Apple raises prices on existing iPhone models while unveiling iPhone 18 and iPhone Duo

Apple on Wednesday unveiled its new iPhone 18 and its first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo. But amid all the attention on Apple’s newest and most expensive devices, there’s another change: Apple is raising the price of its existing iPhone models by $100.

Starting today, customers will notice a price hike for existing models on Apple’s online store, including starting prices for iPhone 16 at $799, iPhone 17e at $699, iPhone 17 at $899, and iPhone Air at $1,099.

The price increases are even steeper in some international markets. In India, for example, prices have reportedly risen by around 20.5%. The company also discontinued the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.

The strategy is an unusual one for Apple. Traditionally, the arrival of a new generation of iPhones means older models become cheaper.

However, the price hike wasn’t entirely unexpected. Speculation had been building that Apple could raise prices as it introduced its next-generation iPhones. One of the biggest pressures is a global shortage of memory and storage chips. Demand for those components has surged as AI companies and cloud providers build out increasingly massive data centers.

In a June interview with The Wall Street Journal, former Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that rising component costs could eventually force the company to rethink its pricing strategy. He said Apple could no longer fully absorb the rising costs of memory and storage chips.

About a week after those comments, the company raised prices across its Mac and iPad lineups.

Other reasons Apple may consider increasing iPhone prices are to remain competitive with rising prices from rivals like Samsung and Google. Additionally, Apple might feel that its new Upgrade program, which allows customers to spread the cost of an iPhone through manageable monthly payments, could cushion the impact of a price hike, making it less noticeable to consumers.