Will Apple Increase the Price of This Year’s iPhone 15 Pro?

While we see rumours of price increases appear almost every year, there are some valid reasons why 2023 could be the year we see Apple sneak up the prices on its “Pro” models. For one thing, like most tech companies, Apple is being forced to cut corners, but unlike its rivals, it would prefer not to cut staff. If it comes down to the wire, raising the price of the iPhone 15 Pro lineup may be one way to avoid those deeper cuts.

However, according to analyst Jeff Pu of Hatton International Securities in Hong Kong, there are some expensive hardware upgrades that Apple plans to pack into its next-generation flagship iPhones, and the money for those has to come from somewhere.

Based on the rumours we’ve heard so far, this includes a titanium frame design plus solid-state haptic volume buttons. There’s also the A17 Bionic chip that will be fabricated using a new 3-nanometer (3nm) process, plus the usual year-over-year camera improvements that are expected to include a periscope lens.

Of course, while all these things will drive up the costs of manufacturing the iPhone 15 Pro, they’re not necessarily giant leaps over what Apple has done with past upgrades — and we haven’t seen any price increases in the iPhone Pro lineup since the iPhone X effectively ushered in the higher tier in 2017.

Apple’s iPhone Pro Pricing

Apple has worked hard to keep the base-model Pro iPhones at the same $999 price as the original iPhone X. The iPhone XS came out the following year at the same price, joined by a larger iPhone XS Max for $100 more. Despite inflation in the intervening four years, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max still sell for the same $999 and $1,099 prices as their predecessors did in 2018.

In 2020, Apple even doubled the entry-level storage capacity of the iPhone 12 Pro to 128GB, up from the 64GB iPhone 11 Pro, while also adding 5G capabilities and a LiDAR Scanner. Those were significant upgrades, yet somehow Apple managed to squeeze them in without increasing prices.

It’s worth mentioning that this is just one analyst’s opinion at this point, and Pu has been wrong before. In fact, he was one of the folks who predicted a price increase for the iPhone 12 lineup in mid-2020, based on the same notion that the cost of 5G technology and OLED screens would drive up the cost of the new iPhones, forcing Apple to pass those costs on to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Interestingly, Pu predicted the iPhone 12 mini would be priced at $749 — a $50 increase over the 6.1-inch iPhone 11, while the standard iPhone 12 could go as high as $849. That contradicted leaker Jon Prosser’s claims of $649 and $749, respectively, and in the end, it looks like both were equally wrong, with the two models launching at $699 and $799.

Depending on how you look at it, Apple did increase the price of the iPhone 12 by $100 over its most equivalent predecessor, the iPhone 11, but it also put the smaller 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini into that spot. Still, the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max fit into the same price points as the iPhone 11 Pro models, despite a new design and some significant camera and sensor upgrades.

So, there’s no reason to believe that the new additions to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will force Apple to increase the prices of these models. However, it’s also hard to rule it out entirely with the economy the way it is right now.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]