Apple Silicon Supply Chain Faces Further Price Hikes

Apple is likely to face further increased chip prices as supplier TSMC contends with additional increased costs, Bloomberg reports.

a15 chip
Japanese chemicals firm Showa Denko K.K. supplies vital chip fabrication materials to TSMC and is now being forced to drastically increase prices on the back of the global chip shortage. Other component makers and material suppliers are making similar moves in the semiconductor industry amid a wider price squeeze.

Showa Denko Chief Financial Officer Hideki Somemiya said "A big theme this year common to all the players in the materials industry is how much cost burden we'd be able to convince customers to share with us. The current market moves require us to ask twice the amount we had previously calculated."

As a key supplier early in the production chain, Showa Denko's price hikes are expected to tighten margins and pressure clients like TSMC to pass on increased costs to their own customers, including Apple. The situation is unlikely to significantly improve until at least 2023, Somemiya told Bloomberg.

In May, Bloomberg reported that TSMC was in the process of warning its customers of a considerable price increase. This came after a hefty 20 percent price hike in 2021, which was said to be the most substantial chip price rise in a decade.

Last year, Nikkei Asia warned that Apple could be forced to pass the increased price of chips onto customers. Apple's flagship iPhone models with 64GB of storage have been priced at $999 since the launch of the ‌iPhone‌ X in 2017 and further price rises have yet to hit the ‌iPhone‌ lineup. This year's ‌iPhone‌ 14 and ‌iPhone‌ 14 Max devices are widely expected to retain the same A15 Bionic chip from the ‌iPhone‌ 13 lineup, which may be explained by the ongoing supply chain pressures behind Apple's chips.

Popular Stories

iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday October 1, 2025 1:26 pm PDT by
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, and Safari. More features and changes will follow in future versions,...
iPhone 17 vs Air and Pros Feature

New iPhones See 'Stronger Than Expected' Demand With One Exception

Thursday October 2, 2025 7:26 am PDT by
Nearly two weeks after the iPhone 17 series launched, analysts at investment banking firm Morgan Stanley said demand for the devices has been "modestly stronger than we originally expected," based on a combination of extended shipping estimates on Apple's online store and information it gathered from Apple's supply chain. There has been strong early demand for the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro,...
macbook air prime day 2025

M5 MacBook Air: Release Date, Features, and Performance Predictions

Friday October 3, 2025 3:39 am PDT by
The MacBook Air is Apple's most popular laptop – a thin, fanless machine that wields quiet power thanks to the efficiency of Apple silicon. While the M4 model isn't exactly old, attention is already turning to its successor. Apple doesn't telegraph new product launches ahead of time, but we can draw a surprisingly clear picture of what to expect by looking at Apple's silicon roadmap,...
Tim Cook Rainbow

Apple Event in October? Here's What to Expect

Monday September 29, 2025 9:31 am PDT by
Apple's annual iPhone event is in the rearview mirror, but rumors suggest the company plans to release a handful of additional products before the year ends. Will there be another Apple event this October? We discuss the possibility below. Apple in October Apple's most recent October events were in 2021 and 2023. In 2022 and 2024, Apple did not host an October event. Instead, it...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: Leaks Reveal What Apple Products Are Coming Next

Friday October 3, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
On this episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the latest leaks about the next-generation iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, Studio Display, and Vision Pro. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Earlier this week, an apparent unboxing video of an updated iPad Pro with the M5 chip was shared online. The same YouTube account leaked the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip...
iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26 Adds These 200 New Features and Changes to Your iPhone

Saturday October 4, 2025 8:19 am PDT by
Apple's website offers a list of nearly 200 new features and changes (PDF file) included in the software update, released last month. Apple also shared equivalent lists for iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe. iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 and newer. To install the update, open the Settings app on your iPhone, tap on General, and tap on Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight ...
space black mbp

Here's Every New Apple Product That Leaked Yesterday

Wednesday October 1, 2025 8:27 am PDT by
A handful of upcoming Apple products leaked yesterday, through a combination of YouTube videos out of Russia and U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) documents that were released, despite Apple's confidentiality requests. The leaked products include an iPad Pro with an M5 chip, as well as updated MacBook Pro and Apple Vision Pro models. All of these devices had already been rumored...
Apple 2025 Thumb 1

Apple's 2025 Product Roadmap: What's Still Coming

Wednesday October 1, 2025 3:56 pm PDT by
Apple's two big yearly events, WWDC and the iPhone launch, are done and over with, but there are still some new products that we're expecting to see before the end of the year. Apple TV The Apple TV hasn't been updated since 2022, so it's due for a refresh. It doesn't look like Apple is going to change the design of its set-top box, but we can expect a faster chip Apple code suggests...

Top Rated Comments

ant the ninja Avatar
43 months ago
Do you think Apple will be able to afford this? Should we start a GoFundMe?
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
izzy0242mr Avatar
43 months ago
It won't happen, but everyone who needs a new phone should just buy a gently used iPhone 13 and they'll honestly be set for a good 3-4 years at least.

I've been saying this for years: the smartphone market is plateauing. New models don't really offer that much more over the previous generation, and that statement becomes more true with every new phone.

Plus, buying new contributes directly to bad environmental practices, exploitative labor markets, and corporate greed. Buy used phones from local and individual sellers in your country. Save hundreds of dollars. Take a step toward a better world.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pavelbure Avatar
43 months ago

Do you think Apple will be able to afford this? Should we start a GoFundMe?
I don’t think it’s Apple that will eat this cost increase.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jonnysods Avatar
43 months ago

Do you think Apple will be able to afford this? Should we start a GoFundMe?
Unfortunately we are the gofundthem on this one...
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
johannnn Avatar
43 months ago

No, but we probably should for ourselves once the prices hit the lineup. Costs are always passed on to the customer.
Or lower quality parts like the M2 MBP SSD.

Either way, if Apple’s parts gets more expensive, we will pay for it somehow. Apple definitely doesn’t want to reduce their margins.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EugW Avatar
43 months ago

Too bad they don't use something that is nearly free, like sand, to make computer chips. Oh wait, they do use silicon from sand. Why are chips so expensive then? Someone is making a lot of money off the increased price of chips.
I wish I could buy steak for the price of its constituent organic and inorganic components.


Or lower quality parts like the M2 MBP SSD.

Either way, if Apple’s parts gets more expensive, we will pay for it somehow. Apple definitely doesn’t want to reduce their margins.
The M2 MBP 256 GB SSD is the same quality part as the M1 (or better). However, it's slower because it's 1 chip instead of 2. The M1 uses 2 x 128 GB chips. The M2 uses 1 x 256 GB chip. These are the same chips that are used in the 512 GB model, except that the 512 GB model uses 2 of them.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)