iPhone 18 might put some serious hurt on your wallet, after all
Apple is expected to raise iPhone prices by $100 with the iPhone 18 lineup due to rising memory costs, ending a period of price stability. While the increase may impact consumers, Apple remains competitively positioned as rivals have raised prices more or scaled back offerings. The move highlights the limits of even Apple's supply chain advantages in the face of persistent cost pressures.
- ▪Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring predicts the iPhone 18 will cost $100 more than the iPhone 17 across equivalent models.
- ▪Apple acknowledged rising memory costs during its latest earnings call and signaled the need to protect profit margins.
- ▪The company previously absorbed cost increases, as seen with the MacBook line and the discontinuation of the base 256GB Mac mini model.
- ▪Competitors like Microsoft and some Chinese OEMs have raised prices significantly or face shrinking profit margins on flagship devices.
- ▪Even with the price hike, Apple's competitive position remains strong relative to others in the market.
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Apple has spent the better part of the last year looking like the most composed player in a room full of people setting their own furniture on fire. While Microsoft was hiking Surface prices to genuinely eye-watering levels and Chinese OEMs were watching their flagship ambitions evaporate under the weight of component costs, Apple held the line — a quiet confidence that felt almost theatrical. It was impressive while it lasted. It just didn’t last long enough. Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring is now calling it: the iPhone 18 lineup will likely cost $100 more than the iPhone 17 generation across equivalent models.
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