Is Apple Planning a Fall iPhone Price Hike?

This autumn, the latest iPhone models could end up costing you more money despite potentially keeping the same retail price.

Several experts anticipate that Apple will increase the pricing for its upcoming iPhone models due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs. According to reports from The Wall Street Journal, the company is contemplating this move.
report
Monday.

That could result in a rare price increase for Apple’s most important product.

However, increasing prices due to tariffs could provoke President Trump’s anger—a lesson another technology firm has already experienced firsthand. Therefore, according to analysts, Apple might attempt to associate these elevated costs with advanced AI functionalities or new equipment, or perhaps impose additional fees for upgrades such as enhanced memory rather than directly inflating the sticker price customers encounter.

Apple is anticipated to launch a thinner updated model of the iPhone later this year, which might provide an opportunity to revise the pricing strategy across all their device ranges. Concurrently, entering the market with a new iPhone has become more challenging as Apple has substituted the affordable iPhone SE with the costlier iPhone 16e.

When discussing price hikes, we’re not referring to straightforward increases in pricing,” explained Gil Luria, who leads technology research at investment firm D.A. Davidson. “It doesn’t automatically imply that theiPhone 17will cost more than the comparable iPhone 16.” He added, “Apple has multiple strategies for raising prices.

Apple did not reply when asked for comments. The company hasn’t made any public statements about potentially changing the prices of its items due to tariffs.

Adjusting for tariffs

Apple finds itself in a difficult situation due to tariffs. Despite efforts to relocate part of its manufacturing operations to countries such as India and Vietnam, the vast majority of iPhones are still produced in China. The high tariffs imposed on goods coming from this region force Apple to choose between increasing product prices or absorbing the additional costs themselves, which would cut into their profit margins. During an earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned anticipating these tariffs will result in a $900 million hit for his company during just one quarter in early 2025. However, he also stated that the firm intends to produce most U.S.-bound iPhones in India instead.

Smartphones are currently exempt from reciprocal tariffs, and the Trump administration on Monday announced a temporary trade agreement with China that will roll back tariff rates for 90 days. Those factors should ease the financial risk to Apple and other big tech companies, at least temporarily. But it won’t remove the tariff costs entirely, and much uncertainty remains about the future of the White House’s trade policy.

Ahead of Monday’s deal, Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at investment firm Synovus, had estimated that Apple would have to raise device prices by about 30% if it wanted to fully offset the impact of tariffs on its earnings. A 30% increase would mean the base iPhone 17 model costing more than $1,000, compared to the $799 starting price for the iPhone 16.

Even with the new deal struck between the U.S. and China, “a potential price hike may now be on the horizon,” according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives on Monday.

However, Cook has been making efforts to gain Trump’s approval by attending the inauguration and declaring a $500 billion commitment to boost Apple’s U.S. facilities; President Trump even touted this as his legislative success.

“It is somewhat political because if they do come out and do an across-the-board increase, then the headline news is ‘tariffs cost passed onto customers’ and that pisses people off,” Morgan said.

Hiking prices without the sticker shock

Alternatively, Apple might attribute any price hikes to additional elements like new AI functionalities or upgraded hardware components.

Nonetheless, Apple has previously introduced an AI initiative. In October, following the release of the iPhone 16, they debuted their AI capabilities under the name Apple Intelligence. However, the updated iteration of Siri, unveiled earlier this year, has encountered delays.

Morgan asked, “Will individuals find sufficient value in that to justify paying more?”

According to the Journal’s report, Apple is seriously contemplating linking possible price hikes with such enhancements, despite tariffs being one of the influencing elements.

The firm is reportedly set to launch a new, slimmer edition of the iPhone, potentially dubbed the iPhone 17 Air, as per claims from various sources.
Bloomberg
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TFI Securities
That model is expected to be marketed as a high-end device, akin to the newly unveiled Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, which could provide Apple with a chance to revamp its pricing strategy for the entire product range.

In February, Apple introduced its initial cellular modem with theiPhone 16e, marking yet another hardware alteration that might provide them justification for modifying prices in upcoming device versions.

“Customers might prefer to pay extra for a slimmer device or for innovative designs and formats instead of feeling caught in the crossfire of a trade dispute,” explained Mike Bailey, who leads research at the investment firm FBB Capital Partners.

Luria further mentioned that Apple could also adopt other methods to increase prices that might be “less obvious,” like offering less complimentary storage space and imposing higher costs for upgrades.

“He mentioned that although customers might pick up on this, it doesn’t alter the listed price. I’d say this kind of adjustment seems more aligned with what Apple intends to do,” he stated.

Should Apple decide to increase the price of iPhones, this might come with the trade-off of reduced upgrade frequency. Recently, the company has encountered declining iPhone sales due to customers extending their replacement cycles. However, during the first quarter of 2025, there was a slight uptick in revenue from these devices, showing an annual growth of 1.9%.

Luria stated, “The constant dilemma with raising prices is ensuring it doesn’t come at the cost of reducing sales volumes.”

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Is Apple gearing up to raise iPhone prices this fall?

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