Apple execs are now acknowledging the company is going to need to raises prices to cope with higher component costs, particularly memory. Apple has been battling to avoid doing so, but warned this week that those efforts are “unsustainable.”

The price pressure is being felt across the tech industry. Omdia predicts the average selling price (ASP) of smartphones globally will increase by around 20% this year — partly because AI industry demands have pushed up RAM prices and partly because of rapid cost increases in processor production as a direct consequence of war in the Middle East. This impacts anything that uses memory or processors.

Apple must raise prices, CEO warns

“We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable,” current Apple CEO Tim Cook told the Wall Street Journal.

OK, so prices are going to go up. But how?

If Apple must raise prices, the way it does so matters. Will it increase prices across the board, or choose a subtle, strategic approach that protects margins while also maintaining rapidly accelerating market share growth?

Until now, Apple has been benefiting from the rising tide in memory prices. While competitors have been steadily increasing prices across the board, Apple introduced its first $599 laptop even as it eats into mid-range smartphone sales. 

To grow, or to grow less?

The PC industry is not growing (outside of Cupertino), and Apple and its investors already know that the inordinately high customer satisfaction ratings its platforms enjoy mean that when people switch to them they tend to stick around. That’s why it matters that Cook highlighted record switchers and first-time platform users during the company’s most recent fiscal call. Apple is growing new customers, people who are likely to sign-up for services, accessories, and future upgrades. Winning the customer is an investment in future performance.

When it comes to increasing prices, we’ve seen some gentle experimentation in the Mac mini line, where the entry-level $599 model was effectively replaced by a more expensive $799 SKU. There have been suggestions Apple could do the same with the $599 MacBook Neo, dumping the entry-level build in favor of the (better) $699 model. I’m not certain that’s the best approach. 

A matter of choice

I’d argue that the $599 price point is psychologically the best bit of marketing Apple has ever done as it draws new users to look at its platforms. I also think substantial numbers of people already shift up to the $699 version, if they can, making that entry-level price an incredibly effective marketing tool with which to woo customers. It looks like that approach is working; the MacBook Neo has led the Amazon Laptop Sales chart ever since it was introduced and is selling in huge quantities globally.

Francisco Jeronimo, IDC vice president for data and analytics, sees this, writing: “It will be interesting to see whether Apple raises prices across its entire portfolio or plays strategically by subsidizing its more affordable products to gain market share and grow its installed base.”

If Apple raises prices at the price sensitive, entry-level end of its market, it runs the risk of slowing its own resurgence. Given that a 10% price hike here is only worth around $60, the revenue generated might not justify blunting Apple’s offer to new users.

Pricing and strategy

But Apple isn’t defined by its entry-level markets. Its biggest earning opportunities continue to be generated by the aspirational middle class, who, while feeling the pinch of declining living standards in many markets, can still handle the price of a top-of-the-range iPhone Pro. A 10% price increase at that end of the market will generate a much more significant chunk of revenue – and since rival vendors are raising their prices at this end of the market, Apple can follow suit while still seeming affordable. It’s an approach that maintains growth while optimizing margins.

Apple generates roughly half its revenue from iPhone sales, with the Pro and Pro Max devices accounting for a significant chunk of that money. Consumers looking to buy one of Apple’s high-end devices are likely to be less price-sensitive than those making purchases at the low- and mid-points of the company’s market range. 

With that in mind, it makes more sense for the company to raise prices at the top, while working to maintain the cost of entry at the lower end. It could, of course, raise prices universally, but doing so makes less sense.

What next?

Whatever strategy Apple adopts, company leadership is clear that component pricing is hitting hard. “We definitely need memory pricing and supply to return to reasonable levels for consumer products. That’s the bottom line,” Cook said.

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Well, hey, how ’bout that? Here we are, on a random quiet-seeming week in June, and a new Android version is officially making its way into the wild and onto our favorite Googley gizmos.

Yes, indeed: Google announced the launch of Android 17 this week, and the rollout is getting underway as we speak. As usual, the software will show up for current, still-supported Pixel devices right away, over the next few to several days. (As for everyone else — well, you know the drill by now, right? It’s up to each individual Android device-maker to process and send out its software updates, and outside of Pixels, that support is exasperatingly unreliable. But odds are, if you aren’t palming a Pixel, you’ll be waiting for a while — maybe even a long while, if you have a phone by a certain manufacturer whose name rhymes with Boatorola.)

As always, some of Android 17’s most important elements are the under-the-hood privacy, security, and performance enhancements that you won’t explicitly see but that will make a critical difference in your device’s ability to operate efficiently and advisably. But this latest Android release also packs an impressive punch of interesting surface-level touches that’ll bring an instant boost to your day-to-day productivity and all-around Android-enjoying experience.

As is often the case, many of the most useful elements are things you might not ever even notice or think to tap into if you don’t know where to look.

Here are the four Android 17 features I’ve found most noteworthy so far and how you can start putting ’em to use this second.

[Psst: Don’t let the learning stop here. Check out my free Pixel Academy e-course to discover all sorts of advanced intelligence lurking within whatever Pixel you’re using!]

Android 17 Pixel feature #1: Bubbles multitasking magic

Our first Android 17 addition on its way to Pixel owners this week is something that’s been in the works for many a moon now — and that’s a handy new multitasking mode known as Bubbles.

Bubbles first came into the Android picture way back in 2019, but at that point, it was limited mostly to messaging and never came close to reaching its full promised potential. At long last, now, Bubbles are back, baby, and becoming everything we’d always wanted them to be.

The simplest way to think about Bubbles is as a way to turn any app you’re using into a floating, collapsible window — so you can pull it up on demand when you want it, then minimize it back down into a small icon (a “bubble” — get it?!) to get it out of your hair but keep it nearby for easy ongoing access.

It’s an interesting way to multitask without having to commit to a full-fledged split-screen setup. It can be quite useful for keeping things like lists, documents, emails, chats, or anything else you’re coming back to regularly at your fingertips — so you can pop into it as needed, without any real effort, but also without having it in your face all the time.

In Android 17, Bubbles is easy to launch with any app in front of you. The only catch is that as of now, at least, it can be triggered only from the standard stock Pixel Launcher — not a custom Android launcher like Smart Launcher or Niagara.

Provided you’re using the standard Android home screen setup, though, all you’ve gotta do is:

• Press and hold any app’s icon on your home screen or in your app drawer.
• In the menu that pops up, tap the option that says “Bubble.”
• Then tap the bubbled app icon to expand or minimize the app, or press and hold it to move it around to any position on your screen or dismiss it.

You can also add additional bubbled apps into that same view via the plus icon next to the first app’s icon when a bubble is open. Pretty nifty, wouldn’t ya say?

Android 17 Pixel feature #2: Smarter location access

Allowing apps access to your location inevitably requires a certain amount of compromise when it comes to the ever-prickly subject of privacy — and it demands a certain level of trust that the apps in question won’t abuse the privilege or use it for reasons beyond their intended purposes.

Android 17 makes it meaningfully easier to accept that bargain and rest easy knowing your info isn’t being misused, thanks to a pair of related new privacy protection measures:

• First, whenever any app is accessing your location, you’ll now see a blue dot appear in the upper-right corner of your screen — and if you swipe down once from the top of your screen to open your notification panel, you can actually tap on the location icon that appears in its place to get detailed info about exactly which app or apps are involved. With another tap from there, you can opt to force-close the app in question, view all of its recent location access attempts, and manage its location access ability, too, in case anything ever seems amiss.

• And second, when an app asks to access your precise location, Android 17 adds in the option to allow such access only temporarily — for that one brief moment and purpose — without giving the app the permanent permission for ongoing use.

Hey, we’ll take it. Just remember to keep tabs on the permissions Google itself is claiming these days, too, as those don’t always come with a prominent pop-up.

Android 17 Pixel feature #3: More dynamic dark mode

Dark mode may be one of the more divisive interface adjustments of our modern mobile moment, but if you’re a fan of the dimmer, less glary view across your Android experience, you’re bound to appreciate the added option Android 17 affords you in that area.

It’s a simple one-tap checkbox that forces apps to adjust and comply with your dark mode preference, when it’s active — even if they don’t natively support such a setting. That means those pesky apps that’d typically maintain the same standard light interface even when you activate dark mode will now turn dark along with the rest of your setup whenever Android’s dark mode is on.

All it takes it quite literally one tap on the freshly added Android 17 option:

• Head into the Display section of your Pixel system settings.
• Tap “Dark theme” — the actual words, not the toggle alongside ’em.
• And change the setting from “Standard” to “Expanded.”

Now, one note: By forcing apps to adapt to dark mode even if they aren’t designed for it, it’s possible some programs may end up lookin’ a little funky. If that ever happens and you aren’t thrilled with an app’s adaptation, go back to that same settings screen we were just starin’ at and tap the gear-shaped icon alongside the “Expanded dark theme” option. That’ll let you create exceptions and select specific apps that don’t get dark mode automatically applied.

But everything else will now be in the dark when you want it — just like your dark, brooding heart desires.

Android 17 Pixel feature #4: A more comfy all-around view

Whether you’re a prince/princess/dutchess/middle-manager of darkness or not, Android 17’s new Comfort View may be just the thing for you.

Comfort View is an off-by-default addition to your Pixel that applies a softer, more pastel-oriented filter to the display with automatic adjustments based on your current viewing environment — in other words, how bright it is around you at any given moment. Ooh, ahh, etc.

To try it out, march your way back into those Display settings, and this time, tap the line labeled “Comfort Filters.” Flip the switch next to “Comfort View,” make sure the “Dynamic” checkbox is active, and see how you feel about your newly optimized screen-color view as you move throughout your day.

If you find the filtering to be too extreme or not enough to make a difference, you can also try disabling the “Dynamic” option there and then manually adjusting the “Intensity” slider to suit your specific peeper preferences. But I suspect if you give it enough time, you’ll find the automatic adjustments to be one of those things that just works for you and makes your device a little easier on the eyes, relative to each and every viewing environment — without being something you actively think about or pay much mind.

That, if you ask me, is the sign of an effective feature. And it’s a welcome addition to Android and the ever-evolving Pixel experience.

Don’t let yourself miss an ounce of Pixel magic. Come check out my free Pixel Academy e-course to find tons of hidden features and time-saving tricks for your Googley gizmo.

Over the past decade, there’s something I’ve hinted at, mentioned in passing as a part of broader discussions, and told more people than I can count privately via email and other one-on-one conversations.

And now, as the writer of the internet’s longest-standing Android column and newsletter — a fancy way of saying someone who is apparently now old as molasses — I feel like I’d be doing a disservice if I didn’t just come out and say it as prominently and plainly as possible:

There is no valid reason anyone should be buying Motorola Android devices in 2026. None.

It’s a shame, too, ’cause Motorola has a heck of a history within Android and the mobile realm in general. And, to its credit, the company does still make some impressive-looking and at times quite interesting hardware.

But the compromises that come with that package are just too serious and consequential to be forgiven. That’s been the case for some time now, truth be told — but with yet another facepalm-inducing infraction being added onto the list now, it’s time to say it loud and clear:

Please stop buying Motorola Android phones. And please join me in telling everyone you know the same thing. 

Trust me: You’ll be doing them a major favor. And here, with no punches pulled and absolutely no sugarcoating, is exactly why.

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The Motorola Android compromise: Part I

I won’t beat around the bush: The most pressing reason Motorola Android phones are completely inadvisable to buy is the reason that’s been present for the longest — and that’s the company’s complete and utter disregard for even minimally acceptable post-sales software support.

It’s something I’ve noted in my data-based Android Upgrade Report Cards for more years than I can even remember at this point, and it’s almost comically consistent: Year after year, upgrade cycle after upgrade cycle, Motorola simply does not give a damn about investing the time or the money to bring current Android versions to its existing customers in anything close to a timely manner. Once you’ve forked over your phone and put away your wallet, good luck: You’ll be lucky if you get a single software update from Motorola after that, half a year to a year after the fact — and you almost certainly won’t hear a single peep from the company about the progress (or lack thereof) at any point along the way.

Motorola has managed to score an almost impressive number of back-to-back “F” scores on my annual analyses; no other Android device maker even comes close to that record. And lest you think this is purely about pokiness in providing polish and surface-level progress, remember that practically every Android software update is packed with critically important changes around privacy, security, and performance — and the way apps are able to interact with both your data and your hardware.

Running outdated software isn’t just dangerous — it’s downright irresponsible, especially if you’re a professional using your phone for business purposes but even if you’re just a regular ol’ schmoe focused purely on personal stuff. No one who understands a thing about security would ever recommend that, and that’s exactly what you’re signing up for anytime you buy a Motorola-made device.

So that’s part one, and that’s the biggest problem with Motorola’s Android products. But it isn’t the end of this tale nor the reason I was finally moved to write this missive, with the hopes that it’d eventually reach any Android-interested phone-buyers with Motorola on their minds.

Motorola’s more recent Android offenses

All update-related issues aside, the problem with Motorola’s Android products is that they make all sorts of compromises that are all about lining Motorola’s pockets at the expense of your experience.

The most recent example and the straw that broke the Android columnist’s (increasingly creaky) back is the new discovery that Motorola had seemingly been indirectly hijacking the Amazon app on its devices and sneakily injecting an affiliate code into links. The end result of such actions, according to observations published this week, is generating unearned revenue from your day-to-day purchases.

That’s an underhanded and shady-seeming practice, to say the very least. It just feels icky and ethically reckless. And clearly, what was demonstrated was intended to go unnoticed, which is always a pretty apparent sign in my mind that someone’s doing something shifty.

Following the discovery and subsequent outcry, Moto released a statement saying that the behavior was “unintended” and the result of its partnership with a company called Device Native. According to Moto, it had teamed up with that organization to develop “an app search and suggestion experience for the Moto App Launcher.” You can choose to interpret that how you will, but the reality is that Device Native is a company that exists to inject personalized, native-seeming ads directly into the core Android software experience, as its website plainly establishes — with “no user opt-in required,” allowing for easier “scale” of “monetization globally.”

On some level, at least, Motorola evidently decided to work with this company and integrate its ad technology into the Android experience on its phones. Regardless of whether the Amazon code injection was truly deliberate, which organization caused it to happen, and who was or wasn’t aware of the actions, Motorola opted to place this ad-serving system into the phones it was selling and to allow the company behind it to exert this kind of control over its customers’ experiences — as well as, one would imagine, likely leaning on it for other forms of invasive system-level ad integration.

And sure, maybe Moto will back down from this practice and perhaps even distance itself from the partnership entirely if the outrage grows loud enough. But does someone stopping a shady-seeming practice simply because they got caught and people complained make for the kind of company you want to trust in general?

It’s similar to the way Moto lards up its devices with so much preinstalled bloatware that you actually have to fight to get through it or — Goog forbid — remove it and reclaim the product you paid hundreds of dollars to purchase. Heck, even the company’s top-of-the-line, nearly $2,000 folding Razr Fold phone is guilty of this sin, and that’s just embarrassing for a device of that price and caliber.

Even with Motorola’s lower-level phones, though, we’re talking about devices that often cost $500 or close to that. These aren’t bottom-of-the-barrel, heavily subsidized garbage gadgets. You could get one of Google’s Pixel 10a phones for that same price or often even less — without any of the bloatware, the link-hijacking and potential ad-injecting shenanigans, or the unforgivable software support failures. You’d get a full seven years of guaranteed timely and reliable software updates, from major Android versions to monthly security patches and the quarterly feature drops that accompany those. And that’s to say nothing of the superior camera experience and other assorted advantages.

You could go with one of Samsung’s midrange models, too, imperfect as those are in their own ways, and it’d still be a massive step up from the Motorola madness.

We’ve reached a point where there really is just no comparison — and, again, no reason why anyone should be buying a Motorola phone anymore. The issue, unfortunately, is that most of the people who are buying Moto devices are the same people who aren’t reading columns like these. They’re the people who waltz into a carrier store, see whatever model is featured on the shelf or pushed by a commission-earning, partnership-promoting salesperson, and walk out with whatever caught their eye or had the best promotional pricing on that particular day.

Make no mistake about it: These types of devices give Android a bad name and propagate the myth of the entire platform being a second-rate dumping ground for “folks who can’t afford iPhones.” Android is so much more and so much better than that. You deserve so much better than that.

Plain and simple, this isn’t the Motorola of yesterday. At this point, there’s no excuse — and no reason to keep setting yourself up for failure when so many better options exist.

Say goodbye, Moto. And make sure everyone you know who won’t be reading this column knows why they should do the same.

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Apple has spent billions of dollars to develop satellite connectivity for iPhone; I very much doubt it did so solely to rescue stranded hikers. The company will most certainly have had a bigger prize in its sights when it first began working with GlobalStar (now owned by Amazon).

The most logical reason to invest in satellite coverage for its devices is the most obvious — to provide network infrastructure for new breeds of device and new service models. You don’t acquire access to massive amounts of bandwidth for nothing. And Apple’s steady introduction of new satellite-supported services shows it is interested in introducing these services, even though the offer isn’t extensive enough yet to require iPhone users to pay for access, yet.

The decision not to charge for those satellite services suggests they’re just the thin end of the company’s plans for satellite deployment.

It’s possible the company’s ambitions were limited by GlobalStar’s ability to put satellite constellations in orbit. That work was ongoing last time I looked, and I fully expect existing Apple satellite services will be extended to new nations, even under Amazon’s watch.

Amazon enters the room

Amazon’s recent $11.6 billion acquisition of GlobalStar is interesting. You can see that Apple is now forced to work with its old frenemy, even as both partners already profit from strong, steady Apple hardware sales via the online retailer. So they know they can make money together.

“Apple and Amazon have a long and proven track record of working together through Amazon’s core infrastructure services, and we look forward to building on that collaboration with Amazon Leo,” Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said when the deal was announced. (The transaction isn’t expected to close until next year.)

Making money together is often seen as a strength in business relationships and Amazon has agreed to continue supporting Apple products and to collaborate with Apple on future satellite services.

When it comes to mobile telecoms, Amazon isn’t the only game in town, and neither is Starlink. Cellular operators are inking deals with satellite providers all over the world, all with the intention of bringing network access to those who otherwise can’t get a decent connection.

Just today in the UK, Virgin Media O2 announced plans to switch on the O2 Satellite service for iPhone users tomorrow, enabling customers — particularly in rural areas — to get a satellite connection where traditional cellular coverage is unavailable. It could simply identify new ways to enhance the Find My service.

Orange last year offered its own satellite comms to French customers, while Deutsche Telekom partners with others to provide SMS via satellite in Europe and the US. You’ll find similar alliances in most key territories, including Australia and Japan. The direction of travel exposes an industry embracing satellite as a way to widen existing cellular infrastructure, which makes sense given the relative cost of installing conventional masts in some regions. 

Many ways to crack it

There’s speculation Apple could become a satellite carrier, a move that would put it in competition with carrier partners. But Apple doesn’t need to do to provide satellite communication services to iPhone users, nor would it want to relinquish the symbiotically profitable relationships it’s developed with carriers.

It could, for example provide satellite calling as a hardware feature available with every iPhone across all supported carriers, possibly as an additional service that guarantees customers can get a connection, even in the countryside. It could evangelize the service as being “Private by Design,” and supplement this with data over satellite to support apps, particularly agentic AI apps. 

Combined with the next wave of AI enhancements Apple is expected to deliver for its systems, the combination of an always-on, resilient, private data connection and AI could prove invaluable to many customers. That’s particularly true for enterprise customers seeking global solutions that respect sovereign data, privacy, data retention policy and managed AI services – especially as terrestrial infrastructure becomes an attack target. Such scenarios will only become more widely understood as 6G emerges, with its built-in support for satellite infrastructure.

What will Apple do?

Will Apple move in that direction, or maintain its focus on the consumer markets? Will it decide that rather than deploying its own part-owned satellite constellations as it was with GlobalStar, it is better to work with carrier partners? Will it wait for 6G with its enhanced, standards-based support for satellite communications? 

Those are answers we don’t yet have. But it is quite clear that as satellite communications truly enter the mass market, Apple has put together many of the technical, hardware, software and infrastructure pieces it will need to ensure the iPhone is a peer player in whatever use cases emerge. 

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