Apple prepares to raise iPhone prices

Apple prepares to raise iPhone prices following similar moves by Samsung and Google, says BloombergIt’s Mark Gurman.

Apple raised prices for almost every major product category two months ago, with affected Macs and iPads increasing by an average of about 23%. In the latest edition of his “Power On” newsletter, Gurman said the iPhone faces the same memory and chip supply chain issues as other Apple products, so a price increase “remains inevitable.”

Apple has apparently been closely watching how Samsung and Google respond to rising component costs. Both companies have increased the prices of their latest smartphones by around $100. Matching that increase would put the iPhone 18 Pro’s starting price at $1,199, up about 9% from the current iPhone 17 Pro’s $1,099 starting price.

Given the severity of the memory crisis, Gurman says this is a “fairly modest increase,” suggesting that Apple is absorbing some of the additional costs itself. The company has already warned of pressure on its gross margins this quarter, a sign that it is not passing on all its growing expenses to its customers.

Apple still has good reasons not to push too far. A $100 increase would keep the iPhone broadly within Samsung’s price range and avoid the “sticker shock” of larger hikes imposed on the Mac and iPad. Still, Gurman says Apple has room to go higher, since the price increases for Macs and ‌iPad‌ have been much larger and the iPhone has a loyal customer base to rely on. The new Apple Upgrade subscription program could also soften the blow by allowing buyers to spread the higher cost over monthly payments rather than paying the full price up front.