I agree with you here, but I'm talking about the costs of manufacturing that Apple has to deal with, not saying other companies will stop screwing the customer.
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Is Apple doomed?
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I agree with you here, but I'm talking about the costs of manufacturing that Apple has to deal with, not saying other companies will stop screwing the customer.
MSRP no but used prices we did. My RTX 3090 in almost new condition was $800 after the craze. During the craze it was $2500.
When there is massive supply hitting the used markets then it drives prices down and makes way for the new products.
The rumour about there being no new iPhone 18 this year started before this RAM shortage began, even before the 17 even launched! It was about Apple aligning the base iPhone with the ‘e’ and keeping the Air and Pros at the traditional launch time, if I recall.How about Micron? NVIDIA cutting consumer production? Yes Macs do not use NVIDIA, but it speaks to an industry change. SSDs and HDDs are anticipating increases too. Apple will need to do something for these market conditions.
Samsung considers shifting production from HBM to DDR after extreme price increases
After memory manufacturers massively switched to HBM memory production for AI workloads, Samsung is considering a reverse move.itdaily.com
As DRAM Costs Soar, Prices For NVMe SSDs Start To Rise Too
Although not a massive increase, the prices for NVMe storage for PCs have started to go up in recent weeks.www.pcmag.com
We are regressing
ASUS to increase DDR4 motherboard production - OC3D
ASUS reportedly plans to to increase DDR4 motherboard production in response to DDR5 memory price hikes. DDR4 remains affordable.overclock3d.net
Memory crunch: Mid-range laptops may slide back to 8GB RAM, analyst warns
TrendForce says DDR5 RAM prices will soon result in reduced memory for default laptop configurations across the board...and higher prices, too.www.pcworld.com
Apple will soon be priced out of the market entirely. I highly doubt Apple will eat the prices. Therefore, a base MacBook Air might now be $1,600 and not be worth it at all.
Oh, and this will impact phones and tablets too. Not just Macs. No new iPhone 18 this year rumor just shows how ridiculous this CURRENTLY is and will get much much MUCH worse.
Thing is, big tech wants more money, and they want that on a monthly basis.
If you can run your own "cloud" at home, and keep all your data to yourself, and run on hardware you own, especially hardware that is not "new", it is a threat to big tech.
There is a huge push towards "you will own nothing and be happy".
AI may just a bubble, but since that sucks up all available fab/hardware, there will be nothing for you to buy and own. As somone said before: if the bubble bursts then great, all that hardware will be available for cheap to offer to you on a monthly basis instead.
Tell me that you agree with me without telling me you agree with me.
We will be relegated to old tech till it stops working or switch to shiny new thin clients with cloud computing subscriptions. When the initial inertia is dealt with, it will be a mass exodus from old hardware to latest cloud based infra. Right now we are in inertia phase. The Big-Tech companies will want to brute-push through this (bubble or whatever) for another 2-3 years to starve people out of latest tech hardware. Then they can slowly creep computing subscriptions in our lives.
The only thing on our side? We know the fact that Sam Altman is a con artist
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Do You use it as your primary machine? It would be great, really!
I'm bad at using computers as secondary machines, so yes, the macbook pro running lion is my main machine. : )
This reassures me because I've also read on this forum that when a Mac is no longer supported, it's best to abandon it. I can understand this position, but it breaks my heart to stop using excellent hardware if it still does what we ask it to do. So much for eco-sustainability: those who use Macs longer are also doing good for the environment!
Apple is not “dead last” in the specific future you’re worried about (thin-client / streamed OS), because Apple’s published strategy is explicitly “on-device first” with a fallback to Apple-run compute that is designed to minimize data exposure. Apple Intelligence is described as handling many requests on-device, and when a request exceeds device limits it can use “Private Cloud Compute” (PCC) that Apple says runs on Apple silicon and is built so user data is not retained or accessible in the conventional cloud-provider sense (Apple Newsroom (Apple Intelligence + PCC), Apple Security blog (PCC overview), Apple PCC security documentation). Apple also describes “verifiable transparency” mechanisms intended to let independent researchers inspect/verify what is running in PCC rather than trusting blind claims (Apple PCC Verifiable Transparency, Apple Security: PCC research/verification program). That architecture is materially different from “everything is streamed from Microsoft/Google” and is the closest among the major consumer platforms to your “I don’t want a dumb terminal” posture.
Where your instinct is directionally correct is that AI build-outs can distort component markets, especially memory for data-center accelerators (HBM) and related DRAM capacity, creating the risk of tighter supply and higher pricing that can ripple into consumer devices. This is being discussed in mainstream reporting and in market research commentary that explicitly links AI demand to memory constraints and potential device-market impacts (Financial Times on AI-driven memory pressure, IDC on memory shortage impacts for 2026 device markets, Tom’s Hardware summarizing IDC on 2026 RAM pricing risk). However, “hyperscalers will consume all components and Apple can’t ship hardware” is not how supply allocation typically plays out: Apple is one of the few companies with the volume, cash, and contracting discipline to lock in long-term supply and secure priority capacity.
Apple’s “plan to tackle the storm,” insofar as we can evaluate it from public commitments, is less about competing with Nvidia in the data center and more about (a) keeping meaningful AI utility on-device, (b) making server-side inference (when needed) look more like a privacy-preserving extension of your device than a general-purpose third-party cloud, and (c) hardening supply chain resiliency for its core silicon pipeline. On resiliency: Apple has publicly committed to very large U.S. investment/spend plans and has been linked in reporting to the ramp of advanced chip production in Arizona via TSMC, which, while not a magic shield, signals a multi-year push to diversify and stabilize key parts of the chain (Apple $500B U.S. plan (Feb 2025), Reuters on TSMC Arizona production ramp, TSMC press release on expanded U.S. investment). If the “bubble” lasts 10 years, the most plausible risk for Apple is not “no launches,” but periodic cost/supply headwinds (memory, packaging, leading-edge capacity) that push prices up and constrain certain configurations, risks that hit everyone, just not equally.
On the “my PDFs/docx/jpgs belong to the cloud provider” fear: Apple’s iCloud posture can be meaningfully more “user-held keys” if you enable Advanced Data Protection (ADP), which expands end-to-end encryption coverage across many iCloud categories (with the tradeoff that account recovery becomes more your responsibility) (Apple Support: iCloud security and encryption overview, Apple Support: Advanced Data Protection setup, Apple Platform Security: ADP details). The hard reality is that jurisdiction can override features: Apple has stated ADP is no longer available to new users in the UK, which illustrates that legal pressure can force changes even for Apple (Apple Support: ADP not available to new UK users, Reuters on the UK ADP change). That does not negate the strategy, but it does mean “Apple alone can guarantee this forever everywhere” is not a safe assumption.
On “Apple’s AI is a big failure / missed the bus”: if the benchmark is “best general chatbot,” Apple is not leading. But Apple has very clearly chosen a different framing: integrate assistance into OS and apps with on-device execution where feasible, and provide an explicit consent-based path to use a frontier model when the user wants it. Apple’s ChatGPT integration documentation describes user control/permission before sharing content with OpenAI, rather than silently routing everything off-device (Apple Support: using ChatGPT with Apple Intelligence, Apple Apple Intelligence page (ChatGPT integration messaging)). Apple has also publicly positioned Apple Intelligence as expanding over time with additional capabilities and developer integration points (Apple Newsroom (Jun 2025 updates)). Whether that catches up to user expectations (especially around Siri-quality and reliability) is an execution question, but “no plan” is not an accurate reading of the public record.
Netting it out: if your primary anxiety is the thin-client end state, Apple is the major platform most explicitly architecting away from it via on-device-first AI and a privacy-positioned cloud fallback (Apple Newsroom (AI + PCC), Apple Security (PCC)). If your anxiety is “AI spending starves consumer hardware,” the more realistic scenario is periodic component cost pressure (notably memory) that raises prices and limits some SKUs, an industry-wide effect that Apple is comparatively well-positioned to manage via long-term procurement and supply commitments (FT on memory pressure, IDC on 2026 impacts, Apple U.S. investment plan). If your anxiety is “cloud owns my data,” the practical Apple lever is ADP plus a local-first workflow, with the caveat that legal jurisdictions can constrain cloud encryption features (ADP setup, UK ADP availability change).
Where your instinct is directionally correct is that AI build-outs can distort component markets, especially memory for data-center accelerators (HBM) and related DRAM capacity, creating the risk of tighter supply and higher pricing that can ripple into consumer devices. This is being discussed in mainstream reporting and in market research commentary that explicitly links AI demand to memory constraints and potential device-market impacts (Financial Times on AI-driven memory pressure, IDC on memory shortage impacts for 2026 device markets, Tom’s Hardware summarizing IDC on 2026 RAM pricing risk). However, “hyperscalers will consume all components and Apple can’t ship hardware” is not how supply allocation typically plays out: Apple is one of the few companies with the volume, cash, and contracting discipline to lock in long-term supply and secure priority capacity.
Apple’s “plan to tackle the storm,” insofar as we can evaluate it from public commitments, is less about competing with Nvidia in the data center and more about (a) keeping meaningful AI utility on-device, (b) making server-side inference (when needed) look more like a privacy-preserving extension of your device than a general-purpose third-party cloud, and (c) hardening supply chain resiliency for its core silicon pipeline. On resiliency: Apple has publicly committed to very large U.S. investment/spend plans and has been linked in reporting to the ramp of advanced chip production in Arizona via TSMC, which, while not a magic shield, signals a multi-year push to diversify and stabilize key parts of the chain (Apple $500B U.S. plan (Feb 2025), Reuters on TSMC Arizona production ramp, TSMC press release on expanded U.S. investment). If the “bubble” lasts 10 years, the most plausible risk for Apple is not “no launches,” but periodic cost/supply headwinds (memory, packaging, leading-edge capacity) that push prices up and constrain certain configurations, risks that hit everyone, just not equally.
On the “my PDFs/docx/jpgs belong to the cloud provider” fear: Apple’s iCloud posture can be meaningfully more “user-held keys” if you enable Advanced Data Protection (ADP), which expands end-to-end encryption coverage across many iCloud categories (with the tradeoff that account recovery becomes more your responsibility) (Apple Support: iCloud security and encryption overview, Apple Support: Advanced Data Protection setup, Apple Platform Security: ADP details). The hard reality is that jurisdiction can override features: Apple has stated ADP is no longer available to new users in the UK, which illustrates that legal pressure can force changes even for Apple (Apple Support: ADP not available to new UK users, Reuters on the UK ADP change). That does not negate the strategy, but it does mean “Apple alone can guarantee this forever everywhere” is not a safe assumption.
On “Apple’s AI is a big failure / missed the bus”: if the benchmark is “best general chatbot,” Apple is not leading. But Apple has very clearly chosen a different framing: integrate assistance into OS and apps with on-device execution where feasible, and provide an explicit consent-based path to use a frontier model when the user wants it. Apple’s ChatGPT integration documentation describes user control/permission before sharing content with OpenAI, rather than silently routing everything off-device (Apple Support: using ChatGPT with Apple Intelligence, Apple Apple Intelligence page (ChatGPT integration messaging)). Apple has also publicly positioned Apple Intelligence as expanding over time with additional capabilities and developer integration points (Apple Newsroom (Jun 2025 updates)). Whether that catches up to user expectations (especially around Siri-quality and reliability) is an execution question, but “no plan” is not an accurate reading of the public record.
Netting it out: if your primary anxiety is the thin-client end state, Apple is the major platform most explicitly architecting away from it via on-device-first AI and a privacy-positioned cloud fallback (Apple Newsroom (AI + PCC), Apple Security (PCC)). If your anxiety is “AI spending starves consumer hardware,” the more realistic scenario is periodic component cost pressure (notably memory) that raises prices and limits some SKUs, an industry-wide effect that Apple is comparatively well-positioned to manage via long-term procurement and supply commitments (FT on memory pressure, IDC on 2026 impacts, Apple U.S. investment plan). If your anxiety is “cloud owns my data,” the practical Apple lever is ADP plus a local-first workflow, with the caveat that legal jurisdictions can constrain cloud encryption features (ADP setup, UK ADP availability change).
I’d be incredibly amazed if Apple aren’t breaking ground on their own RAM manufacturing plant as we speak to secure their own supply chain. Not like they don’t have the money to expodite its construction.
You're hanging out in the wrong areas of the forum then.
There is a PowerPC Macs subforum which has existed even before I joined in 2011 and an Early Intel Mac subforum which we petitioned to have added in 2020. You won't find that mentality in either of those two subforums.
We understand you are scared, we just don't agree the sky is falling down. You titled this thread as a question, but then have repeated over and over that it is doomed because of the impending domination of cloud computing by big bad 'big tech.' Sounds like more of a conspiracy theory to me than an actual concern.
Is this a technical discussion or a mud slinging fest. Naive? Have you heard of this thing called 'capitalism?' It has its bad sides sure, but it can be counted on to exploit gaps in customer demands. And people will want RAM. Someone WILL give it to them. Maybe not in your weekly viewpoint, but in a couple of years this shortage too will pass as others have. Big bad 'big tech' is more like a James Bond foe than a real force to counter capitalism.
But is cloud computing a real fear for Apple? Nope. For these reasons (and others):
1) As you note, Apple is a hardware company. They are also a marketing company. They will go on making and marketing hardware. full stop. I wouldn't bet against them.
2) Apple has already started implementing a hardware necessary strategy for privacy. the best way to keep data private is to keep it on the hardware. also the fastest way to process data (AI) is on the hardware. not the cloud. Are you a gamer? You seem to be showing the critical thinking (not) of one, but then you would have heard of latency. People want immediate gratification, google the Humane AI Pin. one of the reasons it failed is the long time between questions and answers. latency counts.
3) Apple has been targeting content creators and creatives for years. They have even built in specific AI and graphic tools into their Apple Silicon chips. Not all work flows work well in the clouds. Editing pictures, creating music, editing movies, all manipulate in real time (or at least thats the goal) large data sets. This doesn't work with cloud computing.
My guess is you don't have experience with these things or you wouldn't be so scared of cloud computing making personal hardware obsolete. You will dismiss these points and keep yelling the sky is falling and if anyone who disagrees with you just doesnt understand and are your vision.
Regardless, you are wrong. Apple will at some point fail to exist but not for the reasons you state on the imminent timeline you seem to fear.
But let's say you are right. So what? I don't care who makes my tools. I just want the best ones. If the cloud wins out it's because it's the better tool. Shrugs.
So go ahead and short Apple Stock, support your convictions with action. I wont be joining you.
Industry can do whatever it feels or predicts, at the end of the day consumers and clients can simply limit or reject the use of these pressures.
In Memory of 3D movies and televisions. 😝
AI hallucinations reminds me of the Mandela Effect, people will become more paranoids.
Is Apple doomed?
No!
But it might be an issue if it had to rely solely on the Arizona TSMC plant for chips. If that happens, the price of Apple devices would skyrocket—people would continue using their current Apple devices for a few more years before replacing them. And that would pose a real problem for a hardware-selling company.
No!
But it might be an issue if it had to rely solely on the Arizona TSMC plant for chips. If that happens, the price of Apple devices would skyrocket—people would continue using their current Apple devices for a few more years before replacing them. And that would pose a real problem for a hardware-selling company.
Well, that is the point actually. Collecting and running retro macs is a hobby of mine. I have and use Apple silicon but also daily early Intel and their predecessor PowerPC Macs. It is eye opening to see what an Intel Mac from 2008 can still bring in fluid, snappy daily driver functionality when compared to my current M3 mbp. There is a lot there still functionally speaking so for people who can and are willing, Linux (Big or my fav distro MX, etc) are fantastic paths forward to get additional secure, supported & usable life out of their Macs.
It is a fun challenge/hobby. It illustrates the true usefulness of our devices vs what planned obsolescence would dictate to us.
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I absolutely agree, even if my reason for using an older macbook (or any older device, actually) isn't specifically eco-sustainability. :)
OP obviously never purchased RAM or storage in the '90s. We've never had it so good.
Everyone hates subscription services.
Have to be connected for things to work properly.
Apple have the means to secure their own electronics and the wallet to BUY factories.
Apple don’t use the same compnants as AI companies. they make their own silicon.
Apple will be doing ( and already have ) deals with google, Open AI, etc for those services.
You have no idea what apple is doing with AI behind the scenes. They are cautious rightly so. Wait for the big AI crash of 2026. The costs are immense and the profit is low at the moment.
my next laptop will be an Asus or Dell but will continue on the M1 MacBook Air until that fades out.
personally I won't buy anything again unless the OSsoftware/3rd party apps improves
which I can't see happening this decade.
BUT
I am very impressed as a Mac user/tech helper since 1990 on what has achieved since then.
if the computing world turns AI I feel will have a big say and contribution in that field and strive.
personally I won't buy anything again unless the OSsoftware/3rd party apps improves
which I can't see happening this decade.
BUT
I am very impressed as a Mac user/tech helper since 1990 on what has achieved since then.
if the computing world turns AI I feel will have a big say and contribution in that field and strive.
My primary reason it's not to waste a still good machine that someone in Apple decided to be old.