Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook warned analysts on Thursday that the worldwide memory shortage will bite into Mac supply through the June quarter, even as the company reported its best March quarter ever and forecast revenue growth of 14% to 17% for the period ahead.
The warning landed alongside an across-the-board earnings beat that sent Apple's stock higher and underscored how the artificial-intelligence buildout is reshaping the economics of consumer electronics. Apple has so far avoided iPhone price hikes, but Cook's repeated invocation of "supply constraints" signals that the squeeze hyperscalers and memory makers have been telegraphing for months is now reaching the world's most valuable hardware company.
Mac in the crosshairs
Apple posted $111.2 billion in fiscal second-quarter revenue, up 17%, with iPhone sales jumping 22% to $57 billion. Mac revenue reached $8.4 billion, iPad came in at $6.91 billion, and services hit an all-time record of $30.98 billion.
Cook said the memory hit in the December quarter was "minimal" and that there was a bit more of one in the March period. For the quarter that ends in June, he told analysts the big impact will land on several Mac models "given the continued high levels of demand that we're seeing." In an interview with Reuters, Cook said iPhone "demand was off the charts," but that there is "a little less flexibility at the moment for getting more parts."
A range of options
Pressed on what Apple would do, Cook offered no specifics, repeating that the company would "look at a range of options." "We believe memory costs will drive an increasing impact on our business," he said. "We'll continue to evaluate this."
The constraints reflect a global crunch driven by AI infrastructure demand. Microsoft this week projected $190 billion in 2026 capital spending, up 61% from last year, with Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood citing a $25 billion impact from higher component prices. Meta lifted its capex ceiling to $145 billion, citing "expectations for higher component pricing." Memory maker Micron's stock has climbed roughly 570% in the past year.
Wall Street weighs in
"Apple showed that even the best operators can't fully escape the memory squeeze," said Jake Behan, head of capital markets at Direxion. Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, said Apple's options include reducing memory in products, raising handset prices, or absorbing lower gross margins. IDC analyst Nabila Popal predicted any price increases would be targeted: "I think they will focus price increases on the Pro/Max while keeping the base model the same in the following Spring," she said by email.
William Kerwin, an analyst at Morningstar, told CNBC that one option for Apple would be to enter into longer-term supply agreements to secure more favorable pricing, noting that memory maker Sandisk discussed "numerous new agreements just like this" on its own earnings call Thursday. Needham analyst Laura Martin struck a more cautious note, saying it is not great to see capacity constraints "for a company with a core competence in hardware."
The memory question will soon belong to John Ternus, Apple's hardware chief, who succeeds Cook in September after the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Whether Ternus inherits a manageable constraint or a structural shift in hardware economics will be the first test of Apple's post-Cook era.