Apple’s next flagship smartphone, the iPhone 18 Pro, could cost as much as US$1,319 for the base configuration as skyrocketing memory costs push smartphone prices to record highs, according to a recent report.
Prices for the new iPhone line-up were projected to rise by 10 to 20 per cent, driven by soaring memory costs, market research firm TrendForce said in a report released on Thursday, according to the South China Morning Post.
Compared with the baselines of US$1,099 for the iPhone 17 Pro and US$1,199 for its Pro Max variant, consumers would be facing a substantial price increase.
However, TrendForce said the increase represented a “moderate pricing approach” by Apple, given that memory costs for the 256-gigabyte iPhone 18 Pro model were estimated to be nearly 400 per cent higher than at this time last year.
Apple would absorb part of the soaring component prices to maintain market share, amid a weak global macroeconomic environment and more cautious consumer spending, TrendForce said.
Apple is set to hold a product launch in California on Wednesday morning, where TrendForce expects the company to announce the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max, and its first foldable phone, with the standard iPhone 18 and other models to follow in the first quarter of next year.
The foldable iPhone, which is expected to feature a dual-camera set-up and a conventional capacitive fingerprint sensor, could start from US$2,099 to US$2,299, according to TrendForce estimates, with the top of the line version potentially costing more than US$3,000.
The initial production of the foldable model is currently limited to only a few hundred units a day to meet Apple’s high quality standards, according to a report by Nikkei Asia on Friday that cited anonymous sources. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The projected price increase for iPhones comes as the smartphone industry struggles with a severe memory supply crunch, triggered by surging demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure. Supplies of conventional memory for consumer electronics have been squeezed as a result.
The memory crunch is expected to drag global smartphone shipments down 16.7 per cent this year, which would mark their steepest annual contraction on record, according to the latest data from IDC, a market research firm.
Major smartphone players have been passing higher costs on to consumers.
This week, Chinese brands including Huawei Technologies, Xiaomi and Honor announced price increases for existing models, with some mark-ups reaching 1,000 yuan (US$149).
Globally, over 40 per cent of smartphone models have had their prices increased this year, marking a first for the industry, Counterpoint Research said in a report released on Thursday.
New launches were 25 per cent more expensive year on year, while retail prices for existing smartphone models had, on average, surged 15 per cent this year, with the prices of some models nearly doubling, the Counterpoint report said.
“Memory has become a key driver of smartphone [manufacturing] costs, resetting pricing across the industry and leaving [brands] with limited room to absorb higher costs,” Counterpoint research director Tarun Pathak said. “Consumers are responding by delaying upgrades, pushing purchases around big sales events or turning to the pre-owned market.”
