Michael Goldfeder on Daniel Ives: Apple held off as long as they could (video) - 'For the past several years everyone was predicting that Apple would be raising their prices yet it never happened. A credit to Tim Cook and his supply chain expertise in action. Now that everyone in “Big Tech” has been hit with the memory price increases, all of a sudden Apple gets punished with the hysteria escalating to Defcon 1 armageddon being amplified by everyone in the talking head media. Apple’s ability to successfully navigate around this problem for such an extended period of time is ignored as if it was an anomaly with zero credit being given to the masterclass being orchestrated by Tim Cook and the entire Apple team. Reminds me of a poster my father had on the wall inside his warehouse when I was a kid. It said: “One Aw S#*@ wipes out 99 Attaboys.” Now I can see the underpinnings of how that phrase still applies decades later.'
on Apple's Industrial Design shakeup: Mark Gurman speaks (video) - 'Ben, I very much agree with Neal. In fact your comment was so well stated that I asked my wife to read it as well. 🙂'
on Premarket: Apple is green - 'Although yesterday was a painful day for shareholders, I commend Tim Cook and Apple’s executive team on the decision to raise prices to preserve margin and protect product quality.'
on Apple's summer price hikes: What the analysts are saying - 'John Gruber: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2026/06/26/price-hiked-apple-tv-4k-is-4-years-old The only way this makes sense is if these prices are really meant for the upcoming new hardware, and those new models are more ambitious home hubs that warrant $200–250 prices. Here Gruber is talking about AppleTV, boxes but I think his reasoning holds for the entire Apple product line. Introduce the pain of price hikes now, in the ‘off season’, so in the fall, the new products can come out with no price hikes.'
on Apple's summer price hikes: What the analysts are saying - 'These price increases are a bit annoying. Of course if you look long term the prices overall have not increased as much as inflation and if you include new functionality and capabilities arguably the bang for your buck has increased substantially over the years. Now will customers hold back on new purchases a bit longer because of the higher retail prices. Probably they will try to save a bit but likely they will end up buying what they need and want which presumably that is what they have been doing all along. If Apple was the only company needing to hike prices it would be a different situation. In the end I think Apple will not let this supply issue last forever but short term there is not an easy solution.'
on Counterpoint: Customers pay more for book-type foldables - 'For me it will all depend on the form factor and how it fits in a pocket or my hand. One thing, though, is certain. If/when Apple releases a foldable, Gurman will not like the design or come up with a review that, even if it positive, will read like it is a big negative.'
on Apple's Industrial Design shakeup: Mark Gurman speaks (video) - 'Neal, 100% agree with you on Gurman. He is a commentator and has an audience. Best to know what he’s propagating, and most here can read between the lines. As for design as a lead, I have a bias and a considered opinion, being an architect. I am also watching my son closely as he undertakes industrial design at uni. So the ‘plight’ of the industrial designer is very much on my mind. Design is indeed about form and function, but it is so much more. As an architect, I have to design for a site and climate, work with budgets, comply with regulation, codes, and standards, take inputs from a variety of stakeholders, understand material properties and construction techniques. I then have to be able to communicate the design to a variety of stakeholders. Architecture is effectively about building prototypes, because the unique circumstances of each project make them one-offs. For the industrial designer, their job is similar, but they need to resolve design to a much higher degree, as they need to move from prototype to production-ready. A design flaw in an iPhone is a problem in millions of devices. They also have to consider ergonomics. Apple’s products are constantly pushing the boundaries of fabrication and material science, and the integration of novel technologies. This all requires extraordinarily talented designers. And absolutely, the engineers are not subservient to the industrial designers, but they are typically subsequently involved following acceptance of concept design. Crudely, the designer presents the design, the engineer then has to resolve issues like structural integrity. As for designs not changing much over time, generally, I think this is good for brand recognition, assuming the form, finish, and detailing are at a high quality level. It enables time for the product to develop iconic status. I think this happened with the aluminium iMac. It had such a strong form factor and it remained the same for so long. The derided ‘chin’ was part of its distinctive look and annoying quirk to some, but a form that was unique and seemingly ubiquitous. Competition is needed to keep Apple hungry, but I don’t think Apple can rest on its laurels despite the lack of Apple product killers out there. Apple needs to maintain and curate its unique design culture to ensure it remains at the top.'
on Counterpoint: Apple to Hit Record Market Shares in 2026 - 'Hooray. He succinctly states what we all know; “The multi-segment market share gains also mean a compounding impact on the company’s ecosystem strength.” …At the expense of Android and Windows ecosystems. Both have to pay (or rather their customers have to pay) for memory, but they can’t deliver Apple’s private agentic AI.'
on The price hikes have landed - 'They probably already have. Question is, what foundry has the spare capacity and cost effective production to make them? Practically every foundry is wanting to make highly profitable chips and it’s unsure how much Apple would want to pay someone to START making new chips if there may be a glut and demand slowdown starting in 2028, well before the time any new foundry could come online.'
on The price hikes have landed - 'The timing of this is interesting. I believe that the quarter ends this Saturday, June 27. If memory cost messed up profitability, a price increase at the end of the quarter makes it easier to explain on the earnings call.'
on Premarket: Apple is red - 'Something is amiss here. The NASDAQ 100 is down 0.46% for the day. AAPL is down 6.15% for the day. Had it not been for AAPL‘s fall from grace, the NASDAQ would have been up for the day. How come the market penalized AAPL so much with today’s announcements, and gave virtually everyone else a pass?'
on Apple's summer price hikes: What the analysts are saying - 'Horace posted this on Asymco Plus this AM: “Why iPhones prices don’t change” by Horace Dediu “…The iPhone has grown in capabilities exponentially but the price has remained the same. To illustrate, I considered the storage provided by each iPhone in the list (all 160 models). They span 4GB to 2048GB. If we divide the inflation-adjusted price by the storage we get adjusted dollars/GB and the graph for all iPhones is shown below: [graph] Note that this is a logarithmic scale. The pricing went from $75/GB with the iPhone (1) to about $1/GB with iPhone 17. A two-orders-of-magnitude reduction…” Mr. Market is clearly not doing his homework.'
on Micron drives Apple's prices - 'Interesting that CNBC only refers to Cook’s reiteration last week of impending price hikes, and not to his original mention during the earnings call months ago.'
