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Apple is set to increase product prices, CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal, setting the stage for a more expensive iPhone 18. Cook says Apple can no longer absorb the increased cost of components like memory and storage, which have skyrocketed over the course of the year.
"We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable," said Cook.
Cook didn't provide a timeline for when prices might be up, what product categories would be impacted, or whether existing devices could also be impacted. While Apple held firm with pricing for the iPhone 17e this year when other manufacturers were already increasing costs, it has discontinued the entry-level Mac mini and upped the starting price (and storage) on new MacBook models.
The Wall Street Journal estimates that Apple would need to increase the price of the iPhone 18 Pro by USD$270 to maintain its current profit margin. That works out to just under $400 at current exchange rates, and could mean customers pay as much as $2,399 for an entry-level iPhone 18 Pro when it presumably goes on sale in September this year. Apple isn't expected to launch a "standard" iPhone 18 until early 2028.
When Samsung launched the Galaxy S26 at the start of this year, local pricing increased by as much as $250 for certain models.
Memory and storage prices have surged this year as a result of generative AI-led demand, impacting the entire consumer tech space. Outside of phones, video game consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 have had price increases, defying the usual conventions. Non-Mac computers haven't been immune either, with Microsoft upping Surface prices as a recent example.
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Alex Choros
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