Great news, Apple fans: the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max may defy the odds later this year and dodge the price hike we all feared was coming.
GF Securities analyst Jeff Pu writes in a new investment note (seen by MacRumors) that, according to new research, there should be no change in pricing from the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. That would mean starting prices of $1,099 and $1,199, respectively, for the next-gen iPhones.
Pu explains that Apple is going hard on "cost management," negotiating with its component manufacturing partners to get the best possible pricing. Pu claims these efforts have already been successful, with Apple managing to get "favorable" terms with Samsung and SK Hynix, who build RAM and flash storage chips for iPhones. He adds that display and camera parts are also something Apple wants to work on getting better deals for.
The price of memory for phones, laptops and other personal computing devices is currently skyrocketing due to the RAM crisis caused by huge demand for high-bandwidth memory for building AI data centers. With costs increasing for other parts like Apple's A-series chipsets, too, the fear of Apple's 2026 iPhone models being more expensive in turn is a genuine one. So it's a relief to hear one of the best-connected Apple analysts say that this worry may be unfounded.
Apple may not need to lower its costs anyway
Pu's new report backs up a prior claim from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo believes that Apple will ultimately prefer to reduce its profit margin on iPhones by not passing on the increased part costs to consumers, if it means increasing market share. Any immediate loss, Kuo argues, can be made up for by the high likelihood of iPhone users spending more on Apple's additional subscription services, like iCloud, Apple Music, Apple TV or Apple Arcade.
Even if the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max don't get price hikes, we are still expecting to see one dazzlingly expensive iPhone this year. The long-rumored iPhone Fold is tipped to launch in the same fall release window as the new Pros, with a price as high as $2,500.
If that's too rich for your blood, then Apple's making you wait for the next generation of cheaper iPhones. The standard iPhone 18, iPhone 18e and iPhone Air 2 are tipped to be coming later in spring 2027. But if you're ready to upgrade in the near future, the iPhone 17e is rumored to be launching very soon — possibly even next week on February 19.
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