With long-term DRAM agreements with Samsung and SK Hynix expiring at the start of next year, the Fruity Cargo Cult Apple moved quickly to avoid price hikes and production headaches.

According to the latest report, Job’s Mob has stitched up a fresh partnership with Samsung, making it the largest DRAM supplier with 60 to 70 per cent of shipments.

Those chips will land in the iPhone 17 range and next year’s iPhone 18 family, cementing Samsung’s grip on the supply chain.

Despite Job’s Mob usually preferring multiple suppliers to maintain pricing leverage, Samsung appears to be the only outfit capable of meeting its increasingly fussy requirements.

According to the Korea Economic Daily, current iPhones ship with DRAM from Samsung, SK hynix and Micron, but future models could show just one name on most shipments,

SK hynix still has a solid foothold but is said to be pouring capacity into high-bandwidth memory, while Samsung has shifted focus from HBM to DDR5 to juice profits.

With the iPhone 18 expected in the third quarter of next year and tipped to use six-channel LPDDR5X for higher bandwidth and AI grunt, Samsung stands alone in terms of volume and quality.

The report adds that “Apple specifications” for DRAM are strict and go well beyond JEDEC standards, making life awkward for rivals.

Chipsets like the A19, A19 Pro and next year’s A20 and A20 Pro do not tolerate even momentary voltage spikes, narrowing the field further.

Samsung’s 12GB LPDDR5X chips are just 0.65mm thick, boast 21.2 per cent better thermal resistance and cut power use by 25 per cent, which clearly impressed Job’s Mob.

For Samsung, the DRAM shortage is expected to help drive annual operating profit to $73 billion in 2026, with each 12GB chip rising from $30 to $70.

Job’s Mob may swallow the higher costs by placing chunky orders for iPhone 17 and 18 models, while saving elsewhere by mass producing its own A series SoCs and C2 5G modem. Or it could just jack up the price for users; they would never notice.