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Apple's Stock Drops Nearly 10%. How Will It Respond to Memory Shortage? (yahoo.com) 48

Posted by EditorDavid from the thinking-different dept.
Apple's stock "fell just shy of 10% on Friday," reports Yahoo Finance, "after CEO Tim Cook warned about the impact of the global memory shortage on the company's business." During Apple's third quarter earnings call, Cook said the company paid significantly more for memory in the quarter and expects that to further increase in the current period. And while Apple is able to offset some of that price jump, it won't be able to tackle it all... The CEO said that iPhone and Mac sales outpaced Apple's own expectations and that a lack of flexibility in the supply chain is making it more difficult to keep up with demand.
Yahoo Finance cited an investment analyst who predicts overall gross margins for Apple's iPhone could drop from 38% to 34.5%. But another analyst sees a scenario where Apple "raises iPhone prices, unit growth will slow, and as unit growth slows, so will user growth, which we think ultimately will slow Services growth." (Still, Yahoo Finance predicts Apple's new leasing program "could help address those concerns.")

Apple has another controversial option, according to the blog 9to5Mac: Bloomberg reports that US senators from both sides of the aisle are urging Apple CEO Tim Cook to commit by August 21 to not using memory chips from Chinese suppliers CXMT and YMTC....

Apple is not required to obtain U.S. government approval to purchase chips from the companies, but doing so without the administration's support could expose it to significant political ramifications. Which is why, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal ahead of Apple's recent price hikes, Tim Cook said that "everything needs to be on the table," adding that "we should look at all supply...." More recently, the Journal reported that Apple's use of Chinese memory chips could extend beyond China, with the company seeking the administration's blessing to use components from CXMT and YMTC in products sold elsewhere outside the US. The report also detailed Micron's efforts to persuade the administration to reject Apple's request, arguing that allowing Chinese suppliers into Apple's supply chain could undermine domestic memory production...

[Bloomberg's reported that U.S. lawmakers warned] other companies could follow Apple's lead, potentially undermining domestic memory production and planned investments in states such as Indiana, Idaho, New York, and Virginia... [T]he senators sought details about any information Apple has shared with CXMT during the component qualification process, noting that the transfer of controlled technical information to advanced chipmaking facilities in China may require a Commerce Department license.
The blog MacRumors notes that Apple has already increased prices for Macs and iPads in June because of surging memory prices. Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday "we did it because we're in what I would characterize as a 100-year flood on memory pricing with exponential increases in memory prices." Cook did not comment on whether Apple plans to raise iPhone prices when the iPhone 18 Pro models and first foldable launch this September, but multiple analysts believe prices will go up. Cook said Apple is expecting to pay higher memory costs in the September quarter, though Apple will be able to partially offset it with lower costs on some non-memory components and a stockpile of inventory.
Sky News points out that "It was Tim Cook's final earnings appearance before his retirement after 15 years at the helm of the company." Apple, which recently topped Nvidia as the most valuable listed company, has been largely spared the volatility in share price seen by chipmakers and big spenders on artificial intelligence. Apple continues to generate cash without the huge investment spending that its Wall St peers are dealing with "and that showed across most parts of the operation," said Thomas Monteiro, an analyst at Investing.com.

Apple's Stock Drops Nearly 10%. How Will It Respond to Memory Shortage? More | Reply

Apple's Stock Drops Nearly 10%. How Will It Respond to Memory Shortage?

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  • This is ridiculous (Score:2, Insightful)

    by RUs1729 ( 10049396 )
    I have no love for Apple but I am skeptical that whatever is going on justifies that its stock should be punished like that. Investors are a hysterical bunch with a sheep-like mindset. It makes for a depressing thought the fact that such idiots have a big influence on the global economy. Bloody buffoons, always at the core of self-fulfilling negative prophesies.
    • It's a hell of a drop for a few % reduced profit per phone. Market seems a bit skittish I wonder why that is. Tempting to buy apple now I imagine they'll make the 10% back soonish.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        It's a bit more serious for Apple, because their RAM is tightly coupled with the CPU, on the same substrate. It has to have very specific parameters to operate at the high speeds they need to make their ARM CPU cores competitive, and for their GPUs to perform half decently with unified memory. They need a lot of bandwidth and their CPUs have massive caches, because the ARM ABI is just not very space efficient compared to x86 and CISC.

        That means they are more limited in terms of being able to find alternativ

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by caseih ( 160668 )

          If Apple's RAM is on the cpu die, then they aren't beholden to any RAM supplier! As long as they have fab slots to make their M cpus, they have RAM too. So if demand for RAM is hurting their ability to get fabs to make their M series CPUs, then they are hurting way more than just for high RAM prices.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            Apple's RAM isn't on the CPU die. They make the CPU and attach it to a substrate with RAM chips sourced from other manufacturers. Two separate dies (or three, dual channel RAM).

            Most modern high end CPUs are like that now. It's more efficient to make the sub parts separately, often on difference processes so that the highest end ones are reserved for the things that need them and other stuff can use older nodes. They can then bin all the parts separately and reduce waste/down ranking further down the manufac

    • Apple's P/E ratio has nearly doubled over the last ten to fifteen years. They've benefited from irrational growth during that time and now they have to suffer a potentially irrational loss. The big players get more attention, so the market has a tendency to overreact to good or bad news about them. If you're that incensed by it, put your money where your mouth is and buy the dip.

      • Apple's PE ratio is high (35), which means investors (collectively) think it will grow. So far investors have been justified - Apple's profits and revenues have grown a lot over those 10-15 years. It may be overoptimistic to think it will continue to grow, but their track record is really, really good. The last quarter they reported growth of about 15% which is pretty good for such a huge company.

        Their stock went up about 10% in July, so they are just giving up the gains for the last month. Hardly a catastr

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      skeptical that whatever is going on justifies that its stock should be punished like that.

      Further, Apple would survive an AI bubble burst better than the other big tech companies because Apple doesn't depend as much on AI products nor AI-oriented investment funds.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Indeed. I am wondering whether they intentionally drag their LLM investments out. They must know it is 95% hot air.

    • I have no love for Apple but I am skeptical that whatever is going on justifies that its stock should be punished like that. Investors are a hysterical bunch with a sheep-like mindset. It makes for a depressing thought the fact that such idiots have a big influence on the global economy. Bloody buffoons, always at the core of self-fulfilling negative prophesies.

      Your post reminds me of a conversation I had with a co-worker around 2004. I joined an investment club in 1996 so at the time, I had been in it for 8 years and I had some expertise in investing in stocks. He told me that the stock market made no sense. I told him that I agreed with him but I asked what specifically made him say that. He told me that he owned some stock in 2 small companies that were doing oil exploration. I don't remember the names of the companies. They both did a quarterly report af

    • The next 90 or so days in the US aren't going to be fun for the stock market. The mid-term elections are going to have investors running scared that the "wrong" people will win and someone will tax away all the profits.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Or, alternatively, that the cretins in power try to steal the election and cause massive problems, up to and including civil war.

    • 10% drop is large but not horrific. This is basically normal variation, not something real.

      Apple is one of the "FANG" stocks - Facebook, Apple Netflix, Google. They are huge companies that have had major gains as compared to most other stocks. Over time some people just bought those stocks.

      This drove the prices of their stock up a lot from greedy people The current drop is just undoing some excess greed, not really that big a deal.

      On 7/31/2026, it hit a low of 300. Before 7/31/2026,. the last time Apple

    • Apples PE highly inflated over the past 5 years. Which doesn't make sense given the regulatory headwinds globally, and really doesn't make sense when component prices may push their device process into unaffordable territory for many.
      https://www.macrotrends.net/st... [macrotrends.net]

    • Apple's share price is about the same as it was a month ago. More than it was in any just about any time period longer than that (excepting a peak a bit higher in June). The stock price rose in the last month due to people speculating that their earnings would be even better than they were. "Punished" is a really harsh term for doing really well. Any stockholder that has owned the stock for more than 3 months has made money. Apple made a ton of money in the quarter. Likely will make a ton of money next quar

  • "Beleaguered Apple" days are approaching it seems, Apple profit margins might drop from 27% to 20% ranges.

    Meanwhile Dell has about 6% margins, HP 4%, etc.

    Apple investors had a sell off, of course they did, they were capturing huge profits they already made. And they probably kept more than they sold off.

    • HP 4%, etc.

      Well HP had the genius idea of putting a 8723409821E+27% markup on printer ink while selling the printers at a loss to bring in customers. Unfortunately they also forgot to not make their printers so shit that they self destruct before HP make enough back on the ludicrously overpriced ink.

      It's like the shittines doubles for the customer, but somehow cancels out on HP's end.

      Fuck HP. Also Apple, can't stand those fuckers (shame their CPU is so good), but also and especially and for ever fuck HP.

  • âoesignificant political ramificationsâ& (Score:5, Insightful)

    by superposed ( 308216 ) on Saturday August 01, 2026 @07:25PM (#66268138)

    Apple is not required to obtain U.S. government approval to purchase chips from the companies, but doing so without the administration's support could expose it to significant political ramifications.

    This line is really chilling. The fact that it passes without comment shows that we've now gotten used to living in an authoritarian state instead of a democracy. In a country that actually supported free enterprise, a company wouldn't have to worry what the president thinks of their perfectly legal business decisions. Nor would they need to be on the president's good side to run their business as they see fit in the future. âoePolitical ramificationsâ of this sort have no place in a free, non-corrupt society.

    • Where's the part of small government, freedom, free market, don't tread on me now?

      Right there in power, it was all lies and a branding exercise. The right have never held to those beliefs, but it turns out that a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth for enough people that they can get into power.

      But you know "both ides" so I voted for the worst. How come on one ever says "both sides" so I voted for Harris?

      • How come on one ever says "both sides" so I voted for Harris?

        Because self-supposed leftists who are really just too lazy to vote stay home.

      • Where's the part of small government, freedom, free market, don't tread on me now?

        Right there in power, it was all lies and a branding exercise. The right have never held to those beliefs, but it turns out that a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth for enough people that they can get into power.

        But you know "both ides" so I voted for the worst. How come on one ever says "both sides" so I voted for Harris?

        The latest brouhaha is over hot dogs. Remember way back when - there was a gay couple that asked

  • Apple can buy a semiconductor company capable to manufacture RAM for them. Problem solved.

    • They probably can't due to anti-trust laws. Yes, the US probably would allow it, but many foreign jurisdictions would block the sale.

  • Did you know that CXMT licenses their tech to Samsung and SK Hynix?
    Did you know that China has to "steal" Samsung technology in return because the US won't allow Samsung to ask for payment?
    Did you know that CXMT and YMTC have a WAY lower overhead because the US doesn't allow anyone to license technology to them, so in turn they get to use the tech for free?

    Let's make this 100% clear.

    Patents don't stop your competitors from using your tech. They give you the right to charge your competitor to use it. There a

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