Here’s how much the Apple iPhone 18 Pro could cost due to memory price hike

Is Your Next iPhone About to Get Much More Expensive?

If you’ve been eyeing the next flagship from Apple, you might want to start setting a little extra cash aside. During a recent discussion, CEO Tim Cook hinted that Apple may be forced to hike prices on its upcoming lineup. The culprit? A global surge in memory costs that is hitting manufacturers hard across the board.

While Cupertino is playing it coy regarding official retail numbers, a fresh report from The Wall Street Journal—bolstered by teardown data from the analysts at TechInsights—gives us a glimpse at what might be coming for the iPhone 18 Pro.

The Reality of Rising Component Costs

The numbers behind the hardware are eye-opening. Last year, the 12GB of DRAM inside the iPhone 17 Pro set Apple back about $39. For the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro, that same memory allocation is expected to cost Apple $145. It’s a similar story for storage: what used to cost them $13 per unit is now projected to hit $51.

To put that into perspective, the production cost for a base model iPhone 17 Pro hovered around $582. Analysts suggest that figure will jump to roughly $726 for the 18 Pro.

What This Means for Your Wallet

Historically, Apple has maintained a healthy profit margin—around 47% for the iPhone 17 Pro, which launched at $1,099. If Apple wants to protect those margins, the math suggests a jump to $1,371. While they may trim that slightly to keep the “base” price under a certain psychological threshold, even a more moderate $1,299 price tag is a significant bump for consumers.

The “Variable Aperture” Factor

There’s another wild card in play. Rumors suggest the iPhone 18 Pro will debut a sophisticated variable-aperture camera system. Industry estimates show this new hardware could cost at least 50% more to produce than the current camera module. When you layer that cost on top of the already inflated memory prices, we could be looking at a baseline starting price closer to $1,399.

Unsurprisingly, if the Pro model sees a price hike, the iPhone 18 Pro Max—which currently starts at $1,199—is almost certain to follow suit, pushing the absolute top-tier model into uncharted territory. While nothing is set in stone until the official reveal, it’s clear that building the next generation of smartphones is getting significantly more expensive, and that cost is inevitably moving downstream to the buyer.