Apple has spent years playing the 'we absorb the cost' card while everyone else quietly hiked prices around it. That card might finally be off the table. After bumping Mac and iPad prices in June thanks to a brutal memory chip shortage, the same pressure now seems to be creeping toward the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro. Multiple reports- including one far more credible than the usual rumour mill- suggest the iPhone 18 Pro lineup could get costlier across the board. So if you have been holding off upgrading, hoping Apple stays generous, well, the numbers might not agree with you this September. Yes, an iPhone 18 Pro price hike is on the way and here is what it may stack up to.
The rumour first did the rounds earlier this year in all seriousness, but it is the Bloomberg report that is giving it real weight, confirming what earlier tipsters had already guessed. The culprit is not some fancy new feature justifying the markup, it is RAM and NAND chip prices climbing high enough that Apple can no longer quietly eat the difference.
People familiar with the matter say Apple actually tried to avoid hiking the iPhone 18 Pro price, holding off as long as its profit margins allowed. But margins can only stretch so thin, and eventually the company had to choose between shrinking its own cut or passing costs onto buyers.
The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max may see a $100 bump all the way up to $150 to $200 and more. Apple will have to be careful as it does not want to price itself out of the market against Samsung and Google, both of whom have already raised their own prices this year.
With the hike, the iPhone 18 Pro price is expected to start around $1,199, and the Pro Max could push to the $1,299 range and more depending on the version, which, surprisingly enough, still keeps both within striking distance of the competition rather than category-topping. Samsung and Google smartphone prices have been hiked by around $100 too.
Apple is not exactly gambling here, its user base has stuck around through price jumps before and shows little sign of switching camps over a $100 or $200 price hike.
That loyalty is precisely what gives Apple room to push iPhone 18 Pro price further up down the line if chip costs keep climbing.