Apple May Hike Base Prices of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone Pro Max After Six Generations

Over the past few years, Apple has refrained from raising the prices of its iPhones, at least in the United States. Instead, it has played around with multiple variants, including a more affordable Mini variant, while giving way to a Plus variant.

It now looks like those combinations and permutations have been exhausted as the company is looking to add significant hardware upgrades to the iPhone 15 Pro models, which will also have a higher price tag.

Apple's upcoming iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max may feature a higher price tag on account of hardware upgrades, according to Jeff Pu, a tech analyst at Haiton International Securities.

Justifying the Higher Price

The Pro models this year are expected to feature new hardware such as a titanium body, solid-state buttons with haptic feedback, a periscope lens for enhanced optical zoom, and a 3nm Apple A17 Bionic chip, in addition to increased RAM.

The addition of these features will not only up the shade of premium value and usefulness of the iPhone 15 Pro and the Pro Max but also make them more expensive.

However, it remains to be seen if Apple can afford to raise prices at a time when global smartphone shipments have been on a decline. Apple too was hit by China's zero covid policy, which dented its shipments even though there was high demand for the Pro models this year.

Banking on that increased demand, it is likely that Apple will raise the prices of the Pro models, justifying it with all the new features. The new features, especially ones like the Periscope lens, will differentiate the Pro models from the regular iPhones significantly.

iPhone Pro Model Pricing May Increase After Six Generations

Apple has maintained the same $999 pricing of the iPhone Pro models, while the Pro Max models started at $1,099 in the United States. That said, Apple has had to increase prices in several countries due to forex rate volatility.

The analyst said another reason for the probable price hike is the raging inflation in the United States. Apple has been able to maintain the same starting prices for the past six generations of the iPhone Pro models. But now, with inflation eating into volumes, a price increase could be required to maintain the profit margins.

Presently, for the base variants, the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Plus are priced at $799 and $899, respectively. It remains to be seen whether the standard variants will also see a price hike.