Your next iPhone is going to cost you money. And if you haven’t purchased an existing model before Wednesday, you’ll also pay more.
On Tuesday, Apple announced the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max – with price tags $100 higher than the previous Pro models. It also announced the new foldable iPhone Duopriced at $1,999. Apple has not yet announced the entry-level version of the iPhone 18.
That wasn’t the only price news. Apple also increased the price of older iPhones by $100, going back to the iPhone 16, the oldest generation that Apple still sells new on its online store.
The increase means the iPhone Air, which Apple launched nearly a year ago, is now more expensive ($1,099) than when it debuted at $999. This includes the iPhone 17e and iPhone 17, which now cost $699 and $899 respectively.
The iPhone 16 will cost $799, bringing it back to its debut price when Apple launched it in September 2024.
The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models will be available with storage capacities of 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB. The 2TB version of the Pro model costs $2399, and the Pro Max 2TB phone costs $2499.
Both prices are above those of the 2TB iPhone 17 Pro Max, the previous most expensive iPhone on the market. Both top-end iPhone 18 models still pale in comparison to the top-tier iPhone Duo. The 2TB iPhone Duo costs $3199.
The higher prices illustrate how the global memory shortage has stretched a company as dominant as Apple.
Tim Cook said in his last earnings call as CEO Apple had “reluctantly raised prices” of iPads and MacBooks due to the memory shortage.
“We did this because we are experiencing what I would characterize as a 100-year flood in memory prices, with exponential increases in memory prices,” Cook said.
The memory shortage is largely driven by the AI revolution, as chipmakers shift production from chips designed for consumer products to the more specialized chips needed for the data centers that power AI models.
In June, Apple raised the prices of iPads by as much as 25% and those of Mac computers by as much as 20%. At the time, the cost of existing iPhone models remained unchanged.
Other companies, including some of Apple’s competitors, have also increased device prices.
Officials at Samsung and Google have said they have raised prices on some of their smartphone models in part because of rising memory costs.
“There has never been a memory price increase like the one happening around the world right now,” Google vice president of devices and services Shakil Barkat said in July ahead of the Pixel 11’s release.
Ultimately, Google spent $100 on the Pixel 11, although it also doubled the base edition’s storage when Google discontinued the 128GB model.
The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max can be pre-ordered on Saturday, September 12 and will then go on sale on September 18.
