Apple Preparing to Increase iPhone Prices

[one more]

Not because they need to or because their costs are up.

The costs are up for everybody and Apple are not an exception. Keeping the prices the same would lower their profit margins and seriously upset the shareholders:

iPhone 18 Pro Models Could Be Up to $300 More Expensive, Says Analyst

This year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max could be $250-$300 more expensive than existing iPhone 17 Pro models due to higher silicon and memory costs, an analyst claimed today. According to an earnings note by Jeff Pu of GF Securities, higher 2nm silicon and DRAM/NAND costs could drive the...

www.macrumors.com

 

[ayephoner]

Bought iPhone 17s for the whole crew (3 family members). And, they were told no phone upgrade for at least 3 years.

I believe consumers will hold off on buying new phones once the price hikes go into effect. After about 2 years of contracting sales, I believe the phone manufacturers will move more features down to the somewhat reasonably priced consumer devices to trigger sales growth again.

7 of us got phones from the 17 line up last year, mostly pros and pro maxes. It seems like it was a really good time to upgrade. The 18p/pm seems like a pretty small update, especially when considering the added cost.

 

[dmccombs]

Good luck Apple will make this as time consuming and difficult as possible. If you have apple care it’s easier to break your screen and have them ship you a new phone.

I didnt have any problem getting my iphone 13 Mini's battery replaced this year. I had Applecare and the battery Health was at 79%. I booked a Genius appt, and they replaced the battery in an hour.

I do dislike some of Apple's business practices, but the battery replacement under Applecare was quick and easy.

 

[one more]

Imagine if Apple not increase the price how people and their competitor reaction

You could guess by the commotion the MacBook Neo created at lunch. However, Apple (and others) would like to keep their profits high.

 

[k1121j]

Why is it difficult getting the battery replaced? With my daughter, we took her iPhone 13 Pro to Apple Store, had lunch at Cheesecake Factory, and when we were done, went back to Apple Store (all in the same mall) and her phone was ready. It couldn't have been easier or more convenient. For $90, it was the smartest decision over spending $1000 for a new phone.

Im glad it was easy for you.

1. Under AppleCare: With my iPhone 14Pro my battery was at 78% I contacted Apple they said to go on the website and schedule an appointment to have it replaced. I went on Apple's website and chose the closest option a local BestBuy, the I got to BestBuy they said they don't do battery replacements. Called AppleCare they said I can drive 40 miles to nearest AppleStore or mail my phone in ( who would do that) for a 3-5 day turn around. But with a broken screen they would mail me a new phone and all I would need to do is mail by old phone back in the same box.

2. Apple will refuse to change your battery even if you offer to pay for it unless it's under 80% they have done this to me on more than one phone.


Needles to say for me it's easier to just have a broken screen.

 

[Lioness~]

Good for me - not buying any new iPhone anytime soon 😂
My 13 mini got a new battery recently.

 

[Ctrlos]

Trillion dollar company just blindly folowing the trend of whacking a probably 10% increase in the price of their products because everyone else is doing the same. Tell me again how competition drives down prices for the consumer. No it doesn't. They all just watch to see how how much their competitors can get away with hiking their prices without causing a terminal sales slump, and then they do the same.

Not that I want to be seen as defending a trillion-dollar company or anything but we all know they're not hiking prices for the hell of it. The wholesale prices for RAM, a previously trivial and abundant computing resource are now past levels of absurd.

If you want to aim your ire anywhere go for Amazon who massively hiked the prices of Kindles and Fire devices by as much as 50-60% despite them using no more than 1gb of RAM which goes for about $15 on their own website. Thats some price-gouging right there.

 

[Ctrlos]

7 of us got phones from the 17 line up last year, mostly pros and pro maxes. It seems like it was a really good time to upgrade. The 18p/pm seems like a pretty small update, especially when considering the added cost.

Even considering that they tend to market new devices at buyers from 3-4 years ago, the 17 lineup will be good for anyone buying an iPhone over the next few years. The second hand market is on the verge of exploding whilst they struggle to sell new ones to anyone. If anyone has a phone older than the iPhone 15 line in their possession I would consider upgrading now rather than leaving it, even if you just keep it sealed in a drawer until the old one falls apart.

 

[cawgijoe]

LOL I am preparing to have my iPhone 13’s battery replaced. I could not care less about Apple UnInteligence and other upgrades that are meaningless to me. I will get a new iPhone when the current one breaks or is no longer capable of iOS security upgrades.

I was thinking of replacing my 13 pro this year, but it still works well. No hurry to upgrade.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Its fine as this actually saves me money. My 16 Pro will go on another year or two and I will reduce my bill. Not the best sales strategy Apple.

 

[tridley68]

Apples greed will eventually catch up to them 👍

 

[webkit]

If costs go up, prices can go up. It shouldn't really matter how "wealthy" a company may be. They are not charities.

Considering that the original starting price of the much smaller, less capable 16GB iPhone 4 was the equivalent of nearly $1,000 in today's dollars, the overall "affordability" of today's phones still isn't that bad even with the expected price increases. Especially as phone plans can be much cheaper today. The cheapest single line AT&T iPhone talk/text/data plan at the time iPhone 4 launched was $60/month (around $92/month in today's dollars) and that didn’t even include unlimited talk and text. You can get "unlimited" phone plans for iPhone today for much less than $92/month. Even today's plans that offer "free" or deeply discounted phones can be less than $92/month.

 

[I7guy]

Apples greed will eventually catch up to them 👍

People have been saying this for 15 years. And you may be right but maybe not in our lifetimes.

But everything else around us has gone up. I can’t understand why people criticize Apple for raising prices when Samsung and Google have also.

 

[Ameer_1]

If the price increase then the trade in value should also increase

 

[dynamojoe]

If the price increase then the trade in value should also increase

It did a month ago or so for a bunch of recent iPhones. It made me consider upgrading to a 17Pro (from my 13pro) but I know as soon as I do I’ll regret it when the 18 hits. I at least want to see what the new phones are like.

I hope Apple doesn’t increase the price of the 17P when the 18P is announced.

 

[tcphoto1]

Apple makes it difficult to support them, their political actions, price increases despite decades of high profits and baby steps in feature and performance improvements. I will keep my current phone and not spend my money. Is Tim gone yet?

 

[citysnaps]

Where are you getting your information that Apple's costs are not up?

Spot on. It seems many here in a time of high inflation across a wide spectrum of goods and services, believe that Apple is magically immune from being affected by increases that are imposed by their parts and service vendors.

 

[SKeijmel]

Thats a very moderate increase looking at the components price increases

 

[Krakken]

Did the battery replacement on my iPhone 14 Pro this summer and will get by on that for another couple of years. No real reason for me to upgrade unless a phone completely dies.

 

[drak22]

Now is the ideal time to buy an iPhone 17 Pro or 17 Pro Max. Depending on how much Apple raises the prices of the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max, suppliers will likely increase the prices of their remaining stock of the 17 Pro/Pro Max, and Apple will probably raise the price of the regular 17 as well, along with the iPhone 18.

 

[rp100]

Consider the price of an upgraded storage model (in USD):

iPhone 12 Pro 512 gb (2020): $1299
iPhone 17 Pro 512 gb (2025): $1299 (and still $1299 as of August 2026)

Now consider general inflation (over 20%) + DRAM & NAND cost increases.
A $100 increase would look downright charitable considering market and currency conditions.
—

In the latest generation, Apple was able to maintain price by eliminating the lowest storage option and forcing the $100 upgrade. This worked because NAND was cheap and the forced upgrade had good margins. Today? A forced upgrade alone isn’t going to maintain historical margins percentages.

So what’s the pricing move for iPhone 18?
They could eliminate the 256Gb version, forcing an upgrade straight to the 512Gb model. That would really cement the “Pro” moniker and, price-wise, seat it comfortably between the base model and folding model.

However, I still think they are going to have to bump pricing across the entire line.
Entry level might get a $100 bump, but the 512Gb is going to be a $200-$300 increase.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Im glad it was easy for you.

1. Under AppleCare: With my iPhone 14Pro my battery was at 78% I contacted Apple they said to go on the website and schedule an appointment to have it replaced. I went on Apple's website and chose the closest option a local BestBuy, the I got to BestBuy they said they don't do battery replacements. Called AppleCare they said I can drive 40 miles to nearest AppleStore or mail my phone in ( who would do that) for a 3-5 day turn around. But with a broken screen they would mail me a new phone and all I would need to do is mail by old phone back in the same box.

2. Apple will refuse to change your battery even if you offer to pay for it unless it's under 80% they have done this to me on more than one phone.


Needles to say for me it's easier to just have a broken screen.

In all fairness, BestBuy isn't Apple Store and many BestBuy stores no longer do Apple repairs. I did my due diligence and checked the local BestBuy a week before (one that was certified and closer than the Apple Store) to ensure they could do my daughters battery replacement. My daughter was visiting from the east coast and I wanted to be sure they could do it quickly. They confirmed they had a battery in stock but could not promise turn-around time or the fact they would actually have the battery on the day my daughter arrived. So, I made a Genius Bar appointment at Apple Store knowing it would be the most predictable and most likely to go smoothly. It did.

It sounds like in your situation, you discovered your local BB wasn't certified and the closest Apple Store was far away. That's not anyone's fault. And it makes sense that a screen repair would get you a new phone, but do you really expect Apple to replace your phone for just a battery?

I'm guessing the reason Apple refuses to replace the battery when it's not unhealthy is because the cost and time. For $90, they're barely breaking even with parts and labor so they have to put some restrictions on it. There are plenty of phone-fixit shops in malls, etc., that would be happy to replace your battery for you while you wait.

 

[Core.2]

We were considering picking up a iPhone 17 for one of the kids for xmas this year, any thoughts if they are going to bump that at all, or price increase is slated for just the new 18 stuff?

 

[andiwm2003]

Im glad it was easy for you.

1. Under AppleCare: With my iPhone 14Pro my battery was at 78% I contacted Apple they said to go on the website and schedule an appointment to have it replaced. I went on Apple's website and chose the closest option a local BestBuy, the I got to BestBuy they said they don't do battery replacements. Called AppleCare they said I can drive 40 miles to nearest AppleStore or mail my phone in ( who would do that) for a 3-5 day turn around. But with a broken screen they would mail me a new phone and all I would need to do is mail by old phone back in the same box.

2. Apple will refuse to change your battery even if you offer to pay for it unless it's under 80% they have done this to me on more than one phone.


Needles to say for me it's easier to just have a broken screen.

I just walk around the corner and have the battery replaced for 89 bucks by a small repair shop. I did this with most of my phones, most recently with my 13pro (after the warranty expired). This is cheaper than the apple care. Your 14 pro should be out of warranty by now too, so why not go the easy cheap route?

 

[freezelighter]

Give me the iPhone 17 Mini with 5.5" and increase the price to 2499$.
All I care about is size and getting back to the times when people were not yet buying everything that is bigger like crazy and smartphones didn't have absurd 7" displays.