That the next iPhone generation will be more expensive has been considered a given for months. What's new is what criteria Apple is using to determine the price – and that the stated figure is significantly lower than what was recently rumored.
Two months after the price hikes for Macs, iPads, and Vision Pro, the question is: when will the iPhone follow suit? Mark Gurman writes in his Bloomberg Power-On newsletter that an increase is inevitable—the same storage and chip costs that have affected the other product lines will also affect the iPhone. What's interesting isn't so much whether there will be a price increase, but rather the figure he cites: it's significantly lower than the recently reported increase of up to $300.
Key Facts at a Glance
- Samsung and Google have each increased the price of their current smartphones by around $100 – Apple is expected to use this figure as a guideline.
- An increase of this magnitude would bring the starting price of the iPhone 18 Pro in the US to $1,199, around nine percent above the iPhone 17 Pro.
- This is significantly below the previously mentioned range of up to $300. Both figures are listed side by side.
- The iPhone line was excluded from the June price round – unlike Macs, iPads, HomePods, Apple TV and Vision Pro.
A look at the competition
The key difference between this report and previous ones is that, according to the report, Apple is closely monitoring how its competitors are handling the increased component costs. Samsung followed suit in April, and Google in mid-August – both times by around $100 to their respective top-of-the-line models.
Applying this figure to the iPhone 17 Pro with its US starting price of $1,099, the iPhone 18 Pro ends up at $1,199. That would be around nine percent. Gurman considers this conservative given the state of the memory market and concludes that Apple is absorbing some of the additional costs itself. The company has already provided an indication of this: Apple has announced pressure on its gross margin for the current quarter.
Why the number is smaller than previously thought
At the beginning of August, a completely different figure was being discussed – a surcharge of up to $300 was mentioned, extrapolated to the Pro models. The $100 now being mentioned is a third of that.
The contradiction remains unresolved. Both figures originate from the same time period and refer to the same product generation. The difference lies in the derivation: the higher range was based on the cost development of storage, the lower one on what the competition was currently demanding of the market. Both are calculations, not price lists.
The report itself provides an argument in favor of the more conservative approach: a $100 price increase keeps the iPhone in the same price range as Samsung's top models. In contrast, the more drastic price hikes for the Mac and iPad have generated significant resistance – an effect Apple is unlikely to repeat with its most important product.
What's actually on the price tag in Germany
For German-speaking countries, the dollar calculation is only a guideline. Apple doesn't automatically set euro prices based on the exchange rate, and the list prices here include 19 percent VAT, which is missing from the US prices. Therefore, a $100 surcharge doesn't translate to €100 in Germany.
The reliable starting point is the current status in the German store:
| Model (256 GB) | Price |
|---|---|
| iPhone 17e | 699 euros |
| iPhone 17 | 949 euros |
| iPhone 17 Pro | 1,299 euros |
| iPhone 17 Pro Max | 1,449 euros |
These prices remain unchanged. An expected iPhone 17 price adjustment on August 10th did not occur, neither in Germany nor in other regions. The price update on June 25th also bypassed the iPhone lineup – it affected Macs, iPads, HomePods, Apple TV, and Vision Pro.
That's precisely the difference for buyers in this country: Anyone who recently bought a Mac or an iPad has already paid the price increase. It's still pending for the iPhone, and the most likely time for it to happen is with the new generation in September.
How reliable is the information?
Gurman is one of the most reliable sources regarding Apple's product plans. However, here he's not reporting a price list, but rather an expectation: the $1,199 figure is a transfer of the competitor's markup, not a leaked value from Apple's systems.
The starting point, however, is well-established. The cost of RAM and flash memory is the driving force, and Apple's own attempts to counteract this have proven ineffective. Tim Cook himself recently described how the company internally weighs the costs of passing them on, when he explained how Apple decides on price increases – on a product-by-product and market-by-market basis.
We expect Apple to tie the price increase to the new generation and leave the prices of the iPhone 17 series untouched until then. The reason is inherent in the concept itself: an increase for current models would be a noticeable price hike without any corresponding benefit, whereas with the successor, it would be masked by new features. The date is drawing near – invitations to the September event are expected any day now.
Until then, one question remains, and it all comes down to price: At what price increase would you pass on the iPhone 18 Pro and opt for the current model instead – or is price not a factor for you anyway? Let us know in the comments where your pain threshold lies.
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