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.

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
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support.
Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode
In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models.
Latest Rumors
These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital."
In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh:
iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh
iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design.
The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research.
The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads.
As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6.
Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...