Tim Cook Highlights Potential Memory Chip Crisis: Implications for Apple Investors’ Margins

Key Points

• Apple’s iPhone sales rose 22% year over year in Q3 2026, demonstrating robust growth.

• Apple’s gross margin for Q3 was 50.1%, including a two-percentage-point benefit from a tariff refund.

• Management forecasts a Q4 gross margin of 47-48%, factoring in rising memory costs.

Tim Cook will step down as CEO of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) on September 1, 2026, with John Ternus taking over amid challenges related to rising memory prices. Apple plans to raise prices on iPhones and other devices in response to escalating memory costs driven by high demand for AI data centers.

In the fiscal third quarter ending June 27, Apple’s gross margins were impacted by increased memory costs, with CFO Kevan Parekh noting that over 100% of margin change could be attributed to these rising expenses. Quarterly iPhone sales and growth are expected to slow, with growth declining to the mid-teens in Q4, constrained by supply issues.