Apple inventory up 154% as memory costs bite
Original: Apple’s inventory surges 154% as memory chip costs climb
Why This Matters
Memory cost pressure signals broader supply-chain stress hitting consumer device margins.
Apple's Q4 FY2026 inventory hit $14.54B, up 31% from Q3 and 154% year-over-year from $5.72B, as surging memory chip costs pushed gross margin guidance for December down to 45-46%, from 47.9% in September.
Apple's memory stockpiling strategy is getting expensive. The company reported Q4 fiscal 2026 inventory of $14.54 billion, up from $11.09 billion in Q3—a 31.1% sequential jump—and a full 154.3% above the $5.72 billion recorded in Q4 2025. CEO John Termus called current memory pricing "unprecedented" on the analyst call, warning of "even higher" costs heading into the December quarter. The company expects gross margin to compress to 45-46% for the holiday quarter, down from 47.9% in September. Apple has tried to cushion the blow with price increases rolled out earlier this year—Mac and iPad in late June, iPhone in September—but Ternus was candid that inventory carry-in benefits will diminish over time. Manufacturing purchase obligations jumped $33 billion between the June and September quarters, a figure set to appear in the annual filing. COO Sabih Khan, who oversees supply chain, joined the call to field questions on memory and declined to rule out further device price hikes. iPad was a notable soft spot: revenue came in at $6.2 billion, missing the $6.7 billion analyst consensus and falling 10% year-over-year, partly blamed on supply constraints. iPhone and Mac both beat estimates.