Apple CEO John Ternus said on the November 2, 2026, earnings call that Apple expected memory purchase prices to keep rising beyond the December quarter. Apple also expected Mac and iPad supply constraints that quarter, primarily because of memory costs and demand above expectations.

Memory costs weigh on Apple’s margin outlook

Apple paid more for memory in the September quarter than in the June quarter, Ternus said. CFO Kevan Parekh forecast a 45%–46% gross margin for the December quarter, citing higher memory costs as the main pressure and some costs from the Siri AI ramp as well.

Parekh also said that, excluding tariff refunds from both the June and September quarters, company and product gross margins were each down about one percentage point sequentially, primarily because of higher memory costs.

Apple described different supply constraints by quarter

COO Sabih Khan said high demand drove September-quarter supply constraints affecting iPhone, Mac and iPad. For the December quarter, Apple expected constraints on Mac and iPad, primarily from memory, with demand higher than the company expected.

Earlier price changes and the supplier question

Bloomberg Tech’s English-language report, published June 25, 2026, on Apple price increases linked to memory-chip and storage shortages

Apple said Mac and iPad prices changed at the end of June, and iPhone prices changed in September. Those increases provided some offset to higher costs. The November 2 call did not announce another consumer-price increase.

For memory suppliers such as Micron and SK hynix, Apple’s comments point to broad cost pressure, but the call did not identify either as an Apple supplier or quantify purchases from them. Apple’s manufacturing purchase obligations rose by $33 billion between the June and September quarters; that figure covers manufacturing commitments broadly, not memory alone. Micron’s company-specific results are a separate data point, covered in NeoTeo’s report on Micron’s fiscal Q4 2026 results.