iPhone 18 Pro: Why Apple May Be Forced To Hike Price Of Next-Gen Device

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says an iPhone price hike now looks likely as memory and chip shortages squeeze Apple's margins

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Apple appears to be heading toward a price increase on its next iPhone lineup
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Apple appears to be heading toward a price increase on its next iPhone lineup, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who covered the topic in his Power On newsletter. Gurman framed the increase as no longer a question of if, but by how much, pointing to the same memory and chip supply issues that have already pushed prices up elsewhere in the industry.

Mac And iPad Already Got Costlier

This wouldn't be Apple's first pricing move this year. The company raised prices across several Mac and iPad models roughly two months ago, with increases averaging around 23%. The MacBook Air went up by $200, the Mac Studio by $500, and the iPad Air by $150, all attributed to rising costs for memory and other core components.

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Why iPhone Prices Could Follow

Gurman noted that Apple has been watching closely as Samsung and Google both raised prices on their latest flagship phones by roughly $100 in response to the same component pressures. Should Apple take a similar step, the iPhone 18 Pro could land at around $1,199, a jump of about 9%.

Given how severe the memory shortage has become industry-wide, Gurman described that kind of increase as relatively restrained, suggesting Apple would be shouldering part of the added cost itself rather than fully passing it on. That reading lines up with Apple's own recent warning about pressure on its gross margins this quarter.

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A Modest Hike Would Make Strategic Sense

A roughly $100 bump would leave the iPhone priced not too far from where Samsung already sits, giving Apple a way to raise prices without triggering the kind of sharp customer pushback that followed its steeper Mac and iPad increases earlier this year. Even so, given how loyal Apple's buyer base tends to be, the company may have more room to push prices higher than a cautious $100 hike suggests.

A New Way To Soften The Blow

Separately, Apple is reportedly developing an Upgrade subscription plan that would let buyers spread the cost of a new iPhone across monthly payments, potentially making a higher upfront price easier to swallow for customers.

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Apple has not confirmed any pricing changes for the iPhone 18 Pro. What the company ultimately charges will come down to a mix of component costs, its appetite for margin, and how much price sensitivity it expects from buyers.

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