Apple raises iPhone prices by £100 as memory-chip shortage drives costs higher

Apple has raised prices for every iPhone model by £100, including older devices. The change followed the company’s unveiling of its first folding phone.

The increase is linked to sharply higher prices for memory and other components, driven by purchases for artificial-intelligence data centres. Francisco Jeronimo, IDC’s vice-president for client devices, said memory costs were up more than 300% year on year.

Older iPhones also cost more

Older models use the same expensive memory as new ones, Jeronimo said. Apple has also raised prices for refurbished devices by £60 to £70, including the iPhone 15.

Uswitch data indicates that the increase has not yet reached the third-party refurbished market. A refurbished iPhone 16 remained around £503 during the summer, while a refurbished iPhone 14 was about £10 cheaper than in June.

Smartphone prices move higher

Samsung and Google have added up to £80 to the prices of flagship smartphones. Most other manufacturers have discontinued older models that were no longer economical to produce at higher costs, with the effect particularly acute in the budget segment.

IDC forecasts that worldwide smartphone sales will fall almost 17% this year to just over 1 billion handsets, the steepest annual contraction on record. Jeronimo said consumers would buy fewer phones and pay more for the ones they do purchase.

Computers and consoles affected

Microsoft added up to £220 to some Surface computers and released versions with half as much memory. Dell raised prices on some high-end laptops by as much as 25%, while Apple added £100 to the MacBook Neo and increased prices across most Mac and iPad lines in June.

Microsoft also raised the price of its nearly six-year-old console to £670, from its original launch price of £449. The company said console memory and storage costs had risen more than 2.5 times and could double again by autumn 2027.

Shortage may last beyond 2030

Memory producers including SK Hynix have suggested that shortages could continue beyond 2030. Jeronimo expects memory prices to keep rising into 2027 and does not expect smartphones to return to last year’s prices even if component costs ease.