September 10, 2026
Bonus Content: Apple’s New Price List Runs to $2,499. The Memory Bill Tells You Why.
Editor’s Note: We’re delighted to bring you the latest stock pick from our colleague, Wall Street legend Marc Chaikin. You may recognize Chaikin’s name from frequent appearances on CNBC, Bloomberg or Fox Business. His client list has included billionaires such as Paul Tudor Jones, Steve Cohen, and George Soros. His Power Gauge system flashed bullish on Nvidia right before it rose 50,001%. And it just flashed bullish on another off-the-radar AI stock poised to trigger a $248 trillion “White Swan” event as soon as Sept. 29. See below for Marc’s research and free recommendation.
Dear Reader,
I’ve uncovered the single best AI stock in the world.
And it could explode in value on or before Sept. 29.
That’s the date I anticipate a major announcement.
It relates to a brand-new technology this company just launched.
A technology so powerful…
It could speed up AI breakthroughs 360 times over.
Breakthroughs in medicine, energy, quantum computing and AI itself…
Breakthroughs that were five years away…
Could come in just FIVE DAYS once this technology launches.
I’m talking about something I call AI “micro clusters.”
These are clusters of AI compute that will soon replace the massive data centers blotting the American landscape right now.
Micro cluster technology uses 99% less energy than data centers.
It takes up 99% less real estate.
Yet it’s more than 1 trillion times more powerful than today’s data centers.
Micro clusters are about to trigger this $248 trillion AI “White Swan” event.
Those who understand what’s coming could get very rich.
Those who ignore what’s coming could see their AI portfolios wiped out.
The good news?
One company has engineered the special chips that will power this breakthrough.
The U.S. government is pouring billions into this company’s account ahead of the launch.
And when this story breaks into the mainstream…
I believe billions, even trillions more dollars will flow into this stock.
→ It’s not Nvidia.
→ It’s not Apple.
→ It’s not SpaceX.
It’s an off-the-radar AI play that could explode on or before Sept. 29.
The time to get in is right now.
So, I created this urgent presentation detailing the whole opportunity.
I explain the technology.
I take you “inside” the secretive lab where it’s being finalized.
And I even give you the name and ticker of the company behind the coming technology revolution.
Fair warning: This presentation contains time-sensitive information.
I may have to take it offline as soon as 12 midnight, tonight.
Good investing,
Marc Chaikin
Founder, Chaikin Analytics
P.S. The company I name in this presentation represents the future of AI. Its new technology is about to replace AI data centers when it comes to major AI breakthroughs. And it will, I predict, trigger a $248 TRILLION reboot of the AI markets… and one of the biggest moneymaking opportunities we’ll ever see… about 50 times bigger than the whole AI boom to date, in fact. Go here for full details, including the company’s name and ticker. And if interested, I urge you to get in on or before Sept. 29, when this company presents its latest findings at a major tech conference in Europe.
Apple’s New Price List Runs to $2,499. The Memory Bill Tells You Why.
Analyst Targets
- Morgan Stanley – Overweight; estimates iPhone Duo drives roughly $14 billion in December-quarter revenue alone
- Bank of America – Buy; price target $325
- Rosenblatt – Raised target to $303; still sees modest downside from current levels
- Consensus (39 analysts, MarketBeat) – Moderate Buy; average target $330.61
What Apple Just Priced
Yesterday’s “Surprise and Shine” event at Apple Park produced a price list that will define the December quarter’s margin story. The iPhone 18 Pro runs $1,199 (256GB), $1,399 (512GB), $1,799 (1TB), and $2,399 (2TB). The iPhone 18 Pro Max runs $1,299, $1,499, $1,899, and $2,499.
AAPL fell as much as 1.9% during the presentation and closed at $315.34, down 0.28%.
The Memory Architecture Behind the Pricing
The headline $100 base increase on the Pro understates what Apple actually did to the stack. The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 for 256GB, a $100 increase over the iPhone 17 Pro’s $1,099. But buyers wanting 512GB pay $100 more than before, and the 1TB configuration carries a $200 premium over its predecessor.
Mark Gurman reported that the Duo’s $1,999 entry price is considerably less than some analysts had predicted, because Apple is eating some of the cost of recent memory component price increases to keep the foldable competitive. That absorbed cost has to land somewhere. It lands at 512GB, at 1TB, and especially at the new 2TB tier.
The component driver is not a cycle. Twelve gigabytes of LPDDR5X memory that cost Apple approximately $39 for the iPhone 17 Pro now costs approximately $145 for the same capacity in the iPhone 18 Pro, a 272% increase. Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron shifted manufacturing capacity toward HBM, which commands much higher prices from AI companies, and new fabrication capacity is not expected to reach meaningful production volume until 2027 at the earliest.
The Gross Margin Question
Apple enters this launch with last quarter’s gross margin reported at 50.1% and a candid warning from Tim Cook about “a 100-year flood on the memory pricing.” The quality of that margin deserves scrutiny. The June quarter’s 50.1% company gross margin included tariff refunds that added approximately two percentage points; removing that benefit puts the underlying margin near 48.1%, which is the cleaner comparison when judging whether new-product pricing can absorb memory, display, and manufacturing costs.
Apple guided September-quarter revenue growth of 9% to 11% and projects gross margin of 47% to 48%. The December quarter is the real test. Apple absorbed memory cost on the Duo’s base configuration and recovered it through storage tiers, which means the margin outcome depends heavily on where consumers land in the stack.
Bull / Base / Bear
Bull: Storage tier mix skews toward 512GB and 1TB across both Pro models, and the Duo sells through its initial 7 to 8 million unit allocation before year-end. Morgan Stanley estimates the foldable alone could contribute roughly $14 billion in December-quarter revenue, which would push product gross margin back above 40% despite input costs.
Base: Pro buyers gravitate toward the 256GB entry point to manage sticker shock, diluting mix benefit. Duo demand is strong but supply-constrained through the quarter. December gross margin lands in the 47% to 48% range Apple guided for September, with memory costs roughly offset by higher average selling prices.
Bear: The $300 effective increase to reach 1TB on the Pro triggers upgrade deferrals. The $100 base increase matched Gurman’s prediction, but that was a smaller jump than many analysts had floated over the summer, meaning the market had already priced moderate demand resilience. Any sign that iPhone revenue growth decelerates below the mid-teens September-quarter guide breaks the bull framework.
Technical Overlay
AAPL closed at $315.34 Wednesday, below its pre-event close and its 52-week high of $344.57. The $310 to $311 zone represents the nearest structural support identified ahead of the event. A recovery through $319 to $320 would confirm the post-event dip was absorbed; failure to reclaim that level reopens the September 4 low around $317.
Bottom Line
Apple’s September 9 price list is a margin redistribution exercise, not a margin expansion. The company held the Duo’s entry point to compete with Samsung’s mature foldable lineup, then recovered the absorbed memory cost through storage tiers where price sensitivity is lower. Services generate a 75.6% gross margin against 40.1% for products, and a healthy installed base can cushion hardware swings, but it cannot make launch economics irrelevant. The stock’s next move from $315 hinges on one number: what percentage of Pro buyers step up past 256GB.
