iPhone 15 Pro Max Likely to Start at $1,199 to $1,299, Says Analyst

[MingChaiDuo BLUMBERG]

Nuts for something that is practically just the same with slight camera improvements and a little bit more speed that you won’t really notice opening instagram

iPhone 14: no even 90Hz or 2x optical zoom and AoD
Motorola G82 for 200$: 120Hz, Pro mode, AoD, good Dolby Atmos

My grandpa got that deal. Of course Dolby Atmos is not as good as iPhone but still very good to watch movies becuase we feel that deep effect.

iPhone 14 Pro will be hilarious because if the leaks say true and it will get 3x optical zoom then I won't believe in this world. I will go with Samsung Ultra. I don't want someone to treat me like I'm idiot.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Whatever it is, I'm getting a 15 Pro

What color tho? Also, why not go for the Pro Max Model?

 

[tripsync]

$800 iPhone 14 is beaten by $500 Pixel 7 in almost every aspect including repairability.

False. Many technical differences. Higher pixel density, faster single-core CPU, OS allows for better battery life despite lower capacity battery, Face ID which is more expensive than a fingerprint sensor, better speakers, etc...

Pixel 7 also has 3 years of software major OS updates, iPhones generally have 5.

Shouldn't that $300 price difference warrant all the extras already

Nope. See above.

Also Google is sacrificing hardware margins because they bet on the user increasing ad and other service revenue streams.

Google Play still accounts for roughly third of mobile spending revenues. All the giant companies like King, Blizzard, Microsoft, EA etc. are still there; even Apple is there, and it's possible to subscribe for Apple Music using Google Play billing.

And? That completely ignores what I said. If the #1 revenue app store won't budge on sideloading, it never made sense to setup infrastructure just to serve the lesser mobile app store.

Sure, Epic left the stores; they also lost all the advantages of being showcased in the default platform store, seamless billing, updates, etc

Great, so this proves when a company can see that 30% accounts for a large chunk of revenue, they will leave the default stores and attempt to build their own store so they can keep the extra 30% at the risk of losing App Store/Play Store customers.

It's their choice

And it will be the choice of many other companies who currently have apps on the App Store to leave the app store and force users to install stores they don't want to install to continue using the apps they've already paid for.

Google Play and App Store screw over customers like me & you by being the default and the only

Subjective and so I disagree. Having one store for the phone makes it easy for me to find, buy, download, update, and backup apps.

; they must have at least possibility of competition in order to stay sane, relevant, and, well, competitive.

Apple App Store competes against Play Store. They also compete against the web.

Another point to think of: I don't really care what Xbox is up to, but their flagship console is priced at $500, which means that Sony should also strive for $500 price point, otherwise they'd lose the market. It's fine to dislike the competitors of your favourite products; but you have to appreciate their existence in the first place. Same with potential mobile stores, I guess.

This is completely irrelevant but also the only digital store on Xbox is Microsoft's store. They compete against Playstation's PSN store which is also the default and only digital store on Playstation.

But of course, it does. Both Windows & macOS have to account for third-party software as a norm.

Windows & macOS have more malware than iOS. iOS stemmed from macOS. This argument is non-sensical.

Oh, and people came up with perfect solution to distribute software from multiple sources decades ago. Ever heard of package management on Linux and the idea of repositories?

Uh...lol? I'm a full stack developer and do devops from time to time. It is FAR from perfect. I had to google this problem recently: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1360842/unable-to-install-ffmpeg-in-bionic-and-held-packages

It is quite literally not the perfect solution.

I think it would be cool if Apple included MagSafe cable with every iPhone, especially since it's an industry standard nowadays. But axing charging cable altogether — no thank you. That effectively raises the price of the phone by another $50; robbery in plain sight.

Sigh...just because it's included in the product doesn't mean it was free.

There's a set budget for the phone. What you include in the box adds to the budget. So when you add a cable into the box and it goes over the budget, the margins decrease or the price of the product must increase to keep the margins. Which path do you think Apple is going to go down? Shareholders and the board will get made if margins decrease and will fire Tim Cook to find someone else that will increase margins.

Hence, we're having price increases for iPhone 15.

Speed is a concern; Wi-Fi 6E is around three times slower than a decade-old USB 3.0 interface

And 1st gen iPad Pros had a lightning to USB camera kit that had USB 3.0 transfer rates.

Apple did USB 3.0 for the host device, but there's still no way to transfer files to PC at reasonable speeds; there never was a Lightning to USB 3 cable.

Never said they had a lightning to USB3 cable but if we're changing to USB-C for USB3 speeds, Apple can absolutely produce a USB 3 lightning cable. So this still doesn't warrant the need for USB-C.

The point was, lightning isn't technically capped at USB2.0.

And they have no excuse when $500 Pixel 7 supports USB-C at 3.0 speeds.

Pixel 7's price and feature set is completely irrelevant. If you love Pixel 7 so much, go buy it. That's how the free market works.

Something that even latest Beats headphones have. Basically, a way to transmit digital lossless audio; it's supported by most modern speakers, headphones, DACs, etc. iPhone is the only device on the market which can't take advantage of that.

Lightning port can technically support this.

 

[JamesHolden]

Nuts for something that is practically just the same with slight camera improvements and a little bit more speed that you won’t really notice opening instagram

Agreed. I just replaced the battery on my 11 Pro. I see little reason to upgrade. Slightly better camera. Slightly faster (not like anyone will notice). The Dynamic Gimmick. Yawn. I guarantee if you took the 11 Pro and a 14 Pro and put them in the same case so that they appeared identical, most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

 

[Ch3ckM4te]

Oh, quit with the price talks already and release it. The people that have the money to spend $1,100, probably have the money to spend $1,200-$1,300.

Would they rather spend less? Sure. Are they gonna pay more cause they love the products? Yes.

 

[willchris]

This is ridiculous! 14 Pro Max already starts at $1.675 in my country and that's with the summer promotion. Regular price was $1.975

 

[Doomtomb]

I wont be happy til we get that $699 price back

 

[ksgant]

My iPhone broke in February this year, so to tide me over until September I bought a Pixel 6a for £300 brand new.

I expected a £300 phone to be rubbish but I've been pleasantly surprised. Sure, it has a few bugs here and there, but I'm now finding it very difficult to justify stumping up £1200 for a phone.
Or maybe I'm just getting old.

So...you got a lower cost Pixel, which isn't Google's flagship phone. And you're finding it difficult to justify going ALL THE WAY UP to Apple's flagship phone? Don't even consider the iPhone SE, which goes for , right now, less than what you paid for the Pixel 6a. Not to mention the regular iPhones are also cheaper than the Pro Max models. Remember your equating the price of a low-cost phone to a company's top-of-the-line flagship phone and finding it hard to justify.

Ok...

 

[ksgant]

I wont be happy til we get that $699 price back

The regular iPhone 14 costs $799...granted, it's 100 bucks more, but still. Or do you want Apple to have the iPhone 14 Pro Max cost $699?

 

[Sebalto]

So...you got a lower cost Pixel, which isn't Google's flagship phone. And you're finding it difficult to justify going ALL THE WAY UP to Apple's flagship phone? Don't even consider the iPhone SE, which goes for , right now, less than what you paid for the Pixel 6a. Not to mention the regular iPhones are also cheaper than the Pro Max models. Remember your equating the price of a low-cost phone to a company's top-of-the-line flagship phone and finding it hard to justify.

Ok...

Yes thats correct. If £1200 was good value for a smartphone it should stand to reason that a phone costing 25% of the price should be roughly 25% of the quality. It isn't.

The iPhone SE is awful value for money, and CPU aside, is bested in every category by the 6a. My wife had two, and the battery wasn't fit for purpose. Btw go to Apple UK and lookup the price of an SE 128gb - £499. That's 66% more than what I paid for a way superior phone.

I think you better remove your Apple shaped blinkers son.

 

[dampfnudel]

I wont be happy til we get that $699 price back

It looks like you won’t be happy.

 

[Complex757]

They better wow me, because from leaks I don't see a reason to upgrade this year.

They're trying to pay for all the lost revenue from lightning cables.

 

[witchcult]

Heck yeah. lets keep the Pros premium.

 

[KJ01]

Apple's upcoming iPhone 15 Pro models will likely be more expensive than the current models, according to Tim Long, an analyst at British bank Barclays. Long said this information is based on conversations with supply chain companies in Asia.

In a research note this month, obtained by MacRumors, Long said he expects the iPhone 15 Pro to cost up to $100 more than the iPhone 14 Pro, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max to be $100 to $200 more expensive than the iPhone 14 Pro Max. He believes pricing will remain similar for the standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models.

Based on Long's estimates, pricing for the iPhone 15 lineup in the U.S. could be as follows:

• iPhone 15: $799 (unchanged)
• iPhone 15 Plus: $899 (unchanged)
• iPhone 15 Pro: Up to $1,099 (vs. $999 now)
• iPhone 15 Pro Max: Up to $1,299 (vs. $1,099 now)

Rumors suggest the iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature an upgraded Telephoto lens with periscope technology that enables up to 5-6x zoom without blur, compared to 3x on iPhone 14 Pro models. This feature is not expected to be available on the smaller iPhone 15 Pro this year, which could contribute to the Pro Max seeing a bigger price increase. Long believes the periscope lens will add around $50 to the iPhone 15 Pro Max's bill of materials.

Price estimates for future iPhones should always be treated with some skepticism, as they are merely educated guesses and are not always correct. For example, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted price increases for the iPhone 14 Pro models last year, but the devices ended up having the same prices as the previous generation.

Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 15 lineup in September, despite reports of a temporary display-related manufacturing issue for the Pro models. Other rumored features for the Pro models include a USB-C port, titanium frame, customizable Action button, faster A17 Bionic chip, thinner bezels around the display, Wi-Fi 6E support, increased RAM, upgraded Ultra Wideband chip, and more, so all of the new features coupled with inflationary pressures could warrant price hikes. It would be the first price increase for the high-end iPhone models since the iPhone X and iPhone XS Max, which started at $999 and $1,099, respectively.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg's Debby Wu and Takashi Mochizuki reported that Apple was considering raising the prices of the iPhone 15 Pro models by an unspecified amount, so multiple sources have reported this possibility. We'll find out for sure when Apple unveils the iPhone 15 lineup in just a few months from now.

Article Link: iPhone 15 Pro Max Likely to Start at $1,199 to $1,299, Says Analyst

I hope this so-called analyst is wrong.

 

[chsvicks]

My guess for the UK market / EU market pricing if the US prices go up by $100 for the pro and pro max:

Prices stay the same purely because of the better exchange rate.

My maths for the UK:

- iPhone 13 Pro: $999 / £949 at an exchange rate of 1$ worth around £0.75ish back in September 2021 + VAT and protection from currency fluctuation

- iPhone 14 Pro: $999 / £1099 at an exchange rate of 1$ worth around £0.87ish back in September 2022 + VAT and protection from currency fluctuation

- iPhone 15 Pro: $1099 / £1099 at an exchange rate of 1$ worth around £0.8 hopefully in September 2023 + VAT and protection from currency fluctuation

 

[verniesgarden]

It's crazy to think how many items you used to get when purchasing an iPhone back in the day. Fast forward to today, and you get less than half of the stuff you see in the photo below. Half of the asking price too!

How times have changed!

Half of that is packaging. But I would love to get a dock with my iPhone again.

 

[webkit]

I wont be happy til we get that $699 price back

Back? Pro iPhones were never $699. Even the first iPhone Pro started at $999 (11 Pro) in 2019. Sure, the regular iPhone 11 started at $699 at the time but that would be around $831 in today's dollars which is even more than the predicted price of a regular IPhone 15 with at least twice the storage.

 

[webkit]

My guess for the UK market / EU market pricing if the US prices go up by $100 for the pro and pro max:

Prices stay the same purely because of the better exchange rate.

My maths for the UK:

- iPhone 13 Pro: $999 / £949 at an exchange rate of 1$ worth around £0.75ish back in September 2021 + VAT and protection from currency fluctuation

- iPhone 14 Pro: $999 / £1099 at an exchange rate of 1$ worth around £0.87ish back in September 2022 + VAT and protection from currency fluctuation

- iPhone 15 Pro: $1099 / £1099 at an exchange rate of 1$ worth around £0.8 hopefully in September 2023 + VAT and protection from currency fluctuation

I'm not sure what the exchange rates will be in September but if there are price increases in the U.S., my guess too is that UK/EU prices will largely stay the same depending on the U.S. increases. Time will tell.

Regarding price comparisons between the U.S. and the UK/EU, I really think the UK/EU figures should exclude VAT since the U.S. retail prices don't include sales tax. Apple is not responsible for what governments may charge in sales tax/VAT and therefore those figures shouldn't factor into what APPLE itself is charging.

A fairer price comparison would therefore be more like:

iPhone 13 Pro: $999 / £790
iPhone 14 Pro: $999 / £915
iPhone 15 Pro: $1099 / £915

 

[chsvicks]

I'm not sure what the exchange rates will be in September but if there are price increases in the U.S., my guess too is that UK/EU prices will largely stay the same depending on the U.S. increases. Time will tell.

Regarding price comparisons between the U.S. and the UK/EU, I really think the UK/EU figures should exclude VAT since the U.S. retail prices don't include sales tax. Apple is not responsible for what governments may charge in sales tax/VAT and therefore those figures shouldn't factor into what APPLE itself is charging.

A fairer price comparison would therefore be more like:

iPhone 13 Pro: $999 / £790
iPhone 14 Pro: $999 / £915
iPhone 15 Pro: $1099 / £915

I agree those figures probably make more sense for a comparison but the UK always has a 20% VAT which would end up roughly at the £1099 mark.

In the end of day the price increase will in my opinion have a less of an impact on the UK prices because of the current exchange rate. That could obviously still change before the release.

 

[B4U]

Are we sure it is not Apple that is trying to test the water with these "rumors" to see how the market reacts to how much can they get away with? 🤣

 

[sunny5]

Any news on the storage size for iPhone 15 Pro Max? Starting with 256gb would be awful tho.

 

[CatalinApple]

On a positive note: This will be the first price hike since iPhone X which was 6 years ago.

View attachment 2237808

For the US consumers you are right, but outside the US prices have increased about 2 times in the past 6 years...

Hilarious comments from Americans. We Europeans have been subsiding your prize freeze for years - welcome to the club. You will pay it. You’ll say you won’t, like we did. But in the end you will pay it. Like we did. We were the Guinea pigs.

Inflation is to blame here and the war in Ukraine spiked it...
Secondly, I don't think most readers on MacRumors are aware of the outrageous prices Apple, Samsung...etc charge outside the US. You are right about the price freeze in the US. Practically, the US has enjoyed a relatively steady price for years compared to all the markets outside the US.

So this brings US prices in line with Europe? As they had a similar increase last year.

I wish this would be the case but I am afraid it isn't.

No way European prices will stay the same. If prices increase in the U.S. they will go up in Europe too..

I wish just for once that the prices would stay the same everywhere outside the US. Europe has already seen its prices go up for the iPhone 14 lineup compared to the 13 en 12 lineup.

In Europe the iPhone is already expensive enough. Here in Portugal the price tag is already outrageous, around €1500 for the Pro Models

I think the price is almost the same in the eurozone and it is outrageous. People in the US complain about $1200 iPhone price tag is funny while markets outside the US have been dealing with this for some time....if not years.

My guess for the UK market / EU market pricing if the US prices go up by $100 for the pro and pro max:

Prices stay the same purely because of the better exchange rate.

My maths for the UK:

- iPhone 13 Pro: $999 / £949 at an exchange rate of 1$ worth around £0.75ish back in September 2021 + VAT and protection from currency fluctuation

- iPhone 14 Pro: $999 / £1099 at an exchange rate of 1$ worth around £0.87ish back in September 2022 + VAT and protection from currency fluctuation

- iPhone 15 Pro: $1099 / £1099 at an exchange rate of 1$ worth around £0.8 hopefully in September 2023 + VAT and protection from currency fluctuation

I hope you are right.

 

[subi257]

What color tho? Also, why not go for the Pro Max Model?

If it happens…..dark red, I love red. Otherwise blue. I do a belt clip case so the max.might be too big. I can’t do the pocket thing for a second phone. I also have carry my work phone a 13 mini.

 

[Howyalikdemapls]

They certainly are that insane, look what they want for the Vision Pro. Prices are getting out of hand, how much will a base Pro Max type iPhone be in 15yrs? $3K+.

Maybe. At least $2k. The original iPhone started at $499, and we doubled that at 10 years (iPhone X). If it keeps a similar rate of price increases (100% increase every 10 years) then by iPhone 20 it could start at $2k, and iPhone 30 (15 years from now) could start at $4k. Your estimate of $3k may not be far off. God I hope not though. TV prices and even PCs have gone down over the years despite continued tech improvements… hopefully phone prices don’t keep going crazy.

 

[inthequantum]

In the history of iPhone upgrades (and I have owned every one) this update is the least exciting. They usually have a camera update that lures me in, but the sensor and lens seems almost identical to the iPhone 14 Pro. USB-C, periscope lens, and an action button? Those are not exciting reasons to upgrade sadly… I miss the days of Steve when new innovation was always around the corner. The iPhone 16 Pro however is shaping up to be a great update. Maybe this will be the first year I skip upgrading, and I really don’t want to.

Someone convince me that the update from an iPhone 14 Pro Max to a iPhone 15 Pro Max will be worth it… I want to be sold!