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RAM supply is so tight, Samsung may be charging Apple double
Apple has reportedly agreed to pay Samsung double what it used to for DRAM chips, the memory used in iPhones and Macs — even though it may not have needed to just yet.
Examples of older DRAM modules — image credit: Samung
Massive worldwide demand for AI servers has meant all manufacturers having a hard time securing what they need in memory, storage, and processors. It's also meant Apple losing its previous ability to negotiate low prices and long-term deals.
The latest example of the pressures Apple and others are under concerns buying DRAM supplies from Samsung. DRAM is used as RAM in the iPhone and Apple Silicon Macs, and according to Dealsite, a South Korea financial news publication, Apple has just agreed to pay double what it has before.
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RAM supply is so tight, Samsung may be charging Apple double
[William Gallagher's profile picture]
Thu Feb 26 2026, 08:15 AM EST
2 minute read
Apple has reportedly agreed to pay Samsung double what it used to for DRAM chips, the memory used in iPhones and Macs — even though it may not have needed to just yet.
Massive worldwide demand for AI servers has meant all manufacturers having a hard time securing what they need in memory, storage, and processors. It's also meant Apple losing its previous ability to negotiate low prices and long-term deals.
The latest example of the pressures Apple and others are under concerns buying DRAM supplies from Samsung. DRAM is used as RAM in the iPhone and Apple Silicon Macs, and according to Dealsite, a South Korea financial news publication, Apple has just agreed to pay double what it has before.
But an unspecified official in the semiconductor industry says that Apple didn't even really negotiate.
"Initially, Samsung... set a strategy with the goal of increasing the price of LPDDR5X for Apple iPhone by about 60%," said the official (in machine translation). "However, at the first negotiation table... they first proposed a 100% increase, and Apple immediately accepted it."
If the report is correct, and we're skeptical about it, Apple renewed its RAM deal with Samsung for the first half of 2026. Either way, it's possible that Apple took the deal so quickly because it knows that RAM prices are going to rise even more during the year.
The wholesale cost of RAM to manufacturers is predicted to cost between three and four times as much by the end of 2026. So despite apparently over-paying at first, Apple may yet have the better half of the deal depending on when precisely those price rises occur.
There is the issue, though, that Samsung actually makes DRAM so it would surely be as aware as its customer how prices are predicted to go. That does call this whole report into question, but it is at least certain that Apple is having to renegotiate RAM deals.
It's also at least likely that Samsung can control prices for some months. It takes about three months to make RAM from the delivery of refined silicon to the final DRAM chip, not including packaging.
Production has been at full capacity for some time, and it takes around two years to build a new DRAM plant from scratch. We'll be getting into more detail about how this all works, and why supplies are so tight very soon.
Consequently, DRAM supply has always lagged behind demand, although because of that there have been times when there was a glut on the market. The issue now is that AI servers — including Apple's own — require much more RAM than typical computer hardware.
It seems everything is doubling
If this report is accurate, it follows one concerning NAND supplies where Apple is also said to be paying double whatever its previous rate was. Then while this is for different reasons that just demand, Apple is also believed to be paying double for the iPhone 18's A20 processor than it has for the A19.
Apple can of course afford to do this more than some of its rivals. But still, there has to be a limit on how much cost it can absorb before it raises the price of its iPhone.
While the DRAM deal with Samsung has only now been reported, though, it was most likely negotiated before Apple's last earnings call in January 2026.
Tim Cook was pressed during that call about such shortages. He implied that Apple was not concerned about RAM or storage, though he did suggest that the pressing problem was the shortage of processors.