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iPhone 18 Pro Max Component Costs Could Rise Nearly $300

npmacuser5 said:
Lower end machine’s impossible with AI. What will need to happen, build a basic phone as today and the AI handheld device. No other option and will be up to us to decide what are our actual needs. Simple as that.
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By lower end I meant the base Pro/ProMax models, all of which are intended to do some form of AI. Apple will never release a basic phone, no margins there.
 
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I would say this won't go over well in the US, but with $1 trillion in credit card debt alone today, I guess some people will just keep paying higher prices whether they go further in to debt or not. If people stopped buying things they don't actually need (more of a want than a need), prices would eventually come down.
 
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I could see Apple dropping the 256GB option from the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max and launch at 512GB and perhaps add a 2TB option to the non-Max that they could really soak folks for to protect margins across the line.

This would raise the price for the 18 Pro from $1099 to $1299, but it wouldn't really be an increase since the iPhone 17 Pro with 512GB is also $1299 ($1399). I would expect $100-200 price increases for the 1TB and 2TB configurations.

As for myself, I am planning to wait for the 20th Anniversary iPhone to replace my 16 Pro Max and just pay the full premium for a phone that will likely last me for a half-decade or longer.
 
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With the charger, sticker, EarPods, sim ejection tool all gone, What else is left to get rid of in the box this time?
the 📱 itself ❓
 
tsubikiddo said:
With the charger, sticker, EarPods, sim ejection tool all gone, What else is left to get rid of in the box this time?
the 📱 itself ❓
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No more protective plastic sticker thing covering the screen and back?

Surely that saves $0.0001

Screenshot 2026-07-10 at 09.58.57.png
 
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tsubikiddo said:
With the charger, sticker, EarPods, sim ejection tool all gone, What else is left to get rid of in the box this time?
the 📱 itself ❓
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Why even ship the iPhone in a box if you are picking it up from an Apple Store, just ship the iPhones to stores in a bulk package and hand you your iPhone ready to go in your pocket. No more pesky iPhone boxes and with the anti scratch glass they keep bragging about, why even use the screen protecting packaging? They could include a environmental fee when they have to ship it to you in a box.
 
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Spock said:
Why even ship the iPhone in a box if you are picking it up from an Apple Store, just ship the iPhones to stores in a bulk package and hand you your iPhone ready to go in your pocket. No more pesky iPhone boxes and with the anti scratch glass they keep bragging about, why even use the screen protecting packaging? They could include a environmental fee when they have to ship it to you in a box.
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I like where you are going ..

Then we could be handing out Refurb phones and who is really going to know?

Ka-CHING!

BALLER idea -- promote that guy!!

Screenshot 2026-07-10 at 10.05.52.png
 
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now i see it said:
Shall we go down memory lane?


Disproportionate Markups on the Consumer:

Micron's leadership took direct aim at how Apple passes costs to consumers. Executives pointed out that while memory prices have indeed risen due to the AI infrastructure boom, Apple is disproportionately multiplying that cost. As one executive noted, if a chip price moves up slightly, Apple uses that as justification to mark up retail prices by hundreds of dollars to protect its own high margins.
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We all know that Apple has always overcharged for RAM and storage upgrades. Now they have a reason to do it even more!
 
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Spock said:
Why even ship the iPhone in a box if you are picking it up from an Apple Store, just ship the iPhones to stores in a bulk package and hand you your iPhone ready to go in your pocket. No more pesky iPhone boxes and with the anti scratch glass they keep bragging about, why even use the screen protecting packaging? They could include a environmental fee when they have to ship it to you in a box.
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The unboxing experience, something Apple has been t for a long time. Notice how the setup bar has people open their own phones vs the Apple employee doing it?
 
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DEMinSoCAL said:
That analysis seems wrong. A single 1TB NAND chip is nowhere near $250 in the quantities Apple buys.

At the retail level, a 1TB 2230 NVMe SSD is less than $200, and that is retail pricing, and includes a circuit board, controller, and a bunch of overhead for manufacturing, packaging and distribution. The chip itself in quantities that Apple would buy is nowhere near $250.

I think we are being misled or Apple needs better buyers.
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It's not Apple. It's the accuracy of the assessment made by the company making that claim - a rumor. Chum in the water, causing everyone to go non-linear.
 
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