So iPhone 18 costs might go up this 12 months. Tim Cook dinner stated value rises for Apple merchandise have been “unavoidable,” to the Wall Street Journal this week.
He didn’t say when, nor how a lot and he didn’t say which merchandise particularly. However he didn’t have to as a result of Samsung Electronics co-CEO TM Roh stated almost exactly the same thing earlier than the Galaxy S26 launched in February.
The wording was completely different however don’t be shocked if the technique is an identical: put together prospects for ache, then ship it in a manner that is much less brutal than feared. And (hopefully) earn a little bit of goodwill within the course of.
Samsung’s value rise playbook is probably going the perfect information to what Apple will do subsequent. Learn on for extra and don’t neglect to subscribe to my newsletter for more iPhone price news and instant deal alerts.
iPhone 18 Value Rises: Right here’s What Samsung Did With The Galaxy S26
The Apple iPhone 18 Professional goes up in response to Tim Cook dinner, however by how a lot? (Picture by Justin Sullivan/Getty Photos)
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Earlier than the Galaxy S26 launch, Samsung executives warned that the reminiscence chip disaster would make price increases across the lineup “inevitable”. The language was cautious and the element was skinny. Sound acquainted?
When the S26 arrived, here’s what truly occurred. The bottom Galaxy S26 Extremely 256GB held at $1,299, an identical to the S25 Extremely. However transfer up the storage ladder and the will increase arrive. The 512GB mannequin rose from $1,419 to $1,499, an $80 improve. The 1TB mannequin jumped from $1,659 to $1,799, up $140.
It wasn’t simply the Extremely, both. The bottom Galaxy S26 rose $40 to $899.99 and the S26+ jumped $100 to $1,099.99. Samsung raised costs throughout the lineup whereas conserving its flagship headline quantity for the Extremely untouched.
Samsung’s technique was to guard the quantity folks see in headlines and lift the tiers the place consumers are much less price-sensitive. The Galaxy S26 Extremely 256GB held agency, however the consumers who needed extra storage paid for it.
Warning consumers beforehand of unnamed value rises made all of that extra palatable. I think Apple will do one thing related this September and Cook dinner’s warning is straight out of Roh’s playbook.
The TechInsights iPhone 18 Value Rise Numbers
Analysis agency TechInsights and the Wall Street Journal have run the numbers on what the reminiscence chip disaster means for the iPhone 18 Professional particularly. Apple paid roughly $39 for DRAM within the iPhone 17 Professional and $13 for flash storage. However these numbers might attain $145 and $51 respectively.
Apple’s whole element value for the iPhone 18 Professional base mannequin is estimated to leap 25%, from round $582 to $726.
To keep up its present 47% gross margin, Apple would want to cost $1,371 for the iPhone 18 Professional. TechInsights places $1,299 because the extra seemingly spherical quantity, which implies Apple takes a small margin hit to remain aggressive.
Add in a brand new digital camera system that Ming-Chi Kuo estimates will value Apple 50% greater than earlier fashions, and the totally margin-protected value edges towards $1,399 or larger. Both manner, that is a big soar.
iPhone 18 Value Rises: Why Apple Has Room To Manoeuvre
That may be a large leap and much outstrips value hikes we have seen within the Android market. The TechInsights determine assumes Apple maintains its present margins in any respect prices. It doesn’t have to.
Income from Apple’s companies enterprise—the App Retailer, Apple Music, iCloud and Apple TV+—rose to $30.98 billion in Apple’s Q2 2026 outcomes, up 16% 12 months over 12 months, and accounted for 27.9% of whole quarterly income.
iPhone nonetheless introduced in probably the most cash at $56.99 billion, however companies stay enormously worthwhile, with margins which can be far larger than {hardware}. That provides the corporate a cushion to work with if it needs to take successful on {hardware} revenue margins in a way Samsung doesn’t.
Cook dinner referred to as the iPhone 17 the preferred launch in Apple’s historical past, with general gross sales rising 17% to $111 billion in Q1 2026. That is not an organization that should scare off tens of millions of loyal prospects with a brutal value rise.
The almost certainly consequence, primarily based on Samsung’s playbook, is that Apple follows the identical break up: maintain the headline iPhone 18 Professional base value at $1,099 or increase it modestly to $1,199, whereas rising the 512GB and 1TB tiers meaningfully. The headline quantity holds and the information headlines are forgiving, however the actual value lands additional up on larger storage consumers.
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