Apple will increase the price of its high-end iPhones by just $100 per model upon the announcement of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports, which is a smaller bump than many had been bracing for ahead of today's event.
In June, Apple hiked the cost of all of its Macs, iPads, and home products in response to the global memory shortage, but chose to keep iPhone pricing intact at the time. That is widely expected to change today, with the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max expected to come in at a higher price than their predecessors.
Gurman's $100 figure comes in well below some of the more dire predictions floated over the summer. Analytics firm IDC had suggested increases of up to $200 for the Pro models, while GF Securities analyst Jeff Pu warned costs for the A20 Pro chip, RAM, and storage could push prices as much as $300 higher. TrendForce, citing memory chip costs that have risen nearly 400% year-on-year, had also modeled a $150 to $200 jump. Apple appears to be absorbing more of that cost itself rather than passing all of it on to buyers.
Earlier this year, Apple took steps to soften the blow of rising prices by launching the Apple Upgrade program in the U.S. The Klarna-backed leasing plan allows customers to pay a monthly fee in perpetuity and swap their device out annually for the newest version. Wireless carriers could also help to ease iPhone "sticker shock" by offering aggressive installment plans and trade-in incentives, Gurman added.
