Overview
- TrendForce projected on Sept. 3–4 that U.S. starting prices for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max could rise roughly $150–$200, which is about a 10–20% increase over the prior generation.
- The same research finds memory costs for the 256GB Pro model are nearly 400% higher year‑over‑year, pushing memory to a much larger share of the phone’s bill of materials.
- Analysts say the price spike stems from chipmakers shifting capacity to high‑bandwidth memory for AI servers, which has tightened supply of mobile DRAM used in phones.
- Packaging and design choices — Apple’s A20 Pro built on TSMC’s 2nm process with WMCM wafer‑level multi‑chip packaging and a wider memory bus — make late memory swaps difficult and left about $1 billion in unpackaged chips waiting for DRAM, a factor that could limit initial availability.
- Apple is reported to be negotiating with suppliers and could absorb some higher costs to protect demand, but final pricing, configurations, and any launch‑supply guidance will be revealed at Apple’s Sept. 9 event.