Apple raises iPhone prices as memory costs rise

Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro launch on September 9 brought price increases across nearly the entire iPhone lineup, including older models that remain on sale. The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max now cost more than the discontinued iPhone 17 Pro pair, while Apple also raised prices on the iPhone 16, iPhone 17e, iPhone 17, and iPhone Air without adding hardware changes to those devices.

The increases come as an industry-wide DRAM shortage continues to push up memory and storage costs. AI data center demand has absorbed more memory supply, creating cost pressure already seen across the PC market, where DRAM and SSD increases have affected system builders and OEMs for months.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has compared the supply situation to a ‘hundred-year flood’ and said the company can no longer absorb rising memory and storage costs as it has in the past. The shift suggests Apple’s scale and supplier leverage are not enough to shield the iPhone business from broader memory market pressures.