--- title: "\"Storage Super Cycle\" Sweeps from Cloud to End Devices: Storage Manufacturers Make Huge Profits, Mac and Xbox Forced to Raise Prices, Google Pixel Phone Cancels 128GB" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/292011854.md" description: "Affected by the surge in storage chip prices, tech giants are adjusting their strategies. Microsoft's Xbox console has increased in price and discontinued the high-end version; Apple's Mac/iPad prices have risen by 15%-25%; Google's Pixel 11 will cancel the 128GB model and raise the starting price. Upstream manufacturers like Samsung and SK hynix are profiting significantly, while consumer electronics at the end face pressure from cost transmission" datetime: "2026-07-08T04:06:38.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/292011854.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/292011854.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/292011854.md) --- # "Storage Super Cycle" Sweeps from Cloud to End Devices: Storage Manufacturers Make Huge Profits, Mac and Xbox Forced to Raise Prices, Google Pixel Phone Cancels 128GB According to reports from the Zhitong Finance APP, it has been learned that the Google Pixel 11 AI smartphone, expected to be released in late summer this year, will have a higher starting price and will no longer include the lower storage capacity model of 128GB. This latest move by Google is similar to that of leading consumer electronics company Apple Inc. (AAPL.US), which has switched its latest iPhone to a minimum storage configuration of 256GB and postponed the standard version of iPhone 18 to the first half of 2027, while also implementing global price increases for its Mac/iPad series consumer electronics. Both Apple and Google provide the most direct evidence of the upstream storage chip costs being passed on to the end consumer. The current "storage supercycle" sweeping the global financial market is dividing the technology industry into two: on one side, consumer electronic hardware products like Microsoft's Xbox, Apple's Mac/iPad, and Google's Pixel are facing high cost pressures, while on the other side, the three largest global storage chip manufacturers, Micron, SK hynix, and Samsung Electronics, are gaining historic pricing power, leading to exceptionally strong record performance. Microsoft previously confirmed that starting August 1, the price of the Xbox 512GB model will increase by $100, and the 1TB model will increase by $150, while the 2TB version will be discontinued; the core explanation is that the prices of console storage and memory have risen by more than 2.5 times, and are expected to double again by fall 2027. Apple is also unable to fully absorb the cost pressure, with Cook stating that product prices will increase due to rising memory and storage chip costs. Axios further reported that the price increase for MacBook and iPad could reach 15%–25%. **Google Pixel 11 aims to announce a price increase by eliminating the 128GB model, as the shortage of storage chips is rewriting the pricing logic for terminals.** It is reported that the media platform Dealabs has obtained the latest leaked information regarding the upcoming Pixel models. The leaked report's prices only include Google's European market. The starting price for the Pixel 11 256GB version will be €999, compared to €899 for the 128GB model. In the UK, the starting price is expected to be £879. The starting prices for the Pixel 11 Pro, Pro XL, and 11 Pro Fold will be €1,199/£1,079, €1,399/£1,279, and €1,999/£1,799, respectively. The higher price increase of about €100 is due to the higher starting storage configuration. The apparent "starting price increase of about €100" for the Pixel 11 is primarily not a direct price increase of €100 for the same storage version, but rather that Google has raised the entry-level configuration from 128GB to 256GB, eliminating the cheaper 128GB version For example, leaked pricing shows that the Pixel 11 256GB starts at €999, while the previous Pixel 10 128GB started at €899; however, the Pixel 10's 256GB version was originally priced at €999. Therefore, for the standard Pixel, consumers see the "lowest entry price" increased by €100, but when comparing the same 256GB capacity, the price has not significantly increased. According to the report, the Pixel 11 is scheduled to be released on August 20. The Google Pixel launch event is planned to take place in New York City at 6 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, August 12. The colors of the Pixel 11 include Light Sterling, Midnight Haze, Fuchsia, and Moss. The Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL will offer Light Fog, Midnight Haze, Dune, and Pine; the Pixel 11 Pro Fold will provide Midnight Haze and Pine. Clearly, the 1TB version will only be available in Midnight Haze. The Pixel 11 is likely an upgraded AI smartphone developed by Google, continuing the Pixel series' product line of "Tensor chip + Gemini + edge AI." Google has already made AI a core selling point in the Pixel 10, officially stating that the Tensor G5 brings the latest AI capabilities, Gemini Nano edge operation, Magic Cue, real-time call translation, Gemini Live visual assistance, and more; therefore, if the Pixel 11 upgrades the Tensor and Gemini capabilities as usual, it essentially becomes the next generation of AI smartphones. Edge AI not only requires stronger NPU/TPU and larger operating memory but also increases local storage demand: model weights, photo/video generation and editing cache, voice transcription, screen context indexing, private data retrieval, offline translation, and multimodal materials will make 128GB increasingly feel like an "experience bottleneck." Thus, from the perspective of smartphone manufacturers, eliminating low-storage versions can also enhance the average selling price (ASP), packaging price increases as "capacity upgrades," which is more easily accepted by the market than directly raising prices for the same configuration. **Micron and other storage chip manufacturers lead the "silicon-based inflation" cycle, forcing devices like Pixel, Xbox, and Mac to pay for AI.** TrendForce's compiled statistics and forecast data reveal the structural strength of the storage chip price surge driven by this wave of AI infrastructure frenzy: in the first quarter of 2026, traditional DRAM contract prices are expected to rise by approximately 93%–98% quarter-on-quarter, driving DRAM industry revenue to grow by 81% to $97 billion; the agency also predicts that in the second quarter of 2026, traditional DRAM contract prices will rise again by 58%–63% quarter-on-quarter, while NAND Flash contract prices will increase by 70%–75% It is expected that in the third quarter of 2026, the contract prices of traditional DRAM products will increase by 13% to 18% quarter-on-quarter based on a record baseline, while NAND flash contract prices may rise by 10% to 15% quarter-on-quarter. It is noted that storage component suppliers are continuously shifting their production capacity towards AI server-related computing clusters, and more NAND capacity is being allocated to enterprise-level SSD demands related to data center construction. In other words, the technology industry is facing not just an ordinary shortage, but a systematic squeeze on consumer electronics supply priorities by AI cloud vendors through long-term orders, prepayments, price floors, and capacity locking mechanisms. For Microsoft, Apple, Valve, Sony, Nintendo, and Google smartphone brands, the pressure lies in rising BOM costs, squeezed gross margins, and weakened demand elasticity due to end-user price increases. For large cloud vendors like Amazon and Google, the pressure is that AI capital expenditures are increasingly expanding from "rushing to buy NVIDIA GPUs" to a full-stack AI computing scarcity situation of "massive advance procurement of HBM, DDR5, enterprise-level SSDs, data center power equipment, high-performance network infrastructure, and data center optical interconnect components." However, this also presents a rare historical growth opportunity for the three major memory chip manufacturers: Micron, SK hynix, and Samsung Electronics. Micron, SK hynix, and Samsung are attempting to transform the historically cyclical memory industry into a more de-cyclical business model closer to AI infrastructure as "quasi-utilities + high-barrier sellers" through multi-year "take-or-pay" agreements, cash deposits, price floors, and long-term supply binding ### Related Stocks - [SKHY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SKHY.US.md) - [SMSN.UK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SMSN.UK.md) - [SSNGY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SSNGY.US.md) - [MSFT.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFT.US.md) - [09347.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/09347.HK.md) - [MSFX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFX.US.md) - [MSFL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFL.US.md) - [07709.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07709.HK.md) - [07747.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07747.HK.md) - [07347.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07347.HK.md) - [MSFD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFD.US.md) - [MSFU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFU.US.md) - [MSFO.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFO.US.md) - [09747.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/09747.HK.md) - [DRAM.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/DRAM.US.md) - [03121.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/03121.HK.md) - [MSFW.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFW.US.md) - [MSFY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFY.US.md) - [MAGX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MAGX.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [Value Investment Professionals LLC Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG](https://longbridge.com/en/news/292171750.md) - [Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. 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