Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are getting more expensive, and now we may know exactly why.
According to a new report by Digitimes, the “[iPhone 15] Pro series is likely to suffer from a major price hike because of the chassis upgrades from stainless steel to titanium and the periscope lens upgrade, which is only for the Pro Max, for performing 5-6x optical zoom.”
In previous reports, titanium has been cited as a big cost increase for Apple, but with claims that the iPhone 15 Pro would not jump in price, it appeared this wouldn’t be passed on to end users. Throw in the cost of Apple’s first 10x optical zoom camera, and this aligns with claims that the iPhone 15 Pro Max could rise by as much as $200, becoming the most expensive iPhone ever released.
As such, the iPhone 15 lineup could well be priced as follows:
- iPhone 15: starting from $799 (unchanged)
- iPhone 15 Plus: starting from $899 (unchanged)
- iPhone 15 Pro: starting from $1,099 ($100 increase)
- iPhone 15 Pro Max: starting from $1,299 ($200 increase)
Speculation has mounted that elements such as the titanium chassis, which, while stronger and lighter than stainless steel, is not essential to the phone and is being integrated specifically because Apple wants to widen the gap between its Pro and non-Pro iPhones.
Why? For most of the iPhone 14’s lifecycle, sales of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max raced ahead of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. This is because the iPhone 14 Plus costs just $100 less than the iPhone 14 Pro, a difference that becomes insignificant over an average two-year carrier contract.
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