Apple CEO Ternus Says Memory Price Hikes and Shortages Will Continue Into 2027

Leading his first earnings call at the helm of Apple this week, CEO John Ternus announced strong revenue growth, but acknowledged that the ongoing chip shortage could make things difficult for the foreseeable future.

For the last quarter of fiscal 2026, revenue was up 12% year over year, capping what Ternus called the company’s “best fiscal year ever,” with $418 billion in revenue. The growth comes despite “unprecedented” supply chain constraints and rising memory costs limiting the availability of iPhone, iPad and Mac hardware. Warning that shortages could continue through next year, Ternus didn’t rule out future price increases for affected Apple products.

Monday’s earnings call comes as Apple ranks as the world’s most valuable company, overtaking Nvidia last week, and on the heels of a string of high-profile product debuts: the brand’s first foldable iPhone, its first touchscreen MacBook Pro laptop and the new HomeView hub at the center of its renewed smart home ambitions.

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iPhone, the heart of Apple’s sales

At the center of Apple’s ecosystem sits the iPhone, which Ternus described as an “intelligent personal hub.” Despite supply chain limitations, Apple saw iPhone sales grow to a record $57.6 billion in revenue for the quarter, accounting for the lion’s share of the brand’s total quarterly revenue. Sales were spurred by the launch of the new flagship iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, as well as early adopters of the iPhone Duo.

Last month, preorders for Apple’s first foldable phone sold out in minutes, with wait times expected to stretch into January 2027. Apple executives didn’t comment on reports of cracked screens on some early examples. CNET has been independently evaluating the iPhone Duo’s folding mechanism, which you can watch as part of our week’s long live stream.

Apple announced and released the iPhone 18 Pro with its variable aperture camera at an event last month, but the standard (and more affordable) iPhone 18 was notably absent from any mention. Staggered releases for the two tiers aren’t unprecedented, but Apple usually announces the standard and Pro phones together, at least.

Supply constraints aren’t going away

Like the rest of the computing world, Apple has faced tariffs, supply chain shortages and rising memory costs for some time, hampering its ability to meet demand for its most popular products. Apple Chief Technology Officer Sadih Khan says that the availability of memory and storage will increasingly limit the supply of iPhones, iPads and Macs.

Apple’s Mac Mini and Mac Studio have been especially hammered by the AI boom. On one hand, the components they require are being slurped up by AI data centers. On the other hand, they’re wildly popular among home AI enthusiasts and developers running local agents like OpenClaw.

In the past, the company has been able to somewhat offset memory shortages by relying on stockpiled components and compensating with price hikes for the Mac and iPad in June and the iPhone in September. But there doesn’t appear to be much relief from the component crisis on the horizon.

Apple Intelligence in the iCloud?

The next biggest earner for Apple, generating $31.6 billion in revenue last quarter, is services and subscriptions: iCloud storage, Apple TV and Music, Apple Pay and the new Apple Maps ads program. Ternus said he saw massive growth potential in expanding AI and services, noting that bundling Apple TV and Apple Arcade into iCloud Plus plans opens up new subscriber markets in over 100 countries. Furthermore, despite usage caps on server-side features such as Siri AI and smart photo editing, the company appears highly optimistic about Apple Intelligence.

Currently in beta, Siri AI was described by Apple executives on the call as primarily focused on “request-based” tasks — meaning you give it an instruction and it performs a simple task like setting a reminder or sending an email — and leans heavily on on-device processing for privacy.

Ternus said there’s room to expand Siri and Apple Intelligence capabilities over time, growing to include more sophisticated capabilities that take advantage of server-side horsepower in the cloud: iCloud horsepower that Apple can begin charging for.

The takeaways

Apple is a hardware company, as its record revenue confirms: The iPhone is still its cash cow and largest revenue stream. But Apple’s services revenue is also booming, accounting for an increasingly large share of the revenue pie, and the company is leaning more heavily on subscriptions and ads. As Apple continues to evolve its AI ambitions beyond what can be reasonably handled by on-device silicon, there’s bound to be a paid tier for Siri AI and Apple Intelligence, bundled into an iCloud or iCloud Plus tier.

Executives made it clear that memory costs and supply constraints will continue to weigh on iPhones, iPads, Macs and MacBooks through the winter holidays and beyond. Though they declined to say whether further price increases are coming, there’s a high probability of more hikes hitting consumers next year.