Only the base iPhone 17 may escape a $50 price hike
An analyst with almost no Apple rumor track record is probably right when they claim that three out of the four new iPhone 17 models will cost an extra $50 versus corresponding iPhone 16 models.
Render of a possible iPhone 17 Pro Max
Despite Trump's constant insistence that it's other countries who pay his "reciprocal" tariffs, it's US firms that do -- and so it's inevitable that costs will be borne by consumers. Apple has worked to delay price rises, but now an analyst says it has no choice to add $50 to almost every model.
Specifically, Jefferies analyst Edison Lee claims that the price hike will come to the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and the expected iPhone 17 Slim. That would mean that both the top of the range and the company's first major new design will be affected.
$AAPL - IPHONE 18 PRICE HIKE EXPECTED: JEFFERIES
Jefferies analyst Edison Lee maintained a Hold rating and $188.32 price target on Apple. He noted strong iPhone demand in Q2 2025, with U.S. telcos reporting ~22% growth in equipment sales -- the highest in six quarters. This-- *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone)
Perhaps most significantly, if this is correct, it means that the iPhone 17 Pro will break the $1,000 barrier for the first time. Apple has kept its base configuration to $999 since the iPhone 11 Pro in 2019.
There is no direct equivalent to the predicted iPhone 17 Slim in the current iPhone 16 range. However, that new model is assumed to be replacing the iPhone 16 Plus, which currently starts at $899.
The one model not predicted to see a price rise is the base iPhone 17. That's expected to retain the $799 of its current equivalent, the iPhone 16.
Jeffries says that the price rise is specifically to offset the impact of the tariffs, and from unspecified rising component costs.
Back in May 2025, it was reported that Apple was looking to raise prices because of tariffs, but also to find a way to avoid blaming Trump. That's because Trump's administration exploded at Amazon over a claim, later denied, that the retailer would display exactly how much the tariffs were adding to the cost of items.
Rumor Score: Likely
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Apple will absolutely raise prices globally to minimize how much the price needs to go up. $50 sounds like this is the case.
It's getting to the stage where the lockdowns in the apple ecosystem are irritants, by no means deal breakers, but irritants. If I end up subsiding US consumers then the pendulum has swung too far for me.
I appreciate great design, I don't appreciate being taken for granted.
Apple has been living on its reputation, ease of use, trust and the ecosystem for a long time, I'm not seeing anything compelling (for me) coming out of the company at the moment. I'm borderline on upgrading my phone this year, if I move that away from apple then the rest of my gear will move over then next 2 years. I seriously think apple is playing with fire here if the tariffs are spread to worldwide sales.
In all seriousness I cannot see any significant innovation in iPhones for several years, AI had a chance to change that but google and copilot are leaps ahead for work, and I don't give a damn about making pretty pictures. As far as the rest goes? Dynamic island - really? dumping pixels to hide the camera is a feature? Action button - ok, a bit useful. The cameras - they are fine, but you can get better. The battery life - no. Airdrop - yes that's useful.
Ideally I won't change phone this year which will give me another year to see if apple produces something compelling, but if my power socket continues to play up, and apple decided to spread US tariffs then, as I say, I'll probably move away from apple.
Hey ho
but I quoted $ for a reason
The iPhone 7 Plus 256GB cost $969 in 2016 -- accounting for inflation, that works out to $1293 in 2025 dollars.
The iPhone 16 256GB--which has a much bigger screen than the 7 Plus and is an exponentially better phone in pretty much every measurable way costs $899 in 2025 dollars. Not only is that less in actual dollars, it's a little over 30% cheaper than an iPhone 7 Plus when accounting for inflation and you're getting a hugely better phone. Even if you slap a $50 increase on the iPhone 17/256 for tariffs, it's still ten bucks cheaper in actual dollars than the iPhone 7 Plus.
When we consider the base model Pro, it's the same $999 price it was when introduced in 2019... accounting for inflation, that's $1255 in 2025 dollars, so the Pro has actually decreased in price by a little over 20% in terms of inflation-adjusted dollars. Again, hard to argue with a $50 price increase given the brutal tariffs, and what I suspect Apple may do is sweeten a price increase with an increase in base memory from 128gb to 256gb. We know that storage prices are a massive profit center for Apple, bordering on criminal, so it probably costs Apple little to do the bump up and keeps customers happier than they would be with just a price increase. In fact, if the base 17 Pro goes to $1049 with 256 storage, that would be $50 cheaper than what that configuration costs for the 16 Pro. This is not just wishful thinking--the last revision of the base iPad Mini went from 128GB storage to 256GB with no increase in price at all. Of course, similar to what it did with the Pro Max, Apple could also make 256GB the new base model Pro and charge the same $1099 that it does now, and claim "no price increase," which would technically be true.
Also, tariffs were already proven to be a failure in Trump's 1st term as president. They put tariffs on agricultural products and the end result was taxpayers having to pay $28 billion to farmers to keep them from going bankrupt. And after receiving the bailout, those farmers experienced diminished demand going forward for their output. Which means that doing nothing would have been better than doing tariffs. You're going to find out within the next year that it's the same deal with all the other stuff that Trump is slapping tariffs on. Doing nothing would have been better.
Actual research is your friend, Kellie. The truth is that the last time tariffs were this high was 1925. And THAT sure worked out well, didn't it? In fact, the last time average tariffs even hit double digits was 1947, at a little over 10%. Average tariffs have been in the single digits since then, and in the low single digits in recent decades. So your suggestion that Trump's tariffs are nothing new, or somehow not so different from what we've been paying right along is false. We haven't seen anything like it in a century, and that ended very, very badly for the country. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-average-u-s-tariff-rate-since-1890/
What's also terrible for business is that Trump's word and signature are worthless. The agreements he signs today he'll toss out tomorrow subject to his whim of the moment. Look no further than his torching of the USMCA shortly after he got back into office, an agreement he personally negotiated and signed after tearing up NAFTA. Or that he intends to punish Brazil with tariffs--a country with which we've had a trade surplus for decades!--for its legal actions against a Brazilian politician he likes. Where does that insanity leave American companies who export to Brazil? Trade policy is not a tool to serve a man-baby's friends and ego. He also wants to punish Canada anew because it's going to recognize Palestine as a state, something it has every right to do as a sovereign state. This is ALL absolutely unprecedented and nuts.