iPhone 18 Pro faces up to $300 price hike ahead of Sept. 9 unveiling

With Apple ↘ 0.05% set to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max at its "Surprise and Shine" event on September 9, analysts are converging on one uncomfortable consensus: the new flagship iPhones will cost more, potentially much more, than their predecessors. Estimates for the price increase range from $100 to as high as $300, driven largely by a global memory shortage fueled by surging AI demand.

A Wide Range of Predictions

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has reported an increase of roughly $100, which would bring the iPhone 18 Pro to around $1,199 and the Pro Max to $1,299. Analytics firm IDC expects a $200 increase, while The Wall Street Journal News Corp ↗ 0.53% estimates the iPhone 18 Pro could start at $1,299. The steepest forecast comes from GF Securities analyst Jeff Pu, who now projects a $250 to $300 hike, potentially pushing the Pro Max to $1,499. That represents a sharp reversal from Pu's earlier prediction that Apple would hold prices steady through "cost management" and "aggressive pricing."independent+2

The iPhone 17 Pro currently starts at $1,099, while the iPhone 17 Pro Max starts at $1,199.pcmag

Memory Market Described as a "Hundred-Year Flood"

The primary culprit is the cost of memory components. According to TrendForce, the component cost for a 256GB iPhone 18 Pro is approximately 38 percent higher than the equivalent model from last year, with memory accounting for about 34 percent of the build cost on the 1TB variant. Tim Cook himself warned in a Wall Street Journal interview in June that price increases were "unavoidable," saying the situation had "become unsustainable." On a recent earnings call, Cook described the memory market as "like a hundred-year flood in terms of memory pricing, with exponential rises."thegadgetflow+1

Apple has already raised prices on iPads, MacBooks, HomePods, and Apple TV units in the UK, with increases of up to £300 on some products. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has warned the DRAM shortage will continue to widen into 2027. A Financial Times report indicated Apple is lobbying the US government to allow purchases from two blacklisted Chinese chip manufacturers, ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies, in a bid to secure cheaper RAM.independent

Apple Scrambling to Offset Costs

Apple has not been passive in the face of rising costs. Reports from Korean outlet The Elec indicate the company is pushing Samsung Display and LG Display to supply OLED panels for as little as $66.50 each, a 20 percent reduction from what it paid for the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The iPhone 18 Pro is also expected to use TSMC's Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited ↗ 0.36% new 2nm manufacturing process for its A20 chip, but that transition alone raises chip costs by an estimated 50 percent, according to MacRumors.pcmag+1

The pricing question looms especially large given that Apple's September 9 event will mark the first keynote under new CEO John Ternus, who took over from Cook on September 1. How much of the component cost Apple ultimately passes to consumers may be the most closely watched detail of the entire event.thegadgetflow+1