IPhone 18 Pro Could Jump $200 in Price Due to Memory Costs

IDC had already forecast a $100 price increase for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max before Apple moved on Macs and iPads. After watching Apple raise some Mac and iPad prices by as much as $300, IDC Senior Director Nabila Popal revised her personal read upward, suggesting the iPhone 18 Pro models could see increases of $200 instead. “I think the days of $50 price increases are over,” she said.

The driver is a global memory shortage that has pushed component costs higher across the board. The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are both expected to carry 12GB of RAM, and Apple’s recent iPad moves offer a rough pricing template: the M4 iPad Air and lower-tier M5 iPad Pro, both with 12GB RAM, went up $150 and $200 respectively. That pattern, applied to iPhones, puts the starting price of the Pro somewhere between $1,249 and $1,299, and the Pro Max between $1,349 and $1,399.

The Foldable Variable

Apple is also expected to launch a foldable iPhone this year, with IDC projecting an average selling price of $2,500 and higher storage configurations reaching $3,000. IDC suggests the foldable’s premium positioning could absorb some of the memory cost pressure and reduce the need for steeper increases on standard models.

IDC is not predicting a demand collapse from any of this. The firm estimates 54 percent of iPhones shipped since 2022 lack the hardware needed for the new Siri AI features, giving a large installed base a functional reason to upgrade regardless of price. Pro Max buyers, IDC notes, are “premium-focused and less price sensitive” by definition.

The monthly payment math also softens the sticker shock. A $200 increase spread over 36 months adds roughly $5 to a monthly installment, which is how most buyers in Apple’s core markets actually pay for their phones.