DRAM shortages are already causing (not projectioning to cause) visible demand destruction in many categories.
Smartphone shipments are down 11% YoY Q2 2026. Full year projected drop of 14%.
Consumer PCs are down around 5%. Only the trend bucked originally by the new Mac neo by Apple.
There was news that the price hikes killed Steamdeck sales 82%! [0].
The Apple product price hikes from a month ago were more brutal than I could have imagined. Especially on stuff like the iPads with like 30% hikes. I can picture that it would have caused some serious demand destruction even given the Apple ecosystem lock in amoung cost conscious buyers.
The Steam Deck numbers are shocking but I wonder about the methodology of those.
Valve was sold out of the Steam Deck for a long time, so I’d expect their sales to have been very low.
They also talked about difficulty sourcing parts for the Steam Machine at any price.
I definitely subscribe to the idea that some device categories really do turn from an impulse buy thing into making zero sense for most people at some price. Stuff like a steam deck or an iPad are going to be the most sensitive to that.
I own an iPad that is literally useless to me outside of reading/printing recipes in the kitchen or watching videos on. The device can certainly do more than that but it’s just not what the form factor makes sense for in my life.
I paid something like $300-400 for a refurbished previous model iPad Air.
If that device turned out completely useless that wasn’t a big loss.
Same deal with the Steam Deck: at $350 it’s worth taking a chance on even if it ends up collecting dust.
Consumer demand is much more price-sensitive than enterprise demand, not least because the latter can issue bonds to pay for RAM and GPUs. Prices for consumers are going up everywhere: food, gas, insurance, you name it.
Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch have a competitor that's the elephant in the room: Chinese Android handhelds that run rings around them on price and play everything from NES to Switch games locally as well as PS5/Steam via remote link.
Interesting. I know corsair already uses CXMT chips in their memory products. It would be hard to believe the govt would tell Apple no in light of this.
No reason to believe it had. They don't compete on backend infrastructure, nor do they target the same consumer demographics (Apple fans would not be seen dead carrying a Huawei phone). As for them having 5G headstart, without a ban, Apple could just license whatever tech from them, like it does for other parts.
DRAM shortages are already causing (not projectioning to cause) visible demand destruction in many categories.
Smartphone shipments are down 11% YoY Q2 2026. Full year projected drop of 14%.
Consumer PCs are down around 5%. Only the trend bucked originally by the new Mac neo by Apple.
There was news that the price hikes killed Steamdeck sales 82%! [0].
The Apple product price hikes from a month ago were more brutal than I could have imagined. Especially on stuff like the iPads with like 30% hikes. I can picture that it would have caused some serious demand destruction even given the Apple ecosystem lock in amoung cost conscious buyers.
[0] https://www.techradar.com/gaming/steam-deck/new-estimate-sug...
The Steam Deck numbers are shocking but I wonder about the methodology of those.
Valve was sold out of the Steam Deck for a long time, so I’d expect their sales to have been very low.
They also talked about difficulty sourcing parts for the Steam Machine at any price.
I definitely subscribe to the idea that some device categories really do turn from an impulse buy thing into making zero sense for most people at some price. Stuff like a steam deck or an iPad are going to be the most sensitive to that.
I own an iPad that is literally useless to me outside of reading/printing recipes in the kitchen or watching videos on. The device can certainly do more than that but it’s just not what the form factor makes sense for in my life.
I paid something like $300-400 for a refurbished previous model iPad Air.
If that device turned out completely useless that wasn’t a big loss.
Same deal with the Steam Deck: at $350 it’s worth taking a chance on even if it ends up collecting dust.
Consumer demand is much more price-sensitive than enterprise demand, not least because the latter can issue bonds to pay for RAM and GPUs. Prices for consumers are going up everywhere: food, gas, insurance, you name it.
Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch have a competitor that's the elephant in the room: Chinese Android handhelds that run rings around them on price and play everything from NES to Switch games locally as well as PS5/Steam via remote link.
Inflation causes this. Prices go up, wages don't. For years and years. But hardware also got cheaper for years.
I wonder…
Can sufficient demand from a few parties destroy demand in other categories to a sufficient degree that it affects net demand entirely?
Interesting. I know corsair already uses CXMT chips in their memory products. It would be hard to believe the govt would tell Apple no in light of this.
Apple wanting to work with CXMT and YMTC was a trigger that got them sanctioned in first place.
Though Apple likely have more leverage now considering how DRAM cartel restricting supply.
Trump own MU stock.
I can easily see Apples pleadings to be rejected.
The finest display of American hypocrisy and double standards. Disgusting people.
The double standard is not Apple's, it's preaching "free trade" for decades and when a competitor wins, going for tarrifs and bans
You can't possibly believe Apple had no hand in the Huawei ban.
No reason to believe it had. They don't compete on backend infrastructure, nor do they target the same consumer demographics (Apple fans would not be seen dead carrying a Huawei phone). As for them having 5G headstart, without a ban, Apple could just license whatever tech from them, like it does for other parts.