Hey Siri, how much is an iPhone now?

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.