The WSJ notes that Apple has historically defended its margins not by raising prices but by reshaping configurations and product mix, with storage tiers and upselling having enabled the company to both absorb higher component costs and maintain familiar pricing. With suppliers increasingly prioritizing long-term, high-margin AI infrastructure contracts, Apple’s traditional advantages in scale and purchasing volume are no longer enough to guarantee flexible pricing or preferential access to capacity.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News , or add us as a preferred source , to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist.\u00a0 Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.\u00a0 ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-13/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Luke James Social Links Navigation Contributor Luke James is a freelance writer and journalist. Although his background is in legal, he has a personal interest in all things tech, especially hardware and microelectronics, and anything regulatory.
Notton But wait, their "lower end" chips are just Apple reusing their older chips, aren't they? Are you saying they'll put in the time and effort to redesign an older chip, just so it can be printed correctly at a different company? If so, sure why not? If it's printed on Intel 18A, sounds juicy. If it's printed on Samsung 3nm… I guess we'll have to see how good that is. Reply
thestryker This is one of those times where success is a bad thing, because they ended up going through more of their stock than expected through Q4. Now they're staring down the barrel of the ai apocalypse memory pricing and probably don't like it. Manufacturing wise it's likely just a future supplier diversification move. It makes sense to start with the lower end chips as they're less complex to make and give a good springboard for future business. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/ai-infrastructure-surge-begins-squeezing-apples-component-costs#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
- Jensen Huang warns TSMC needs to 'work very hard' to meet AI demand — Nvidia CEO says its demand alone may force doubling its capacity over the next decade
- Researcher builds bizarre 128-byte USB drive the size of a dinner plate using ancient pre-semiconductor magnetic core memory technology — data disappears once i
- From Pilot to Profit: Survey Reveals the Financial Services Industry Is Doubling Down on AI Investment and Open Source
- AI Copilot Keeps Berkeley’s X-Ray Particle Accelerator on Track
- Walmart slices $200 off the price of MSI's RTX 5070-powered Katana 15 HX — get crisp visuals and a 165Hz QHD display for just $1299
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.