iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max see deep retailer discounts in UK, Europe and Australia ahead of iPhone 18 launch

Synopsis

Apple's iPhone 17 series, including the Pro and Pro Max, has seen fresh price cuts across the UK, Europe and Australia days before the September 9 event where the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max and a new foldable are expected to be unveiled. Forbes reports these discounts are retailer-driven rather than official Apple markdowns, with the Pro and Pro Max set to be discontinued once the new lineup launches.

Apple's iPhone 17 series has become sharply cheaper across several countries just days before the company's September 9 event, where the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max and a new foldable phone are expected to be unveiled. According to Forbes, prices on the Pro and Pro Max have been cut further than they were even a week ago, as retailers move to clear existing stock ahead of the new launch.

The timing has added weight to a separate set of reports suggesting the iPhone 18 Pro could cost anywhere between $100 and $200 more than the current iPhone 17 Pro, driven by a global shortage of memory chips that has already pushed up prices of Macs, iPads and several Android phones through 2026. In rupee terms, that would put the price hike on the iPhone 18 series in the range of roughly Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 over the iPhone 17 series.

iPhone 17 discounts widen in the UK, Europe and Australia

Forbes reports that Amazon UK has extended its discount on the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max to £150 off their launch price, up from £100 just a week earlier. The base iPhone 17, which had not been discounted before, is now £100 off, while the iPhone Air 512GB has received the steepest cut of the lineup at £200. Currys and John Lewis, meanwhile, are still offering £100 off the Pro and Pro Max, unchanged from the previous week.

According to Forbes, similar discounting is playing out across Europe. MediaMarkt Spain has the Pro Max 256GB listed at €1,319, down €150 from its €1,469 launch price, a cut of just over 10%. MediaMarkt Germany is offering the Pro at €1,179 and the Pro Max at €1,329, both €120 off. PcComponentes in Spain has the Pro at €1,229, a saving of €90. Forbes also notes that Australia is seeing some of the steepest cuts anywhere on the Pro Max.

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Forbes points out that the Pro and Pro Max models will be discontinued once the iPhone 18 series is announced, meaning the current round of discounts could be the last chance to buy either model new, at any price. In the US, though, Forbes reports there are no discounts available on the iPhone 17 series outside of carrier-specific deals.

Cheap smartphones may be a thing of the past, says IDC

Citing research firm IDC, Forbes reports that "the days of the cheap smartphone are ending." The firm's assessment is that while deals will continue to exist, especially among Android phones where competition remains strong, handset prices overall are trending upward, and are unlikely to come back down as long as buyers continue paying more.

No official price cut in India yet, discounts are retailer-driven

Unlike the UK, Europe and Australia, Apple has not reduced iPhone 17 prices in India through its own online store. The Pro Max, in particular, remains listed at its original price on Apple's India website. The lower prices currently being advertised in the country are coming from retailers such as Flipkart and Amazon, which have discounted the iPhone 17 Pro from its original price, with further reductions available when stacked with bank offers from cards like SBI, ICICI or the Flipkart Axis card. The Pro Max has seen a similar retailer-led reduction, also before card offers are applied.

This means Indian buyers hoping for an official Apple price cut similar to what is being seen in the UK and Europe have not seen one yet, and it remains unclear whether Apple will introduce one before or around the September 9 event. Any savings currently available in India are a function of retailer discounting and bank tie-ups rather than a change in Apple's own pricing.

Should buyers wait for the iPhone 18?

Forbes notes that Apple has reportedly delayed the standard iPhone 18 and a budget iPhone 18e to spring 2027, meaning only the Pro, Pro Max and foldable will launch this month. Since the standard iPhone 17 does not have a direct successor arriving right away, Apple has less reason to discount it the way it has the Pro models. Reports also indicate Apple has trimmed iPhone 17 production by around 15% as it ramps up manufacturing of the foldable.

Forbes also flags that iPhone trade-in values tend to drop sharply in the ten-day window between an Apple announcement and the actual release date, sometimes by more than $100 on higher-end models, and that Apple has already raised its own trade-in values ahead of the keynote, a move that typically precedes fresh device discounts.