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Google's $100 Pixel Price Hike and Trade-In Push Hint at Apple's iPhone 18 Pro Plans

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Google raised the price of its latest smartphones compared to last year, and the increase may hint at what Apple will do with the iPhone 18 Pro models.

google-pixel-11.jpg

All of Google's Pixel starting prices are $100 higher than they were last year.
  • Pixel 11 - $899, up from $799
  • Pixel 11 Pro - $1,099, up from $999
  • Pixel 11 Pro XL - $1,299, up from $1,199
  • Pixel 11 Pro Fold - $1,899, up from $1,799
The 41mm Pixel Watch 5 is now $399, up from $349, and the 45mm model is now $429, up from $399.

With the price hikes, Google increased the base storage for some of its devices, which Apple did with the iPhone 17 Pro. The Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro now start with 256GB instead of 128GB, so pricing is technically the same as last year's 256GB model. The Pixel 11 Pro XL and Pixel 11 Pro Fold started with 256GB last year and still do, so those devices have straight price increases.

Google also cut RAM in some models to mitigate costs. The base Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL have 12GB RAM instead of 16GB RAM. Last year, all Pixel 10 Pro devices had 16GB RAM, but this year, Pixel users need to pay at least $1,219 for 11 Pro and $1,419 for the 11 Pro XL to get 16GB RAM.

A customer buying the Pixel 11 Pro will now pay $100 more for a 128GB storage increase and 4GB less RAM than the 10 Pro last year.

Google is heavily emphasizing trade-in offers, which has the effect of distracting customers from the price increase. Google's product page lists trade-in discounts before actual pricing, stating the Pixel 11 Pro is priced "From $499" with trade-in, while the Pixel 11 Pro XL is "From $699." Purchase pages for the new devices don't even reveal full pricing for a chosen model until a customer declines a trade-in. Google also shows carrier discounts and monthly payment options.

Apple already focuses on trade-in offers and monthly financing when launching new iPhones, but whether it will go as far as Google remains to be seen. Apple recently announced the Apple Upgrade program in partnership with Klarna, offering fee-free 12-month through 36-month payment plans for purchases.

Google told Engadget that despite the decrease in RAM, this year's models will perform faster than the comparable 2025 models.
Pixel's full stack approach allows us to optimize the way on-device models load and execute, keeping our hardware lean, fast, and highly responsive. In fact, through software and silicon optimization, you can expect faster and smoother performance from this year's Pro models when compared to last year's comparable 256GB SSD SKUs.
Click to expand...
Analysts think the iPhone 18 Pro models could be up to $300 more expensive than the iPhone 17 Pro models, but Apple also negotiated lower prices for other components, which could help absorb some of the increased price it has to pay for RAM.

Both Apple and Google have been affected by memory price hikes that Apple CEO Tim Cook likened to a "100-year flood." He said there have been "exponential increases in memory prices," leading the company to raise the cost of its iPads and Macs. Memory chips for consumer devices are in short supply because chip manufacturers are prioritizing chips for AI data centers. The lack of supply has caused RAM prices to skyrocket.

iPhone prices have not increased yet, even though other manufacturers like Samsung have raised prices. Multiple rumors suggest iPhones will be more expensive starting in September. Apple could use the same tactic as Google and increase base storage while hiking prices, but so far it doesn't look like the company will lower the amount of RAM in the Pro models.

The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max already start with 12GB, and Apple likely can't make major changes without impacting the Apple Intelligence and Siri AI features it is rolling out this fall.

Article Link: Google's $100 Pixel Price Hike and Trade-In Push Hint at Apple's iPhone 18 Pro Plans
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/08/12/google-pixel-price-hike/
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Reactions: Z-4195
“Both Apple and Google have been affected by memory price hikes that Apple CEO Tim Cooklikened to a "100-year flood.". A flood caused by Apple, Google, and others chasing the AI bandwagon that zero consumers asked for. When you consider Amazon’s massive Texas AI data center that will be the biggest polluter in North America, and more than Ireland and other countries pollute in an entire year, these CEO’s are all greedy trash destroying the planet all so we can have a worse experience. AI is garbage. It’s created and programmed by humans, most of whom are 20-something programmers with little real life experience or knowledge.

Americans are seeing the results of this garbage AI push in worse search results, a complete loss of privacy, the collapse of IP rights, and the ability that they can be arrested and imprisoned because AI misread their license plate. Then throw in the rising cost of every product that exists because of this stupid AI push, the speeding up of the collapse of Earth to support humans…people like Tim Cook and the new clown that succeeds him are criminals.
 
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macvicta said:
Apple better NOT be cutting RAM to keep prices down. I’d rather pay more for it than not have it at all. You can never have enough RAM as far as I’m concerned. Gimme gimme gimme.
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I don’t think so if they raise prices it will have same RAM as last year’s there’s no way Apple will downgrade a newer iPhone like that WORST Case same chips as last year except the processor.
But what I do fear is next year’s iPhone might be a small upgrade internally that’s why I’m betting 18 Pro Max & Ultra as a 10 year phone. No upgrades and the 15 Pros as bare minimum. To keep also a long time. 🥹 It gets tiring having to be worry upgrading so much it’s better to just settled with something for the long run. I hope Apple gives us 8K video recording.
 
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Will be extremely surprised if it is going to be only $100. Expecting a minimum of $200 increase for Pro models.
 
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This is not accurate. On at least some of these models, they did not do any price hikes, they simple eliminated the lowest tier of storage. So the starting storage is higher and thus the price, just like apple did recently. But because storage has grown vastly cheaper since 128GB came out, they should have easily been able to keep the same price and just made the starter storage tiers 256GB (not accounting for any Ram prices).
 
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Lower ram tier is still equal to apple pros and the rest has 25% more than the 18 pro will.
 
JosephAW said:
Yes Apple just saw the increase and said “hold my beer” :apple:🍺
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The sad truth is they have ai bots combing public perception which their marketing team will use to generate the spin to sell the increase. Once they see people are somewhat accepting of the increase, it will actually embolden them. So you’re not wrong 🫠
 
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fisherman188 said:
This is not accurate. On at least some of these models, they did not do any price hikes, they simple eliminated the lowest tier of storage. So the starting storage is higher and thus the price, just like apple did recently. But because storage has grown vastly cheaper since 128GB came out, they should have easily been able to keep the same price and just made the starter storage tiers 256GB (not accounting for any Ram prices).
Click to expand...
Did the price for the starting model go up? Yes? Then it's a price hike. It doesn't matter that they upgraded storage that most people don't give a crap about.

Also, what bridge have you been sleeping under to believe that storage is not being impacted by all this data center demand? The SSD I bought for $266 last year is $1100 now. Storage has absolutely exploded in price too.
 
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google makes all its money from ads so they dont need to raise the pixel prices so much. its peanuts for them

apple makes all its money from iphones. so they definitely need to raise the iphone prices to offset the new memory prices
 
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cocacolakid said:
“Both Apple and Google have been affected by memory price hikes that Apple CEO Tim Cooklikened to a "100-year flood.". A flood caused by Apple, Google, and others chasing the AI bandwagon that zero consumers asked for. When you consider Amazon’s massive Texas AI data center that will be the biggest polluter in North America, and more than Ireland and other countries pollute in an entire year, these CEO’s are all greedy trash destroying the planet all so we can have a worse experience. AI is garbage. It’s created and programmed by humans, most of whom are 20-something programmers with little real life experience or knowledge.

Americans are seeing the results of this garbage AI push in worse search results, a complete loss of privacy, the collapse of IP rights, and the ability that they can be arrested and imprisoned because AI misread their license plate. Then throw in the rising cost of every product that exists because of this stupid AI push, the speeding up of the collapse of Earth to support humans…people like Tim Cook and the new clown that succeeds him are criminals.
Click to expand...
But people keep buying and shattering Apple records YOY. Consumers are just as much to blame as well. It works both ways.
 
My wife's Pixel 10 Pro XL is less than a year old and she keeps her phone three-plus years like I do, so hopefully this madness will end by the time she's looking to upgrade.
 
fisherman188 said:
This is not accurate. On at least some of these models, they did not do any price hikes, they simple eliminated the lowest tier of storage. So the starting storage is higher and thus the price, just like apple did recently. But because storage has grown vastly cheaper since 128GB came out, they should have easily been able to keep the same price and just made the starter storage tiers 256GB (not accounting for any Ram prices).
Click to expand...
It’s technically not a price hike for the new Pixel 11 base model. It does, however, remove the less expensive option. My Pixel 10 has been perfectly usable with 128 GB of storage and without that option, I’d need to spend more for a base model 11.

However, the current AI-related price situation affects both RAM and “storage” at wholesale and retail prices.
 
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