Apple quietly jacks the prices of the iPhone 16, iPhone 17, and iPhone Air — here's how much you'll pay now

The big headline of Apple's Surprise and shine event was the announcement of the new foldable iPhone Duo along with the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, but behind the scenes was some not-so-welcome news.

Due to the ongoing component shortages, Apple quietly increased the prices of some of its older phones. The iPhone 16, iPhone 17, iPhone 17e, and iPhone Air all saw their prices go up by $100 on Apple's site. While you'll undoubtedly still be able to get discounts from carriers, the company's older phones are no longer as great a value as they once were.

Here's how Apple's older phones compare in terms of cost, storage, processor, and battery life, to the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max.

I Tried the iPhone Duo... Is It Worth It? - YouTube

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The iPhone 17 Pro Max cost $1,199 when it was first released, and the iPhone 17 Pro was $1,099, so Apple is raising prices across all of the phones in its lineup. While Apple no longer sells those two phones directly, you can still get them through carriers at those prices.

However, what really sticks out is the iPhone 16; at $799, it's $100 more than the iPhone 17e, yet has half the storage and an older processor. The iPhone 16 does have a better camera setup and faster charging, but is that enough to justify its higher price?

Now, there's naturally going to be a gap between Apple's Pro models and its base units, but now that the company has narrowed it between its older phones and now-discontinued iPhone 17 Pro models, the calculus changes somewhat for those who don't need to get Apple's latest-and-greatest.

I haven't delved into other features, such as camera performance and Siri, but Apple is touting a huge boost in battery life — it claims that the 18 Pro Max will last up to 45 hours when playing video, an increase of 6 hours over the iPhone 17 Pro Max. While we've seen much more modest gains on the Tom's Guide battery test, a significant change here could go a long way to justifying its price.

We'll have to wait and see until early next year, when Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 18 and iPhone Air 2; will they be the same price as the current models, or cost even more?

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