Apple may have various excuses to hike the iPhone price, but it still shouldn’t do it.
iPhone prices have always been a contentious topic, and this year they’re very likely to cause another big controversy. After almost a decade of relative stability, Apple is rumored to raise all iPhone 17 prices by $50 on September 9.
If rumors are true, the vanilla iPhone 17 could start at $849, but the starting price of the iPhone 17 Pro may jump to $1,149. Apple may stop offering the Pro model with 128GB storage, like it did with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, so the increase will still be $50.
That will inevitably fuel the iPhone’s reputation as an overpriced device, seen by many as a status symbol. However, for years now, there have been numerous smartphones that are more expensive, including virtually every foldable. So, if you want your phone to scream opulence, you should go for one of those.
In fact, the iPhone has become a better deal over the last few years. That’s why making it more expensive could be one of Apple’s worst decisions, even if the company has some solid excuses to do it.
Apple’s top excuse – eight years of stable iPhone pricesIf the iPhone 17 gets more expensive, that’d be the first price increase of a Pro iPhone in eight years. In 2017, Apple released the iPhone X as its most premium device for the previously unheard of $999. Two years later, Apple’s first Pro model, the iPhone 11 Pro, inherited that price tag, while the bigger iPhone 11 Pro Max was offered for $1,099.Adjusted for inflation, the price of the iPhone X today would’ve been about $1,300. That means Pro iPhones have become more affordable over the years, despite the growing economy and increased production costs.Such back-of-the-envelope calculations could be Apple’s perfect excuse to make all iPhone 17 models more expensive.
