Apple price hike warning – what it means for iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max
Key takeaways
- Apple CEO Tim Cook has warned of price increases due to the surging cost of memory and storage chips.
- With the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max set to launch in September, your next upgrade could cost you more.
- Rumours suggest prices could go up by US$200, meaning the entry-level iPhone 18 Pro could cost around $2,359 here in Australia.
If you've been thinking about upgrading to the iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max, you might want to brace yourself.
Apple has flagged that prices are going up. And while it didn't specify exact products, with the new iPhones just a few months away, it's not hard to read between the lines.
What did Apple actually say?
In an exclusive interview with the Wall Street Journal, outgoing CEO Tim Cook said it straight up: "Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable."
According to Cook, the cost of memory and storage chips has surged.
AI infrastructure is driving enormous global demand for these components, and that's pushed prices up across the entire tech industry.
It's the same reason Samsung raised prices on its Galaxy S26 range earlier this year.
"We're doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we've been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable," Cook said.
He didn't name the iPhone 18 series specifically, or any product, for that matter.
But Cook steps down as CEO on 1 September, handing over to hardware chief John Ternus just as the new iPhones are expected to hit shelves.
The timing of this announcement, analysts say, was deliberate so that Ternus doesn't have to deal with the blowback of the price hikes.
Where does this mean for iPhone 18 Pro pricing in Australia?
The iPhone 17 Pro currently starts at $1,999 and the Pro Max at $2,199.
Rumours suggest the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max could be priced around US$200 higher in the US than their predecessor.
At current exchange rates, that increase works out to roughly $360 here.
That would put the entry-level iPhone 18 Pro at around $2,359 and the Pro Max at around $2,559. The higher storage tiers could scale up similarly from there.
It's worth keeping in mind that Apple sets its own local prices and doesn't simply apply the exchange rate - the actual Australian prices could be higher.
Sources
Ask a question