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    Time to Save Up: iPhone 17 Pro Price Hike Appears Imminent, Says New Report

    The iPhone 16 sequence dropped final 12 months with the identical US costs because the iPhone 15 sequence. But the iPhone 17 would possibly include the primary value improve in years. James Martin/CNETApple will announce new iPhone 17 telephones at its annual fall occasion on Sept. 9, displaying off new options of iOS 26, doable digital 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 Pro fashions, primarily based on a rumor that surfaced on the Chinese social media web site Weibo, from a consumer named Instant 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 improve to offset the upper prices of elements and tariffs, as reported by Business Insider. He did not point out the common iPhone 17 getting a value improve. If true, that may imply that the beginning costs for the iPhone 17 sequence can be:iPhone 17: $829iPhone 17 Air: $979iPhone 17 Pro: $1,049iPhone 17 Pro Max: $1,249Instant Digital additionally thinks that the baseline iPhone 17 Pro will include 256GB of storage as a substitute of 128GB just like the iPhone 16 Pro.Since what President Donald Trump touted as “Liberation Day,” the doable impact of tariffs on the iPhone’s value has been broadly mentioned. And but iPhone costs have remained the identical to this point this 12 months. This information follows a May report by The Wall Street 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 possible include the next 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 an emblem for the continuing uncertainty of the US economic system and politics. But even with out larger element prices or tariffs, the iPhone has been overdue for a value improve. The final one was 5 years in the past. From left: the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max. Regardless of every little thing that is occurred in 2025, the worth of the telephones has remained the identical. James Martin/CNETHistorically, that makes it the longest stretch of time Apple has gone with out a value improve because the five-year interval between the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 7, which ended with a costlier iPhone 8. We can be taught so much by how Apple has dealt with earlier value hikes (and a one-time drop) and what meaning for the iPhone 17. To work out the probability of a value improve, I grouped iPhone fashions into a number of classes: the usual, the flagships and the behemoths. The commonplace 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 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro. The behemoth’s designation is for telephones just like the iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone XS Max and iPhone 16 Pro Max. (Other variations that Apple offered, just like the iPhone 5C, the SE sequence, the iPhone Mini line and the present iPhone Plus line, do not issue into this evaluation.) Also, I exploit the US beginning value for every iPhone earlier than any service reductions are utilized. Let’s dive in.Standard iPhone costs The iPhone 16 launched in 2025 with a beginning value of $829, the identical because the iPhone 12 did in 2020. James Martin/CNETSince its debut in 2007, the usual iPhone has had 4 value will increase and one correction. Many of us would possibly bear in mind paying $199 for the unique iPhone, however in actuality, the cellphone price $499 off-contract. In 2008, Apple raised the worth $100 with the launch of the iPhone 3G to $599, the place it will keep for 4 years. Then, in 2012, the iPhone 5 was launched with a taller, 4-inch display and the next $649 price ticket.Fast-forward to 2017, the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, and the iPhone 8 debuted at a value of $699, a $50 improve. Every 12 months between 2017 and 2019, the worth for the usual iPhone modified. In 2018, the iPhone XR launched at $749. The following 12 months, the iPhone 11 got here out, and the worth dropped again to $699. And what makes that drop attention-grabbing is that the iPhone 11 was the primary commonplace Apple cellphone with two rear cameras: a wide-angle and ultrawide. Up until then, all different commonplace iPhone fashions had solely a single rear digital camera. 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. But Apple managed to launch the iPhone 12, which price $829, marking the most important improve for the usual iPhone: $130. Subsequent fashions all had the identical value: The iPhone 13, 14, 15 and 16 all price $829.If Apple follows its earlier sample, then the usual iPhone is due for a value improve. The final improve was in 2020, 5 years in the past, and Apple has by no means gone six years with out a value hike on the usual mannequin. But will the corporate slowly improve the worth over a number of 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 secure to count on that the iPhone 17 will price extra (and would have even when Trump hadn’t been elected). Now, we simply must surprise how a lot tariffs and politics would possibly drive the worth up much more.The flagship: iPhone Pro mannequin costs The iPhone 16 Pro got here out in 2024 with a beginning value of $999, the identical because the 2017 iPhone X. James Martin/CNETApple hasn’t at all times had an iPhone Pro variant, but it surely did beginning in 2017 with the launch of the iPhone X, which had a beginning value of $999. The cellphone debuted subsequent to the $699 iPhone 8, making the 8’s $50 improve look like nothing.But this is the place issues get attention-grabbing. Apple has by no means raised the worth on the iPhone Pro mannequin. The iPhone X, XS, 11 Pro, 12 Pro, 13 Pro, 14 Pro, 15 Pro and 16 Pro all price $999. That’s eight years with out a value improve!What’s much more stunning is once you appropriate 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 Pro is overdue for a value hike, and I count on the iPhone 17 Pro to price extra.The behemoths: iPhone Plus, Max and Pro Max costs The iPhone 16 Pro (left) and iPhone 16 Pro Max. James Martin/CNETSince 2014, Apple has offered an enormous model of the iPhone. Some of those had been nothing greater than a bigger model of the usual iPhone with a much bigger display and battery, in addition to some minor variations, just like the iPhone 6 Plus having optical picture stabilization on its digital camera whereas the iPhone 6 did not. But starting with the iPhone 7 Plus, the bigger model began having “pro” options, like a second rear digital camera and portrait mode.In phrases of 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 7 Plus. In 2017, Apple had three iPhone fashions: the $699 iPhone 8, the $749 iPhone 8 Plus (a $50 improve from the 7 Plus) and the $999 iPhone X.In 2018, Apple launched the $1,099 iPhone XS Max, which I take into account the true successor to the preliminary iPhone Plus line. That means the large iPhone bought a $350 improve in a single 12 months, the most important Apple has ever made. I admit some folks may not assume the XS Max is a follow-up to the Plus and would deem it a completely new iPhone variant. But that is my commentary.Like the iPhone Pro, the Max and Pro Max would have the identical value for years. In 2023, Apple raised the barrier of entry for the Pro Max mannequin and did not supply a $1,099 model of the iPhone 15 Pro Max with 128GB of storage. Instead, you needed to pay $1,199 for the 256GB variant, which technically price the identical because the iPhone 14 Pro Max with 256GB of storage.The iPhone 17 and 17 Pro’s costs No one is aware of how a lot the rumored iPhone 17 will price, besides Apple. Apple/Viva Tung/CNETEven with out tariffs, it is secure to imagine that the iPhone 17 lineup’s costs can be larger for some fashions. But once you think about every little thing that is occurred this 12 months, it is arduous to gauge simply how a lot the worth will go up and whether or not that’ll have an effect on only one or two fashions, or apply throughout your entire iPhone 17 line.This 12 months, Apple raised the worth on its most inexpensive mannequin. Although 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 speak about unreleased merchandise or their costs. But we do have an unusual-for-Apple clue as to how these tariffs may have an effect on the corporate.”Assuming the current global tariff rates, policies and applications do not change for the balance of the quarter and no new tariffs are added, we estimate the impact to add $900 million to our costs,” Apple CEO Tim Cook stated throughout a quarterly earnings name on May 1.Obviously, 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. But $900 million is so much for any firm to swallow, and finally, that added price will should be recouped. That normally means larger costs, even when Trump pressures Apple to attribute the rise to “new designs and features.”If there’s one factor for sure, we’ll know precisely what these costs can be when Apple launches the following era of iPhone fashions at its September occasion.Apple did not reply to a request for remark.

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