Chipmaker TSMC reportedly notified partners they’d be raising prices for hardware this year. As has been the case with several major hardware manufacturers over the past year, price hikes are coming to chipmakers in a significant way. the most important client of the chipmaker TSMC is Apple, and therefore the first product that’ll likely see a change in cost is the iPhone 13.
Digitimes reported in the week that price adjustments are being made at TSMC now. Quoted prices for sub-7nm process tech “will rise by 3-10%, the sources indicated.” In addition, this same source suggested that TSMC’s biggest client, Apple (accounting for “20% of the foundry’s total wafer revenue,”) “will experience a 3-5% price hike.”
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the iPhone 13 will be 3-5% costlier than its predecessor. Apple could prefer to mitigate price changes in other features and price negotiations with other hardware vendors to stay the general price equivalent as iPhone 12. On the opposite hand, Apple could overcompensate, raising the worth between iPhone generations by a percentage that plans for future increases partially costs from other parts makers.
The iPhone 12 lineup had starting prices at approximately USD 700 for the iPhone 12 mini (carrier version), $730 for the sim-free iPhone 12 Mini from Apple, and $800 for the iPhone 12, $830 for iPhone 12 from Apple (sim-free). The starting price for the iPhone 12 Pro was around $1k, and therefore the iPhone 12 Pro Max started at around $1,100.
The potential price leaps we’re talking about here aren’t even breaking $100. For the iPhone 12 Mini, a full 5% increase gives you an approximate starting price of USD 735.
Earlier reports also suggest Apple is looking to 3nm tech from TSMC for 2022 model iPads and MacBooks. Another report suggested Apple would do an equivalent for iPhone models in 2022. So we’ll likely see similar price jumps upward for TSMC’s competitors soon – but it’ll be the end-pricing for the tech that uses the chips that we’ll be most curious about for subsequent several years.
