland to attend a workshop on how to build your own cult. That’s a real agenda item at an upcoming retreat for the Peter Thiel-founded secret society called Dialog. The whole thing reads like a Dan Brown subplot: an invite-only, off-the-record annual retreat that essentially serves as a power-brokering schmoozefest for the global elite. And the group’s directory and retreat guest list just got leaked.

According to records obtained by Wired and the Hollywood Reporter, the leaked lists are a who’s who of Silicon Valley: OpenAI President Greg Brockman, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, Anthropic’s global affairs chief, Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, and six members of the PayPal Mafia. (Plus, you know, a few senators, a governor or two, and Josh Brolin—whose spokesperson gave a colorful comment in response to the reveal.)

The 2026 meetup will apparently discuss totally normal dinner-table topics such as mass labor displacement. Other session names include: “Navigating WWIII,” “Build-a-Cult,” and “How’s Your Sex Life?” (Between sessions, guests can swipe for love on Dialog’s own matchmaking app.) And the only reason the rest of us now know who’s involved in this conclave, which for years has refused to disclose its members list? Because the group left its digital front door wide open—a directory of names associated with Dialog was just sitting in the website’s source code. —WK

Chaos Brewing Meter: /5