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.
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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
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.