When Tim Cook stepped down, Apple sold products – but the shortage of chips is approaching

apple report quarter record Thursday. However CEO Tim Cook warned of storm cloud disruptions in the memory chip industry that could soon affect the industry.

“Today Apple is proud to report our best March quarter ever, with revenue of $111.2 billion and double-digit growth per quarter,” Cook said on Thursday’s earnings call. “iPhone posted record revenue in the March quarter, boosted by incredible demand for the iPhone 17 series.”

On a smaller scale, Cook said that Apple spent more on memory devices in March than it had in the past, even though the company’s costs were offset by its ability to sell. stored goods. But he warned, hope and “a lot of money to remember” in June and beyond – the likes of which “will create a lot of momentum” for the business.

Cook was referring to what many people call “RAMmageddon“The trend of AI companies doing so much memory that it’s causing shortages. This is driving up hardware prices. Apple is primarily a hardware company, so obviously that’s not good news for its core products.

In particular, the chip shortage has affected the iPhone. Despite the strong sales numbers that Apple reported on Thursday, it has it was said before that the cost of RAM has quadrupled – affecting the cost of making phones and putting John Ternus, CEO of Apple, in an uncomfortable position.

One possible outcome would be Apple increases iPhone prices. “There is a bit of flexibility in the sales force at the moment to get more shares,” Cook told Reuters Thursday.

Ternus, who previously served as Apple’s senior vice president of technology, was on hand Thursday to receive the cash and praised Cook. “In my opinion, Tim is one of the greatest business leaders of all time. Stepping into the role of CEO is a great honor, and it means a lot to me to have Tim’s confidence,” said Ternus.

He’ll likely have his work cut out for him when he starts the job on September 1. But he’ll still have Cook’s chain knowledge to lean on for a while. Cook will serve as executive chairman.