AI boom: Bad for Apple through the back door?
So far, Apple traditionally makes the highest profits in the industry with smartphones. But the run on chips and RAM by the AI industry could affect that.
Tim Cook: His bestseller remains the iPhone.
(Image: Apple)
So far, Apple has managed not to suffer from the AI hype, which the company has practically sat out due to a lack of its chatbot and slow Siri improvements: the iPhone 17 sold like hotcakes, and the company recently achieved another record quarter. In contrast to its competitors, expenses for artificial intelligence also remained within limits – in the event of a possible bursting of the AI bubble, the company would therefore be in a better position than other companies that have invested billions in the sector. But now something else threatens Apple: the loss of the enormously high margins the company makes on smartphones. These have reportedly been significantly higher than what other manufacturers earn for years – also due to the comparatively high prices. The reason for this is the massive demand inflation triggered by the AI hype.
All eyes on Nvidia
For example, RAM prices have risen massively in the past year; even cheaper memory has sometimes doubled to quadrupled. In addition, Apple is likely no longer the largest customer of Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC: According to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, his company has taken over the position as the main customer. This means that Nvidia could negotiate prices with a lot of power in the future – and not primarily Apple anymore.
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According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Apple is under pressure here. CEO Tim Cook had already announced that the company sees restrictions in chip supply and memory prices, even though Apple is a bulk buyer and has long-term contracts. TechInsights, an analysis company, estimates that Apple will pay a good 57 US dollars more for RAM alone for the base model of the iPhone 18 in the future. With a selling price of 799 dollars in the USA, this is significant for the margin.
Margin under pressure, price increases unlikely
Suppliers also pay less attention to Apple than to Nvidia and other companies positioned in the AI business. Apple's spending on AI hardware is low, and engineers at TSMC and Co. are therefore allegedly less interested in the company. However, Apple still has one advantage: it already pays significantly more for more flash memory than other providers.
The problem: This is where the margin comes from. However, it is not currently expected that the company will significantly increase prices for the iPhone 18. Meanwhile, Apple is investigating ways to be less dependent on TSMC. It was recently reported that Intel could supply ARM chips again for the first time, such as simpler M processors.
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