The iPhone 16 collection dropped final 12 months with the identical US costs because the iPhone 15 collection. However the iPhone 17 may include the primary value enhance in years.
Apple will announce new iPhone 17 telephones at its annual fall event on Sept. 9, displaying off new features of iOS 26, attainable camera updates and new case designs, all main as much as a dramatic value reveal. This 12 months, that determine may very well be $50 larger for the iPhone 17 Professional fashions, primarily based on a rumor that surfaced on the Chinese language social media web site Weibo, from a consumer named Immediate Digital (Setsuna Digital).
The rumored value leap corroborates an earlier prediction from Jefferies analyst Edison Lee, who says that the iPhone 17 Air (17 Slim), 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max will get a $50 value enhance to offset the upper prices of parts and tariffs, as reported by Enterprise Insider. He did not point out the common iPhone 17 getting a value enhance. If true, that will imply that the beginning costs for the iPhone 17 collection will likely be:
- iPhone 17: $829
- iPhone 17 Air: $979
- iPhone 17 Professional: $1,049
- iPhone 17 Professional Max: $1,249
Immediate Digital additionally thinks that the baseline iPhone 17 Professional will include 256GB of storage as a substitute of 128GB just like the iPhone 16 Professional.
Since what President Donald Trump touted as “Liberation Day,” the attainable impact of tariffs on the iPhone’s value has been widely discussed. And but iPhone costs have remained the identical to this point this 12 months.
This information follows a Might report by The Wall Road Journal that Apple is contemplating a value spike and will attribute it to new and up to date options as a substitute of tariffs. In any case, the launch of the rumored iPhone 17 will seemingly include a better value, it doesn’t matter what Trump says or does.
Apple is the third-largest firm within the US, and most of its merchandise are manufactured in China. The iPhone’s ubiquity has made it a logo for the continuing uncertainty of the US financial system and politics. However even with out larger part prices or tariffs, the iPhone has been overdue for a value enhance. The final one was 5 years in the past.
From left: the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Professional and 16 Professional Max. No matter all the pieces that is occurred in 2025, the value of the telephones has remained the identical.
Traditionally, that makes it the longest stretch of time Apple has gone and not using a value enhance because the five-year interval between the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 7, which ended with a costlier iPhone 8. We will be taught so much by taking a look at how Apple has dealt with earlier value hikes (and a one-time drop) and what which means for the iPhone 17.
To determine the probability of a value enhance, I grouped iPhone fashions into just a few classes: the usual, the flagships and the behemoths. The usual contains fashions like the unique iPhone, the iPhone 8, the iPhone XR and the iPhone 16. The flagships embrace variants just like the iPhone X, iPhone 11 Professional and iPhone 16 Professional. The behemoth’s designation is for telephones just like the iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone XS Max and iPhone 16 Professional Max. (Different variations that Apple offered, just like the iPhone 5C, the SE collection, the iPhone Mini line and the present iPhone Plus line, do not issue into this evaluation.) Additionally, I take advantage of the US beginning value for every iPhone earlier than any service reductions are utilized.
Let’s dive in.
Normal iPhone costs
The iPhone 16 launched in 2025 with a beginning value of $829, the identical because the iPhone 12 did in 2020.
Since its debut in 2007, the usual iPhone has had 4 value will increase and one correction. Many people may bear in mind paying $199 for the original iPhone, however in actuality, the telephone value $499 off-contract. In 2008, Apple raised the value $100 with the launch of the iPhone 3G to $599, the place it might keep for 4 years. Then, in 2012, the iPhone 5 was launched with a taller, 4-inch display screen and a better $649 price ticket.
Quick-forward to 2017, the tenth anniversary of the iPhone, and the iPhone 8 debuted at a price of $699, a $50 enhance. Yearly between 2017 and 2019, the value for the usual iPhone modified. In 2018, the iPhone XR launched at $749. The next 12 months, the iPhone 11 got here out, and the value dropped again to $699. And what makes that drop attention-grabbing is that the iPhone 11 was the primary customary Apple telephone with two rear cameras: a wide-angle and ultrawide. Up until then, all different customary iPhone fashions had solely a single rear digicam. From 2007 to 2019, when Apple elevated costs, it was in $50 increments, besides between the primary and second iPhone fashions.
Then 2020 occurred. It was a wild 12 months for the iPhone and everybody due to the pandemic. However Apple managed to launch the iPhone 12, which value $829, marking the most important enhance for the usual iPhone: $130. Subsequent fashions all had the identical value: The iPhone 13, 14, 15 and 16 all value $829.
If Apple follows its earlier sample, then the usual iPhone is due for a value enhance. The final enhance was in 2020, 5 years in the past, and Apple has by no means gone six years and not using a value hike on the usual mannequin. However will the corporate slowly enhance the value over just a few years, prefer it did between the iPhone 7, 8 and XR? Or will it go all in prefer it did with the iPhone 12?
Apple’s hottest product is the usual iPhone, and it is protected to count on that the iPhone 17 will value extra (and would have even when Trump hadn’t been elected). Now, we simply have to surprise how a lot tariffs and politics may drive the value up much more.
The flagship: iPhone Professional mannequin costs
The iPhone 16 Professional got here out in 2024 with a beginning value of $999, the identical because the 2017 iPhone X.
Apple hasn’t all the time had an iPhone Professional variant, nevertheless it did beginning in 2017 with the launch of the iPhone X, which had a beginning value of $999. The telephone debuted subsequent to the $699 iPhone 8, making the 8’s $50 enhance look like nothing.
However this is the place issues get attention-grabbing. Apple has by no means raised the value on the iPhone Professional mannequin. The iPhone X, XS, 11 Pro, 12 Pro, 13 Pro, 14 Pro, 15 Pro and 16 Pro all value $999. That is eight years and not using a value enhance!
What’s much more surprising is whenever you right for inflation: the 2017 iPhone X’s $999 value can be $1,298 in 2025, in line with the Consumer Price Index Inflation calculator. The iPhone Professional is overdue for a value hike, and I count on the iPhone 17 Pro to value extra.
The behemoths: iPhone Plus, Max and Professional Max costs
The iPhone 16 Professional (left) and iPhone 16 Professional Max.
Since 2014, Apple has offered a giant model of the iPhone. A few of these have been nothing greater than a bigger model of the usual iPhone with a much bigger display screen and battery, in addition to some minor variations, just like the iPhone 6 Plus having optical picture stabilization on its digicam whereas the iPhone 6 did not. However starting with the iPhone 7 Plus, the bigger model began having “professional” options, like a second rear digicam and portrait mode.
When it comes to pricing, the iPhone 6 Plus debuted at $749, which was $100 greater than the iPhone 6. And that $749 value caught round for the iPhone 6S Plus and seven Plus. In 2017, Apple had three iPhone fashions: the $699 iPhone 8, the $749 iPhone 8 Plus (a $50 enhance from the 7 Plus) and the $999 iPhone X.
In 2018, Apple launched the $1,099 iPhone XS Max, which I contemplate the true successor to the preliminary iPhone Plus line. Which means the massive iPhone obtained a $350 enhance in a single 12 months, the most important Apple has ever made. I admit some individuals may not suppose the XS Max is a follow-up to the Plus and would deem it a wholly new iPhone variant. However that is my commentary.
Just like the iPhone Professional, the Max and Professional Max would have the identical value for years. In 2023, Apple raised the barrier of entry for the Professional Max mannequin and did not supply a $1,099 model of the iPhone 15 Professional Max with 128GB of storage. As an alternative, you needed to pay $1,199 for the 256GB variant, which technically value the identical because the iPhone 14 Professional Max with 256GB of storage.
The iPhone 17 and 17 Professional’s costs
Nobody is aware of how a lot the rumored iPhone 17 will value, besides Apple.
Even with out tariffs, it is protected to imagine that the iPhone 17 lineup’s prices will likely be larger for some fashions. However whenever you think about all the pieces that is occurred this 12 months, it is onerous to gauge simply how a lot the value will go up and whether or not that’ll have an effect on only one or two fashions, or apply throughout your complete iPhone 17 line.
This 12 months, Apple raised the value on its most inexpensive mannequin. Though it lacks the SE branding of the earlier low-cost iPhone, the iPhone 16E got here with a $599 price ticket, $170 greater than the $429 iPhone SE (2022).
Apple would not discuss unreleased merchandise or their costs. However we do have an unusual-for-Apple clue as to how these tariffs may have an effect on the corporate.
“Assuming the present international tariff charges, insurance policies and functions don’t change for the steadiness of the quarter and no new tariffs are added, we estimate the affect so as to add $900 million to our prices,” Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner stated throughout a quarterly earnings call on Might 1.
Clearly, that $900 million quantity wasn’t only for the iPhone however for all Apple merchandise. And that was three weeks earlier than Trump threatened one other tariff aimed purely on the iPhone. However $900 million is so much for any firm to swallow, and finally, that added value will must be recouped. That often means larger costs, even when Trump pressures Apple to attribute the rise to “new designs and options.”
If there’s one factor for sure, we’ll know precisely what these costs will likely be when Apple launches the following era of iPhone fashions at its September occasion.
Apple did not reply to a request for remark.
