iPhone 15 Pro tipped to keep $999 price — but Pro Max could see big jump

Rumors of the iPhone 15 Pro Max price increase are not going away, and it now looks like the phone may be subject to a $100 price increase compared to the iPhone 14 Pro Max. There have been a bunch of rumors surrounding this, relating to hardware and the price of the iPhone 15 Pro and a new report from TrendForce (via 9to5Mac) could shed some light on what to expect.

The first is that the iPhone 15 Pro could be sticking to the same $999 price tag as the iPhone 14 Pro — meaning no price increase for anyone hoping to get a basic Pro model. The bad news is that Apple will apparently sell the iPhone 15 Pro Max with 128GB of base storage.

It had been speculated that the iPhone 15 Pro Max price rise could have coincided with base storage rising to 256GB — which would have lessened the blow of having to pay more money. If TrendForce’s report is accurate this won’t be the case, and to make matters worse the analysts at the firm claim that we won’t be seeing 2TB storage options either. Instead things will max out at 1TB, just like previous years.

Without that change in base storage, it means that any price increase would be down to other factors. Whether that’s Apple passing on increased costs of production, which rumors claim could be as high as 20% with the iPhone 15 Pro series, or one of the many hi-tech features that have been rumored.

The main rumors that have appeared online over the past few months include the new titanium frame and the periscope camera lens. Titanium is a very durable metal and a lot lighter than stainless steel, but its relative rarity means that it’s significantly more expensive — which has to be accounted for in the final price tag. The periscope camera is also something Apple has lacked compared to its rivals, though the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s may also be a “hybrid” sensor capable of offering two different levels of optical zoom in a single lens — something few other phones can offer.

On top of that rumors claim the phone will offer a new solid state action button, rumored to be replacing the mute switch, a larger stacked design battery for better power density, Qi2 wireless charging and the new A17 Bionic chipset.

But whether those upgrades will actually be worth the rumored price hike, is entirely up to you. A $100 price increase is better than the prospect of paying an extra $200, but it would still be more preferable if prices didn’t change. At least that may still happen for the iPhone 15 Pro, even if the Pro Max isn’t quite so lucky. 

You can read more about both phones in our iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max hubs. Meanwhile we’re closing in on the September 12 launch date very quickly, and you can read up on all the things we expect to see at the show in our Apple September event page.

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