Less than a week before Apple launches the new iPhone 18 Pro models, research firm TrendForce estimated device prices based on the latest hardware cost environment.
TrendForce’s price estimates compared to last year’s models look like this:
| Model | Initial price | Model | Initial price | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 17 Pro | $1,099 | iPhone 18 Pro | $1,249 to $1,299 | +150$ to +200$ |
| iPhone 17 Pro Max | $1,199 | iPhone 18 Pro Max | $1,349 to $1,399 | +150$ to +200$ |
Apple is likely to increase prices of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max by around 10% to 20% over last year’s Pro models, according to the company. Taking TrendForce’s June forecast of a 14-18% increase, which falls within its latest broader range of 10-20% and translates more clearly to Apple’s typical pricing scheme, we could see the iPhone 18 Pro’s starting price rise to between $1,249 and $1,299 and the iPhone 18 Pro Max to between $1,349 and $1,399.
Meanwhile, TrendForce expects prices for Apple’s first foldable iPhone (aka “iPhone Ultra”) to start between $2,099 and $2,299, with the highest storage option likely to exceed $3,000.
The standard iPhone 18 model is not expected to debut until spring 2027. Nonetheless, TrendForce expects the same general 10-20% price increase to apply to this device as well.
The main reason for the price increase is the cost of memory. TrendForce claims that the cost of a 256GB memory chip has increased nearly 400% year over year, while its separate analysis puts the bill of materials (BOM) of a 256GB Pro model at around 38% more over the same period. That said, Apple is expected to absorb some of this increase by reducing its margins, rather than passing the entire cost on to consumers.
Last year, Apple managed to avoid raising the price of the iPhone 17 Pro Max and only raised the price of the iPhone 17 Pro in the US slightly, by $100 per year. This year, however, the insatiable build-out of AI infrastructure has made memory costs even more expensive, holding the rest of the electronics industry to ransom. And things don’t look like they’ll get better any time soon.
We’ll find out the actual prices during Apple’s “Surprise and Shine” event on Wednesday, September 9.
