The MacRumors Show: iPhone 18 Pro Has a Pricing Problem

[MacRumors]

On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss potential price rises for the iPhone 18 lineup following Apple's wave of hikes yesterday, as well as plans for the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and camera-equipped AirPods.

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Apple yesterday raised prices across most of its lineup, including HomePod mini, HomePod, Apple TV, the entire iPad line, the entire Mac line, and Vision Pro, following CEO Tim Cook's warning to The Wall Street Journal that hikes were "unavoidable" due to soaring memory and storage chip costs. Apple's online store was briefly taken offline before returning with the new pricing, with increases ranging from $30 on the HomePod mini to $1,300 on the high end Mac Studio, averaging $246.67 across the affected products.

The iPhone, AirPods, Studio Display, Apple Watch, and accessories such as the Apple Pencil appear to be the only product lines left unaffected. Separately, the 256GB Mac mini has returned to the lineup after disappearing earlier this year, now priced at $799, which is a $200 increase over its earlier price.

The same pressure is likely to hit the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, which were already speculated to cost more than their predecessors before yesterday's increases. Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Cook acknowledged Apple isn't immune to these cost pressures, and said clarity on iPhone pricing would come with the lineup's September launch.

Citing research firm TechInsights, the Wall Street Journal reported that DRAM and flash storage costs are projected to roughly quadruple by fall, pushing the iPhone 17 Pro's bill of materials from about $582 up 25% to around $726 for its successor. TechInsights has said Apple would need to raise the iPhone 18 Pro's price by about $270 to preserve current margins, though Apple's preference for standardized pricing makes a $1,299 starting price more likely on its own.

Factoring in the new camera system, which analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says could cost about 50% more than the previous generation, the Wall Street Journal estimates Apple could ultimately set the iPhone 18 Pro's starting price at $1,399 or higher, a $200 to $300 jump over the current model, with the iPhone 18 Pro Max likely starting $100 above that.

The iPhone 18 Pro is rumored to keep the iPhone 17 Pro's aluminum build, with four new colors including Dark Cherry, a muted wine-red expected to be the signature shade. As with last year, there's likely no true black option. Weibo leaker Fixed Focus Digital recently warned the new colors could be prone to the same chipping and surface issues seen on last year's Cosmic Orange and Dark Blue, which Apple reportedly treats as a material characteristic rather than a defect.

The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are expected to launch in September alongside Apple's first foldable iPhone, the "iPhone Ultra." Shipping could slip slightly later for the foldable. A Chinese leaker recently said any gap would be at most a month, and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has reported the device remains on track for September, after Barclays analyst Tim Long earlier suggested shipments could slip to December. The foldable is expected to feature a 7.8-inch inner display, 5.5-inch cover display, the A20 chip and C2 modem, Touch ID instead of Face ID, two rear cameras, and a starting price of at least $2,000.

Gurman recently reported that the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and Apple Watch Series 12 will launch alongside the new iPhones. Little is known about the devices, though a faster chip seems highly likely given that both the Series 11 and Ultra 3 stuck with the S10 from the previous year. watchOS 27 will likely add new watch faces, including a variant of the Modular Ultra face.

For 2027, Apple is developing camera-equipped AirPods. The cameras, embedded in the AirPods' stems, are not designed for taking photos or video, and will instead feed information about the wearer's surroundings to Siri, which will be able to answer questions about objects and whatever the wearer is looking at, alongside contextual reminders and improved turn-by-turn directions. An included light will indicate to people nearby when the cameras are active. The AirPods were originally targeted for a 2026 launch, but Apple's broader AI struggles and the need to develop reliable object-identification models apparently pushed the timeline back.

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Article Link: The MacRumors Show: iPhone 18 Pro Has a Pricing Problem

 

[Marrakas]

I wonder if we will ever reach a point where people just decide the price is too high, and Apple start losing customers.

It hasn't happened yet, so it makes me wonder if it ever will.

 

[Delolia]

In Belgium the ipad pro 13inch wifi 256gb is now 1669€ . Before it was the same price as iPhone 17 pro max 256gb.

So the new iPhone will probably be 1669€ too. Too much for me if that’s the new price.

 

[JPack]

The problem is more about mainstream devices like base iPhone 18/19 and 18e/19e as those consumers will really feel the pain.

 

[coachgq]

I wonder if phone carriers will still have the “on us” type promotion. If that’s the case, the price of the phone doesn’t matter much. But I could also see carriers coming out with a new plan to make up the difference and only that plan will get the on us promo.

 

[jbachandouris]

Well iup are monthly prices. Last time it went up $3 more per month. I’ll have to see if that’s worth it.

 

[Dark enV]

I'm wondering if the recent price increases are meant to offset some of the potential ones for the iPhone. The iPhone is the most popular and lucrative product Apple sells. Increasing the prices too much will turn people off from purchasing which in turn will hurt Apple more in the long run. By increasing the prices of other products can make it to where Apple could only increase the cost say $100 across the board for the Pro model iPhones and people would honestly sigh in relief and still upgrade. If they raise the prices $200-$300, I can see many people just stick with their current devices unless carriers are aggressive and offer good trade in incentives for customers to upgrade. I'll be curious to see what Apple will end up doing.

 

[mrhick01]

The customer is likely screwed because the first domino has fallen. Micron has made agreements with 16 corporations for memory supply (at significantly higher prices) for the next five years, and it is likely that SK-Hynix and Samsung will be next.

Those costs, certainly and absolutely, will be passed on to us until at least 2031.

The only chance for market relief will be if Chinese corporations can scale to the level of worldwide memory sales. Even if there is will and intent, however, that will take years to scale, and that memory may be desired by China's leadership to fuel their own national hyper-scaling!

 

[mrhick01]

It appears that memory prices in the late 2020s will be analogous to memory costs of the late 1970s to early 1980s.

What a time!

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

I wonder if we will ever reach a point where people just decide the price is too high, and Apple start losing customers.

It hasn't happened yet, so it makes me wonder if it ever will.

Never ever will imo

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

IMO the upper crust lol that buys Apple products do not care about a $50-100-200 price increase. They are buying the latest and greatest and that’s that.

 

[ort888]

Apple can to hell. I won't be buying anything at these prices.

Normal people can't afford these things anymore. The whole world is squeezing us from every direction AND WE"VE HAD ENOUGH.

I WON'T BE BUYING A GOD DAMNED THING.

 

[ceddy]

You can just buy the regular model (17 non-pro) to save some cash. It's the same phone if you read past the marketing.

 

[MNJohn]

Roughy two-thirds (67.5%) of 2025 Apple’s iPhone sales were to consumers with an annual income of $75,000 or less. These income groups are absolutely getting hammered these days by the price of food, housing, automobiles, auto insurance, healthcare insurance, diminishing employment benefits, lack of employment mobility, etc.

Significantly increasing iPhone prices, at a time when most of its customers are being squeezed in a financial vice, seems incredibly short-sighted and, frankly, stupid. Maybe Apple hopes to make up the lost sales in increasing Applecare contracts that people will buy as a hedge when keeping their current devices.

 

[SwampYankee0!]

I usually upgrade every other year. So I have an iPhone 17 pro. From here it looks like minor changes for the iPhone 18 Pro, mostly a new color so there is ZERO chance of me getting an iPhone 18Pro. I think the big winner with increased prices will be Apple Care. Everything will have to last longer than before.

 

[tidybowl]

"to preserve current margins" - that's the key. According to the Google, Apple has over $68 billion cash on hand.

So yeah - "unavoidable."

 

[TonyC28]

You can just buy the regular model (17 non-pro) to save some cash. It's the same phone if you read past the marketing.

I am seriously taking a look at the iPhone 17 to replace my 16 Pro (my memory is full and annoying me). Is the main loss really just the 5x camera?

 

[jdclifford]

IMO the upper crust lol that buys Apple products do not care about a $50-100-200 price increase. They are buying the latest and greatest and that’s that.

Although I'm part of that target group and have been an Apple fanboy since 1984, Timmy Apple has cured me of my FOMO. My $800 AW Ultra has suddenly become obsolete after 3 yrs, and the obscene AI chase has no real practical/urgent use case scenario for me personally. AI on the personal level seems to me to be a solution looking for a problem to solve.

I’m done with being on the cutting edge. It’s not the $$$ for me, it’s the lack of need. I’ve just updated all my devices to the latest so I’ll be on the sidelines for the foreseeable future (unless the iPhone foldable is irresistible).

 

[harriska2]

Don’t care about the pro/max price increases. But I am very concerned about the 17/18 regular model price increases. Not willing to listen to the podcast, just too tedious.

 

[uofawildcats96]

we discuss potential price rises for the iPhone 18 lineup following Apple's wave of hikes yesterday

You framed this podcast as if it was recorded after the price hikes announcement, but it was clearly filmed before, and therefore lacks a lot of context. I understand not wanting to trash a bunch of content, but there's no need to lie to your readers/viewers.

 

[Agent007]

but there's no need to lie to your readers/viewers.

It's a perceived need by the MR staff. And, hey, it's just a "white lie" and they're protecting Apple, so it's fine.
/s

 

[ronno]

People just keep their phones longer and longer - as all models do the same stuff now - but the new ones get heavier and more pricey.

 

[krakenrelease]

You can just buy the regular model (17 non-pro) to save some cash. It's the same phone if you read past the marketing.

Or a used older model. Don’t need the latest and greatest phone model

 

[gummybear2026]

The whole hardware lineup has a pricing problem. Next quarter isn't going to look very pretty for Apple.

 

[subjonas]

I wonder if we will ever reach a point where people just decide the price is too high, and Apple start losing customers.

It hasn't happened yet, so it makes me wonder if it ever will.

Prices increase in general over time, even for companies, so all companies have to try to ride the increasing line without going too far above or below. Price too low and they lose advantage and eventually market share (their market share would go up at first, but low profits mean they'll gradually lose talent and R&D advantage to their competitors who would eventually overtake their market share). Too far above and there is indeed a point at which they will price their customers out and lose market share. It's a balancing act. Despite rising prices, as long as Apple offers their customers a better UX per dollar than their competitors do, Apple will retain their market share. But with dramatic price increases across the board like we're seeing, the market as a whole will suffer as more people decide not to buy.