Apple is preparing to raise iPhone prices following similar moves from Samsung and Google, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Apple raised prices on almost every major product category two months ago, with affected Macs and iPads rising about 23% on average. In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that the iPhone faces the same memory and chip supply chain issues affecting Apple's other products, so a price increase "remains inevitable."
Apple has apparently been closely observing how Samsung and Google respond to higher component costs. Both companies raised prices on their latest smartphones by about $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 crunch, Gurman says that is a "fairly modest bump," suggesting Apple is absorbing some of the added costs itself. The company has already warned of pressure on gross margins this quarter, which is a sign it is not passing on all of its growing expenses to customers.
Apple still has good reason not to push too far. A $100 increase would keep the iPhone broadly in Samsung's pricing territory and avoid the "sticker shock" of the steeper hikes imposed on the Mac and iPad. Nevertheless, Gurman says that Apple has room to go higher, since the Mac and iPad price increases were far larger and the iPhone has a loyal customer base to draw on. The new Apple Upgrade subscription program could also soften the blow by allowing buyers to spread the higher cost across monthly payments rather than paying the full price upfront.
