The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max price leaks have been coming into focus as we get closer to the Apple September event. The broad agreement is that we're due for a price increase on all the models; how much Apple imposes remains to be seen.
Remember, we're talking about just the Pro models here. Apple is rumored to be saving the base model iPhone 18 and iPhone 18 Plus for a release next spring, alongside the iPhone Air 2.
Analysts have predicted that, due to the ongoing costs around memory and storage, Apple could start the iPhone 18 Pro pricing at $1,299 or even $1,399. That's a big jump over the $1,099 starting price of the iPhone 17 Pro a year ago. But it may not be as bad as that.
The most recent assessment, coming from Mark Gurman over at Bloomberg, is that Apple will absorb some of the costs and limit the price rise on the handsets to $100 / £100.
Gurman writes: "Apple has reasons not to push too far. A $100 increase would keep the iPhone broadly in Samsung’s pricing territory and avoid the sticker shock of the steeper hikes imposed on some Macs and iPads."
If Gurman is correct, then we would see a starting price of $1,199 / £1,199 for iPhone 18 Pro and $1,299 / £1,299 for iPhone 18 Pro Max. Here's how the pricing change could look, applied across the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max family using the same tiered approach as the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max storage configurations.
Storage |
iPhone 18 Pro |
iPhone 18 Pro Max |
256GB |
$1,199 / £1,199 |
$1,299 / £1,299 |
512GB |
$1,399 / £1,399 |
$1,499 / £1,499 |
1TB |
$1,599 / £1,599 |
$1,699 / £1,699 |
2TB |
N/A |
$2,099 / £2,099 |
A price rise is never something people want to see, but with enough improvements, potential upgraders may be willing to pay the premium. While we won't get a storage jump this year, other improvements are expected to be the inclusion of a variable aperture camera system and performance improvements from the A20 Pro chip.
What's driving the price hikes?
Apple raised prices on several products earlier this year due to the memory shortage caused by the demand for AI data centers. The iPhone remained unaffected, but that's unlikely to change next month. According to a TrendForce report, the company's bill of materials (BOM) has soared for each iPhone it produces and the end isn't yet in sight.
TrendForce reports that the memory's share of the BOM rose about 10% a year ago from the previous generation. But in the last 12 months, it has surged to approximately 34% in the third quarter of 2026. And it's expected to exceed 40% in the first quarter of 2027.
Analysts believe Apple will choose to sacrifice part of its gross profit margin to keep the price increases as low as possible to preserve volume.
The analysts note that where once the application processor and the display were the most expensive components, it's now the memory. The prediction is that the 256GB iPhone 18 Pro has experienced a BOM 38% higher than the iPhone 17 Pro a year ago.
According to the report, the analysts believe Apple will choose to sacrifice part of its gross profit margin to keep the price increases as low as possible to preserve volume. But they also suggest Apple could raise the prices of older iPhones to try and offset losses — a strategy we've not seen before.
How much are you prepared to pay for a new iPhone? Let me know in the comments box below.
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