Update: We may not see a price increase for the iPhone 14 after all, says this latest rumor.
With multiple rumors proclaiming that Apple’s upcoming iPhone 14 Pro is due for a price hike this year, it seems like we better count on paying more for Apple's higher-end models. And you can now add another voice to the mix of sources warning about more expensive iPhone Pro models.
Dan Ives, an analyst from Wedbush Securities, is forecasting that the iPhone 14 Pro models will "likely" see a $100 price increase, compared to iPhone 13 Pro models. That would mean a starting price of $1,099 for the iPhone 14 Pro and and an $1,199 iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Ives has said that a “$100 price increase on the iPhone 14 Pro/Pro Max is likely in store given component price increases as well as added functionality” of the phones. That echoes a tweet last week from reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who predicts that the average selling price of the whole iPhone 14 range could increase by about 15% over the iPhone 13. Kuo did not mention a specific price, that squares with multiple rumors pointing to a $100 price increase for the Pros for many months now.
Kuo also suggested that Apple could offset the price hike by increasing the base storage of the iPhone 14 Pro. That would mean the phone might start at 256GB, doubling the 128GB capacity of the iPhone 13 Pro base model. Ives didn't say anything about storage boosts in his price forecast, though.
Either way, it looks like the iPhone 14 Pro is going to go up by $100 — and it's almost a certainty now, given the lack of contradictory price rumors. That could be a bitter pill for phone shoppers to swallow, even before you factor in inflation's effect on prices.
While the iPhone 14 is tipped to start at the same $799 price as the iPhone 13, you still might see a higher starting price on Apple's non-Pro models. That's because the Phone 13 mini, which starts at $699, is likely to give way to the iPhone 14 Max, and most people expect that larger model to start at $100 more than the standard iPhone.
Despite the higher costs on some models, early reports indicate that Apple seems bullish about its iPhone demand this year. It's reportedly ordered 90 million iPhone 14 units for the launch.
Apple may be able to justify the $100 boost to iPhone 14 Pro prices with all the upgrades rumored for those two models. The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are likely to get a new faster A16 chipset — the standard iPhone 14 supposedly will run on the A15 — along with pill-and-punch-hole cutouts for Face ID and the selfie camera. Other rumored iPhone 14 Pro features include a 48MP main camera with support for 8K video recording and an always-on display function.
While consumers may need to budget for a more expensive iPhone 14 Pro, hopefully that means enough new features to make the price hike more palatable. We could find out soon, as a new report claims that the iPhone 14 event will take place on September 7.
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