Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said that “price increases are unavoidable,” but a new analyst report could offer good news for prospective iPhone 18 Pro buyers.
J.P. Morgan forecasts $50-100 price increases for iPhone 18, making Pro models unlikely to go too much higher
The question of price increases is always a hot topic related to new iPhones. That’s in part because of consumer interest, but also due to Wall Street’s own motivation to guess pricing in advance.
Until very recently, analysts generally expected iPhone 18 Pro pricing to not stray too far from last year’s iPhone 17 Pro. For example, Ming-Chi Kuo has expected the base iPhone 18 Pro to stay the same, with increases only on higher storage tiers.
But then last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook made the unusual move of telling The Wall Street Journal that price increases are coming. He said:
“Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable. We’re doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we’ve been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.”
That quote led WSJ to estimate that iPhone 18 Pro could start at $1,399 or more—up from $1,099 for iPhone 17 Pro. They based their numbers on Apple’s typical margins and expected increases for RAM, storage, and camera components.
But the latest J.P. Morgan analyst report offers reason for hope. Per Max Weinbach:
These estimates are specifically for the iPhone 18 base model. But if the $50-100 number proves true, then we shouldn’t see increases too much worse for iPhone 18 Pro.
Cook’s warning, then, could actually be a strategic way of setting expectations such that Apple can under-promise and over-deliver. In other words, Apple might make small price increases seem like good news, because it has cautioned consumers to brace for worse.
What do you expect iPhone 18 Pro’s price to be? Let us know in the comments.
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