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How can Apple deal with the memory shortage?

How can Apple deal with the memory shortage?

tambourine_man

Comments (109)

  • thisislife2
    Just a thought - stop bloody soldering the RAM and the SSDs. That partially transfers the burden on to the customers and makes their product more repairable ... Mac Minis (with un-soldered RAM and HDD / SSDs) used to be sold with minimum 4 GB RAM, if I remember right). This, way, you can still sell devices with lower RAM, and customers can upgrade in the future when supply increases.
  • insumanth
    My Guess* Absorb the impact by some margin * Slash base models (which they are already doing) * Efficient software - So, end user experience is not affected. * Direct Price hike always be an option.
  • realaknez
    I think it's kind of inevitable for somebody to take up a RAM factory to sell for normal consumers and brands even if it means less profit the sales would be much bigger. The question is if somebody is kind enough to do so.
  • dnnddidiej
    Got a shitty PC with 32gb ddr5 now the ram alone is almost worth as much as the purchase price of it all. It is playing up.. normally I'd return it to Amazon but...
  • ruguo
    I wonder if companies like Apple will eventually start making memory themselves.
  • nikhizzle
    Ex-Apple kernel engineer here, Apple will deal with the memory shortage by making software more efficient in ram usage. Apple will just make every aspect of the system more and more memory efficient. They've done it before over and over and can do it again.
  • kryptiskt
    This reads like Apple fanfiction to me.> But then Apple can negotiate on another basis and say, well, if you don’t do us a favor here and give us a better rate, then maybe we won’t work with you when all this settles down. You know things are going to settle down. These things are always cyclical. There’s never been a semiconductor boom that’s not followed by a semiconductor bust. Never. And they know it.I have to think that the RAM suppliers wouldn't be that easy to intimidate with threats, since they know perfectly well how few alternatives Apple has. And they are also perfectly aware that Apple will play hardball with them when the market turns, regardless of whether they were nice to Apple now.
  • treebeard901
    If Tim Apple can't beg China for more while in Beijing then I guess they need to port SoftRAM 95 to OSX.
  • Nevermark
    Their best strategy is to buy Micron Semiconductor 12 months ago with cash equivalents on hand, for $106 billion.No brainer. Best move they will ever did.
  • mixologic
    This makes me wonder when we'll start trading memory on the commodities markets.
  • opengrass
    Can't even find a ddr2 sodimm that's not a ripoff.
  • melonpan7
    The author doesn’t seem to understand that Apple places RAM orders years in advance. I’m not sure if it’s even feasible or possible for Apple to fully integrate their supply chain and open up memory fabs, the cost of entry must be enormous.
  • markboo
    Less APP, more LLM
  • refulgentis
    "So much so that I heard Samsung’s making more money now with memory than Nvidia’s making with their processors."I loved Asymco during the Apple 2010s run up, but this, inter alia things mentioned in other comments, should give the reader pause and evaluate how much of this is general knowledge x handwaving x vibes versus a practical ground floor understanding in 2026.
  • christkv
    Our problem is lack of competition
  • green_3_space
    [dead]
  • throwaway613746
    [dead]
  • autoexec
    [flagged]
  • jackmott42
    build a fab!