Apple and Microsoft Price Increases Continue to Ripple, What Are the New Wall Street Insights?

BlockBeats News, June 28th, Apple and Microsoft recently announced consecutive price increases for their hardware products, passing on the cost pressure of AI-driven memory/storage chips to consumers. Market sentiment quickly shifted to "concerns about demand destruction." Apple's stock price once fell over 5-6%, while storage stocks received a short-term boost from Micron's better-than-expected financial report, but the overall tech sector remained under pressure. The price increase details are as follows:

· Apple: Raised prices for multiple products such as MacBooks and iPads by 15%-25% (some by $100-$300), stating that they could no longer "shield consumers." Tim Cook had previously warned that the costs were "unsustainable." iPhones are currently unaffected.

· Microsoft: Will increase prices for Xbox consoles starting August 1st, with the 512GB version increasing by $100, the 1TB version by $150, and discontinuing the 2TB version, also citing the skyrocketing storage costs (which have more than doubled).

Micron's financial report indicated that AI storage demand remains strong, but the price hikes at the consumer end have shifted the market's view from "upstream benefits" to "downstream pressures." The market is concerned that if high costs continue to squeeze consumers and applications, it could backfire on demand. The latest Wall Street viewpoints are as follows:

· Morgan Stanley stated that Apple's loyal user base and financing options would cushion the impact, limiting the effect on demand, and maintaining an Overweight rating;

· JPMorgan pointed out that the price increases were higher than expected, but the market may have overstated the cost impact, Apple's vertical integration could effectively hedge, and they remain optimistic in the long term;

· Evercore analyst Amit Daryanani noted that this "in-cycle" price increase exceeded expectations, showing that the pace and scale of memory inflation have surpassed Apple's absorptive capacity, but emphasized that this is an industry-wide issue;

· Other viewpoints (such as Forrester analyst) believe that Apple's brand loyalty is high, and consumers "can bear it"; but also warned that the entire consumer electronics chain is facing an "AI cost tax." Barron's and others pointed out that the blame cannot be placed solely on suppliers, as end manufacturers also face pressure. Overall, Wall Street mostly believes that short-term stock prices are under pressure, but their long-term confidence in Apple's core fundamentals remains unshaken, as long as demand does not significantly collapse, the upstream storage logic still holds.

Apple's strained relationship with memory giants in the supply chain is becoming apparent, as they lobby the Trump administration to approve the purchase of DRAM chips from China's Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. to alleviate cost pressures and address competition in the Chinese market. CXMT's capacity is shifting towards HBM, potentially becoming one of the biggest winners in this round. The price increase tests consumer acceptance and the resilience of the AI chain.

If demand does not significantly collapse, the storage logic still holds; otherwise, there is a risk of backlash. China's alternative production capacity is welcoming new opportunities. This event is still unfolding, and subsequent financial reports should be closely watched.