iPhone 18 Pro is only weeks away from launching, and a new report from Culpium indicates it could have limited availability due to a DRAM shortage holding up production.
DRAM shortage reportedly delaying iPhone 18 Pro production, Apple concerned about supply
This year’s iPhone will use Apple’s A20 Pro processor, the first chip to be manufactured on TSMC’s N2 node which started shipping in volume earlier this year. The A20 Pro then gets packaged alongside DRAM using TSMC’s new Wafer-Level Multi-Chip Module (WMCM) process. […]
Production of the A20 Pro at N2 is progressing well with good volume and yields, I am told. But wafers are piling up waiting for DRAM before they can be packaged and sent on to the next step.
As a result, TSMC is sitting on around $1 billion of Apple processors awaiting DRAM delivery before they can be packaged and moved on to the next step.
The result of this memory shortage is that Apple may not be able to hit its desired levels of iPhone 18 Pro inventory.
Culpan says that Apple and its assemblers “remain confident that they can meet initial demand,” but are concerned about wait times for online orders getting pushed out quickly, and retail inventory drying up.
This shortage could be amplified by the fact that iPhone shoppers won’t have many options besides the iPhone 18 Pro.
For the first time, Apple reportedly won’t launch its new base model (the iPhone 18) in the fall. Instead, it’s being pushed to early 2027. iPhone Air 2 isn’t expected this fall either.
With the only other new model this fall being the very pricey iPhone Ultra, demand for iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max could be higher than usual. And it sounds like that might result in longer waits for buyers.
Do you expect iPhone 18 Pro demand to be high this fall? Let us know in the comments.
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