Apple has turned into the mythological King Midas on memory, coveting it above everything else even as LPDDR5 modules now cost their literal weight in gold.
We've been noting ad nauseam that Apple is hoarding memory resources not just to preserve its planned product launch roadmap this year but also to sabotage some of its competitors. Well today, we are placing Apple's memory-related moves within some much-needed context.
Apple is all set to consume multiple exabytes of precious DRAM this year, and is not above sabotaging its competitors to get its way
We reported on a specific bit of supply chain chatter in early April, which suggested that Apple was actively buying up "all available mobile DRAM on the market" to prevent its competitors from securing enough memory chips.
Then, Daishin Securities validated at least a part of that supply chain chatter by postulating that Apple was actively hoarding memory to prevent its competitors from reaching their respective shipment targets, while increasing its own iPhone shipment target to a still-conservative 240 million units.
Of course, Apple's soaking up of mobile DRAM has created a panic of sorts among Chinese OEMs, who have also started stockpiling this critical resource, aggravating the ongoing shortage in the market.
Even so, the sheer scale of Apple's footprint in the memory sphere has largely remained obfuscated. Today, we aim to put Apple's iPhone shipment target for 2026 within some much-needed context.
The base iPhone 17 sports an 8GB RAM, while the iPhone 17 Pro duo features a 12GB one. As of Q1 2026, the iPhone 17 Pro made up 25 percent of Apple's US sales, while its Pro Max counterpart contributed 27 percent to the overall sales mix. Assuming this 52 percent sales mix for the iPhone 17 Pro models holds steady for the rest of the year and ignoring any skew from older models, this then corresponds to an average memory of 10GB per iPhone.
We know Apple is now targeting an annual production run-rate of 240 million iPhones, which equates to a mind-boggling 2.4 exabytes of LPDDR5 memory. For context, this equals 2.4 million terabytes (TB) of DRAM.
Given the sheer scale of Apple's demands and its financial heft, it is hardly a surprise that the tech giant is now trying to distort the memory market in its favor.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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