Apple could be getting ready to increase the price of the iPhone 17 series, as the rising cost of memory components continues to put pressure on tech companies.
The company has already increased prices for several other products this year, but the iPhone 17 lineup has largely avoided those hikes. That could change soon, though, if a new leak turns out to be accurate.
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iPhone 17 price hike reportedly coming soon
Tipster Fixed Focus Digital has claimed on Weibo that Apple could revise the prices of the iPhone 17 models as soon as August 10, according to MacRumors. There is a catch, however: the tipster itself doesn't appear to be completely sure that the price increase will happen.
The same post also mentioned that Apple has dropped plans to increase production capacity on some manufacturing lines by 15 to 30 percent. It isn't clear which products those lines were meant for.
The rumour comes shortly after Apple raised prices on a number of products in India. MacBooks, Macs, iPads, Apple TV models and HomePod speakers all became more expensive in June, with some models seeing increases of up to Rs. 1 lakh.
Apple blamed the price revisions on the sharp increase in DRAM and NAND flash costs. Memory prices have been pushed higher by the huge amount of demand coming from AI infrastructure.
The iPhone 17 series was mostly left untouched in that round of price increases. Japan was an exception, where the standard iPhone 17 reportedly became 11.3 percent more expensive.
There have already been rumours of a bigger price increase in India, too. One earlier report claimed that Apple could raise the price of the 256GB iPhone 17 by around Rs. 12,000. That would take it from the launch price of Rs. 82,900 to around Rs. 94,990.
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max could also become more expensive, although the leaked report did not reveal how much their prices could increase.
iPhone 18 could face an even bigger problem
Apple may not get much relief when it comes to its next-generation iPhones either.
A Counterpoint Research estimate suggests that the component cost of the 1TB iPhone 18 Pro Max could climb to nearly $900. For comparison, the equivalent iPhone 17 Pro Max is estimated to cost around $550 in terms of components.
The biggest reason appears to be the rising cost of NAND storage and DRAM.
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IDC has separately predicted that Apple could increase the prices of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max by as much as $200 compared with the current models.
For now, Apple hasn't confirmed any price increase for the iPhone 17 lineup. So, while the latest leak is worth keeping an eye on, it shouldn't be treated as a confirmed price change just yet.