RAMageddon just got extremely real

“内存末日”已成现实

You know things are bad when Apple raises prices. 当苹果公司都开始涨价时，你就知道情况不妙了。

As far as prices go, Apple is kind of a reverse canary in the coal mine. 在定价方面，苹果公司就像是一个“反向矿井金丝雀”。

With its famously generous margins and immense purchasing volume, it can afford to ride out price fluctuations in its supply chain in a way no other consumer tech company can. So when Apple raises prices across nearly all of its product lines, you know that shit is well and truly real. 凭借其众所周知的丰厚利润率和巨大的采购量，苹果有能力以其他消费电子公司无法企及的方式抵御供应链中的价格波动。因此，当苹果对其几乎所有产品线进行涨价时，你就知道这次危机确实非常严重。

That’s what happened earlier today: Apple increased pricing across Macs, iPads, HomePods, and even the Vision Pro. Prices jumped hundreds of dollars in many cases. The MacBook Neo’s key feature — a $599 starting price — is now $699. The iPhone appears to be safe for now, but I’d be shocked if we don’t see higher starting prices on the iPhone 18 series when it debuts in a few months. 今天早些时候发生的情况正是如此：苹果提高了 Mac、iPad、HomePod 甚至 Vision Pro 的价格。在许多情况下，涨幅高达数百美元。MacBook Neo 的核心卖点——599 美元的起售价——现在变成了 699 美元。iPhone 目前似乎暂时安全，但如果几个月后 iPhone 18 系列发布时起售价没有上涨，我反而会感到震惊。

It’s all so alarming because Apple doesn’t typically mess with pricing on its current models. It certainly doesn’t participate in anything as common as a sale. If you walk into an Apple store to buy a new MacBook, you can count on it being the same price no matter what day or week or month it is. Sure, you’ll find discounts from third-party sellers on certain products, or maybe a gift card with your purchase if Apple is feeling really generous. Otherwise, an iPad generally costs the same price, year-round, right up until the day a new model is introduced. If the price is going to go up, it’ll go up on the new model; the current one holds steady. 这一切之所以令人担忧，是因为苹果通常不会随意调整在售机型的价格。它当然也不会参与像促销打折这样司空见惯的活动。如果你走进一家苹果零售店购买新款 MacBook，无论是在哪一天、哪一周或哪一个月，价格都是一样的。当然，你可能会在第三方卖家那里找到某些产品的折扣，或者如果苹果心情好，购买时可能会赠送礼品卡。除此之外，iPad 的价格通常全年保持不变，直到新款机型发布的那一天。如果价格要涨，那也是新款涨价；现有机型则保持稳定。

But even for a company like Apple, the memory crisis is re-writing the rules of consumer tech pricing. First it came for the game consoles: the PlayStations, Xboxes, Switches, and Steam Decks. They all received price hikes, blamed squarely on the memory shortage. It came for laptops. Phones have suffered, too. The Pixel 10A is a barely warmed-over version of the 9A, and its best feature is that it didn’t get any more expensive than last year’s model. Samsung’s S26 phones were victims, with less storage and higher prices than the previous models. Every corner of the industry has been touched by the crisis, and Apple’s price hikes today underscore what a crappy year it’s been for consumer tech. 但即便是对于苹果这样的公司，内存危机也正在重写消费电子产品的定价规则。首先受到冲击的是游戏机：PlayStation、Xbox、Switch 和 Steam Deck。它们都经历了涨价，原因直指内存短缺。随后是笔记本电脑。手机也未能幸免。Pixel 10A 几乎只是 9A 的小改款，它最大的亮点仅仅是价格没有比去年贵。三星 S26 系列也成了受害者，存储容量缩水且价格高于前代产品。行业的每一个角落都受到了这场危机的影响，而苹果今天的涨价进一步凸显了消费电子行业今年是多么糟糕。

The funny thing is, more than a few tech companies picked this year to debut unique, premium devices. It’s the unfortunate reality of the yearslong R&D cycle. Apple is poised to launch its most expensive iPhone ever if it debuts a folding iPhone as rumored. Valve released its much-anticipated Steam Machine at twice the price of PS5. Samsung released the Galaxy Z Trifold for a small fortune. An ambitious game console from a company with a great track record of improving its existing hardware? That might just weather the storm. But a big, expensive phone with a questionable value proposition? Well, we already know how that went. 有趣的是，不少科技公司偏偏选择在今年发布独特的高端设备。这是长达数年的研发周期所带来的不幸现实。如果传闻中的折叠屏 iPhone 如期发布，苹果将推出其有史以来最昂贵的手机。Valve 发布了备受期待的 Steam Machine，价格是 PS5 的两倍。三星发布了售价不菲的 Galaxy Z Trifold。一家在改进现有硬件方面有着良好记录的公司推出的雄心勃勃的游戏机？或许还能挺过这场风暴。但一款价格昂贵且价值主张存疑的大手机呢？好吧，我们已经知道结果会如何了。

If nothing else, RAMageddon is going to quickly sort out the winners and losers. And if there was any doubt remaining, we know now that every consumer tech company is being forced to reckon with the memory shortage — even Apple. The company may have stumbled its way to the other side of its AI debacle and right into a crisis of another kind. 至少，“内存末日”将迅速分出胜负。如果之前还有任何疑虑，现在我们知道，每一家消费电子公司都被迫面对内存短缺的问题——即便是苹果也不例外。这家公司可能刚刚从 AI 惨败的泥潭中跌跌撞撞地走出来，却又一头撞进了另一种危机之中。