The MacRumors Show: iPhone 18 Pro Has a Pricing Problem

On this week's episode of The Mac Rumors Show, we discuss potential price rises for the i Phone 18 lineup following Apple's wave of hikes yesterday, as well as plans for the Apple Watch Ultra 4 and camera-equipped Air Pods. Subscribe to The Mac Rumors Show You Tube channel for more videos Apple yesterday raised prices across most of its lineup, including Home Pod mini, Home Pod, Apple TV, the entire i Pad line, the entire Mac line, and Vision Pro, following CEO Tim Cook's warning to The Wall Street Journal that hikes were "unavoidable" due to soaring memory and storage chip costs. Apple's online store was briefly taken offline before returning with the new pricing, with increases ranging from $30 on the ‌HomePod mini‌ to $1,300 on the high end Mac Studio, averaging $246.67 across the affected products. The iPhone, AirPods, Studio Display, Apple Watch, and accessories such as the Apple Pencil appear to be the only product lines left unaffected. Separately, the 256GB Mac mini has returned to the lineup after disappearing earlier this year, now priced at $799, which is a $200 increase over its earlier price. The same pressure is likely to hit the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, which were already speculated to cost more than their predecessors before yesterday's increases. Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Cook acknowledged Apple isn't immune to these cost pressures, and said clarity on iPhone pricing would come with the lineup's September launch. Citing research firm TechInsights, the ‌Wall Street Journal‌ reported that DRAM and flash storage costs are projected to roughly quadruple by fall, pushing the iPhone 17 Pro's bill of materials from about $582 up 25% to around $726 for its successor. TechInsights has said Apple would need to raise the iPhone 18 Pro's price by about $270 to preserve current margins, though Apple's preference for standardized pricing makes a $1,299 starting price more likely on its own.