The iPhone 18 Pro may face a significant price increase, potentially reaching US$ 300, which would raise its value to US$ 1,399 in the United States. This potential historic adjustment by Apple is being driven by rising manufacturing costs.
The launch of the iPhone 18 Pro is scheduled for September 2026. With a projected increase of up to US$ 300 (equivalent to about R$ 1,521 at the current exchange rate), the initial price of the device in the US would rise to US$ 1,399, or R$ 7,093. Signs that the new generation would be more expensive had already emerged the previous month, when Apple itself warned about the increasing cost of manufacturing its products.
New information, brought by sources and data from analyst Jeff Pu, accessed via the website 9to5Mac, suggests that the price increase will also affect the Pro Max model. This larger screen device could reach US$ 1,499 (approximately R$ 7,600) in its most basic storage configuration.
Why will the iPhone 18 Pro cost more?
The jump in the final product price is directly linked to the higher costs of the components used. These include the unprecedented A20 Pro processor, LPDDR5X standard RAM, and NAND type internal storage. The values of these technologies have seen a sharp rise in the semiconductor market.
The acquisition of memory and storage alone represents a cost that is about three times higher in this cycle compared to last year. Furthermore, manufacturing costs include improvements to the photography system, as the new camera array would increase internal factory expenses even before the item is packaged.
What to expect regarding prices in Brazil?
While the US$ 300 increase may be concerning for American consumers, the impact on the Brazilian market is expected to be even more pronounced. For reference, the current generation shows that the iPhone 17 Pro was launched with an official price of R$ 11,499 in the base version, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max started from R$ 12,499 in stores.
If the US$ 300 increase materializes and is applied to the conversion rate used by the manufacturer in Brazil, the increase is estimated to be around R$ 3,000. This would bring the iPhone 18 Pro close to R$ 14,499, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max would be in the range of R$ 15,499, making it the most expensive generation ever sold in the country.
Apple is unlikely to absorb the costs
Currently, the smartphone industry faces an unprecedented scenario regarding component costs. Although Apple had the possibility of decreasing its own profit margins to keep prices stable for the public, experts consider this chance practically nonexistent.
The adjustments observed in other Apple products clearly demonstrate that the adopted strategy is to pass the burden of inflation directly onto consumers.
