The iPhone may have dodged last week’s price bumps, but it might not last the year.
Even Apple can’t avoid the impact of the ongoing memory shortage, and we saw evidence of that when it raised prices on several products. It’s not that surprising, considering outgoing CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month that “price increases are unavoidable.” To that end, we saw Apple jack up prices across its iPad and Mac lineups, as high as $1,300 for the M3 Ultra Mac Studio and even increasing the price of the budget-friendly MacBook Neo by $100. Luckily, there are still a few Apple products that dodged the price hike, but there’s no telling if that will last.
Which Apple products were spared from the price increases?
If you’re in the market for an iPhone, Apple Watch or AirPods, the company didn’t raise prices on these product lineups. All the iPhones on the Apple Store, ranging from the iPhone 16 to the iPhone 17 Pro Max are unaffected, with the most affordable option still being the latest iPhone 17e at $599.
Similarly, the store page lists Apple Watch models including the Series 11, SE 3, Ultra 3 and the two Hermès branded versions as the same price. Depending on your budget, you can still get the SE 3 that still starts for $249 or the top-of-the-line Hermès Ultra 3 starting for $1,399. Just the same, the entire AirPods lineup has also avoided the price changes, with the introductory pricing for AirPods 4 still at $129. There are smaller products and accessories that equally retain their original pricing, like the Studio Display, AirTags and Apple’s desktop peripherals.
Why did these Apple products avoid the price changes?
Apple only recently refreshed its MacBook and iPad lineups earlier this year with the additions of the new products like MacBook Neo, MacBook Air with M5, MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and Max and the iPad Air with M4. However, we’re expecting Apple to reveal next-gen iPhones and Apple Watches this fall during its annual hardware event in the fall.
Smartphones and smartwatches aren’t exempt from being affected by the chip shortages, so it’s more likely that Apple is planning to bump up prices when introducing the expected iPhone 18 series and the potential Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4. According to research firm TechInsights, Apple might have to raise the price of its iPhone 18 Pro as much as $270 to maintain its margins. Rumors have also been circulating about a bunch of new sensors and features for the Apple Watch Ultra 4, which could contribute to a price increase.
The smaller items like AirPods, AirTags or the Apple Pencil could be spared since they don’t need as much memory, but as Cook said to the WSJ about the ongoing chip shortage, “we’ve been been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.”
