Dan Ives at Wedbush is the latest analyst to predict price increases for the iPhone 15, which Apple will officially unveil next week on September 12, as part of its “Wonderlust” media event.
The analyst is expecting the base model iPhone 15 price to remain unchanged, but sees $100 price bumps for both the 6.1-inch Pro and 6.7-inch Pro Max. This would be the first time Apple has increased pro iPhone prices since the iPhone X debuted at $999 in 2017. For context, the iPhone 14 Pro currently starts at $999, and the iPhone 14 Pro Max starts at $1,099.
Wedbush is by no means the first source to report impending price increases. Across the last few months, several analysts have predicted price increases in the range of $100 to $200 on the Pro models. This is partly backed up by comments made by Apple CEO Tim Cook himself on a recent quarterly earnings call. He said, “I think people are willing to really stretch to get the best they can afford in that category,” in response to a question about Apple’s pricing power on iPhone.
The Pro phones will see a significant design change this cycle, boasting a new titanium enclosure with rounded edges. Other new features include an action button instead of the mute switch, thinner screen bezels, faster A17 chip based on new 3nm fabrication process, and the switch from the Lightning port to USB-C (with Thunderbolt data transfer speeds for the Pro phones).
Substantial camera improvements are also expected. The Pro Max will get an exclusive periscope zoom upgrade on the telephoto lens, enabling up to ~6x optical zoom.
(The base model iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will see less dramatic changes, which is one reason why people do not expect Apple to raise the price on those models.)
Dan Ives at Wedbush expects the demand impact of the iPhone 15 Pro price increases to be partially offset by aggressive carrier promotional deals this holiday season.
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Wedbush also believes that there is significant pent-up demand from the installed base of current iPhone owners. They estimate that about a quarter of the 1.2 billion iPhone owners in the world have not upgraded for four years or more, suggesting hundreds of millions of customers are in the market to buy soon.
The combination of the $100 Pro price bump and increasingly favorable customer preferences toward higher-end iPhones will see the overall iPhone average selling price rise to $900-$925, according to Ive’s modeling.
Apple will officially announce the iPhone 15 lineup on Tuesday, September 12. The phones are expected to go on sale September 22. We are also expecting a new Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra refresh, featuring a faster chip and new case colors. Other products set to be updated soon include the first M3 Apple Silicon Macs and iPads, but Apple might not unveil those until later in the fall.
Stay tuned to 9to5Mac for full coverage of all the news from Apple’s September iPhone event.
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