Will 2023 be the year that iPhones get more expensive in the US?

AppleInsider

After years of rumors of an imminent price increase, a new report claims that Apple will finally do it to iPhone 15 Pro models in 2023.

iPhone 15 Pro models could cost more

According to Jeff Pu, an analyst at Hong Kong-based investment firm Haitong International Securities, Apple plans to raise the prices for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The reasoning relies on other rumors, including a titanium frame, solid-state buttons, and a new periscope camera.

Pu made his latest prediction in a recent research note seen by MacRumors, and it is the second rumor about a price increase for the iPhone 15 Pro models. Although Pu receives information from Apple's supply chain, he has had mixed results with previous rumors.

While a price increase is plausible given ongoing inflation rates, Apple hasn't changed starting prices for the iPhone Pro models in years. Since the iPhone X, the Pro -- or Pro-adjacent, in the case of the iPhone X -- models have started at $999. Pro Max versions have been $1,099 starting with the iPhone XS Max, at least in the US.

However, Apple has raised the prices of iPhones in other countries. For example, the iPhone 14 Pro costs 1,099 pounds in the UK, while the older iPhone 13 Pro model cost 949 pounds.

If the rumor of the iPhone 15 Pro Max regarding the higher 2TB of storage is true, then it's likely that Apple will raise the price for those models as it seeks to maintain profits.

Read on AppleInsider

JP234

Well, you get what you pay for, I guess. But I don't think they're going to raise the price. It's a really tough decision to break the $999 barrier.

DAalseth

JP234 said:

Well, you get what you pay for, I guess. But I don't think they're going to raise the price. It's a really tough decision to break the $999 barrier.

Inflation. It’s the excuse everybody is using.

waveparticle

What about Argentina? The annual inflation is over 100%.

dutchlord

Bad timing Apple. More people have other priorities than buying iphones.

Roderikus

DAalseth said:

JP234 said:

Well, you get what you pay for, I guess. But I don't think they're going to raise the price. It's a really tough decision to break the $999 barrier.

Inflation. It’s the excuse everybody is using.

I wouldn’t say iPhones are explicitly expensive.
it is just less commodity than others

entropys

I remember buying my first iphone. $500.

JP234

DAalseth said:

JP234 said:

Well, you get what you pay for, I guess. But I don't think they're going to raise the price. It's a really tough decision to break the $999 barrier.

Inflation. It’s the excuse everybody is using.

So far, Apple has been able to easily afford to eat cost increases. We'll see whether they're willing to keep that up.

charlesn

entropys said:

I remember buying my first iphone. $500.

So let's talk about that. Adjusted for 2023 dollars, the $499 first gen iPhone cost $720. It had a 3.5 inch screen. 4GB of storage. A 2MP rear camera and no front camera. It ran on the 2G network. I could go on with how primitive the phone was, but you get the idea. Today's iPhone 14 costs a whopping $79 more than iPhone 1. Still think it's expensive?

I could see Apple upping the minimum storage in the iPhone 15 Pro models, but keeping the total price the same as what you would have paid for that much storage in the iPhone 14... It's a way of increasing the price while being able to say that you didn't increase the price. So the base model will be a 256GB iPhone 15 Pro at $1099. I don't think they'll increase the price of the regular iPhone. 

Illus1ve

charlesn said:

entropys said:

I remember buying my first iphone. $500.

So let's talk about that. Adjusted for 2023 dollars, the $499 first gen iPhone cost $720. It had a 3.5 inch screen. 4GB of storage. A 2MP rear camera and no front camera. It ran on the 2G network. I could go on with how primitive the phone was, but you get the idea. Today's iPhone 14 costs a whopping $79 more than iPhone 1. Still think it's expensive?

I could see Apple upping the minimum storage in the iPhone 15 Pro models, but keeping the total price the same as what you would have paid for that much storage in the iPhone 14... It's a way of increasing the price while being able to say that you didn't increase the price. So the base model will be a 256GB iPhone 15 Pro at $1099. I don't think they'll increase the price of the regular iPhone. 

The components required to build the original iPhone were likely expensive and much harder to source than today's mass-produced hardware. Entire production lines would have been set up from scratch to manufacture what was basically a one-of-a-kind product at the time. The ground-breaking R&D that had gone into the original iPhone would have cost a pretty penny, too.

Now, compare that to today's incremental upgrades, and lazy, data-driven, normie-oriented R&D in an industry replete with similar ideas. 

lkrupp

dutchlord said:

Bad timing Apple. More people have other priorities than buying iphones.

I think you have mo idea what people’s priorities are these days. Phones are the be-all end-all of people’s existence in the 21st century 

9secondkox2

Um… seems like they’ve BEEN getting more expensive for a while. Apple is making massive profits on these bad boys.