The price of Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max is going up, and we may now know why.
A new report from Digitimes says that the “[iPhone 15] Pro series is likely to see a big price increase because the chassis has been upgraded from stainless steel to titanium, and the Pro Max is the only one to get a periscope lens upgrade that lets it do 5-6x optical zoom.”
Titanium has been said to be a big cost increase for Apple in the past, but it was said that the price of the iPhone 15 Pro wouldn’t go up, so it seemed like this wouldn’t be passed on to end users. When you add in the price of Apple’s first 10x optical zoom camera, the iPhone 15 Pro Max could go up in price by as much as $200, making it the most expensive iPhone ever made.
Pricing Possibilities
So, the following prices could be a good fit for the iPhone 15 line:
- The base price for the iPhone 15 is still $799.
- iPhone 15 Plus prices start at $899 (unchanged).
- The iPhone 15 Pro starts at $1,099, which is $100 more than before.
- iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at $1,299, which is $200 more than before.
People are starting to think that parts like the titanium frame, which is stronger and lighter than stainless steel but not necessary for the phone, are being added because Apple wants to make a bigger difference between its Pro and non-Pro iPhones.
Why? During most of the iPhone 14’s life, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max sold at a much faster rate than the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. This is because the iPhone 14 Plus is only $100 cheaper than the iPhone 14 Pro, which isn’t much over the course of a typical two-year carrier deal.
Since the profit rates on all iPhone models are about the same, Apple would rather spread out demand to help its supply chain. With the new prices, an iPhone 15 Pro will cost $300 more than an iPhone 15, and an iPhone 15 Pro Max will cost $400 more than an iPhone 14 Plus.
Even if you spread these numbers out over a long carrier contract, the difference is big enough to make upgraders think twice. At the same time, Apple can raise the average selling price of its iPhones as the price of the iPhone Pro goes up. This is happening at the same time as the smartphone market as a whole is falling at its fastest rate ever.
Conclusions
So what’s different, and are the changes worth paying for? You’ll have to wait for reviews to find out the answer to the second part of your question, but as has been the case for the past few years, the regular iPhone 15 models will be updated versions of the iPhone 14 Pro that cost less. That means it has an A16 chip, a 48-megapixel camera, and a style called “Dynamic Island.”
Apple, on the other hand, is going all out with the iPhone 15 Pros. It has the thinnest bezels ever, a new frame material, Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, the first 3nm smartphone chip in the A17, and the periscope zoom camera that we already talked about with the Pro Max. The battery should also last much longer.
Yes, it’s the classic Apple hook: the range starts at fair prices, but if you spend more, you get a lot more.
In short, if you want an iPhone 15 Pro Max, you should pre-order it as soon as possible, or you might have to wait a long time.
