Apple may raise the prices of the iPhone 17 roster on August 10, bringing the smartphones in line with other products affected by the memory pricing crisis.
After months of being insulated from the rapidly rising cost of memory plaguing the tech industry, Apple increased the prices of most products in late June. A month and a half later, the iPhone could do the same.
According to a Friday post to Weibo, leaker Fixed Focus Digital says there are rumors of price rises for the iPhone 17. The change is also apparently happening very soon, with it potentially taking place on Monday.
The leaker openly admits that there’s some doubt about the rumor, so it may not happen, but there’s still a chance.
In the same post, they also mention that Apple has decided against an apparent increase in production capacity for the current supply chain. Some lines for unnamed products are at 15% and would’ve risen to 30%, but that’s seemingly cancelled now.
Weibo leakers don’t tend to have the best track record when it comes to accuracy, generally due to a need to churn out posts on the social media site with little in the way of checks. That said, Fixed Focus Digital has been correct in the past, such as with the name of the iPhone 16e.
That said, there is certainly a case for a raising of prices here, even with an iPhone update just a month away.
A change to the usual schedule
Apple’s typical way of changing its iPhone product catalog over the last few years involves introducing all of the new models at once. At the same time, it culls most of the previous generation.
In practice, the 2025 update brought in the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17, and iPhone Air as the new models. The incumbent iPhone 17 Pro were cut, but Apple retained the iPhone 16 at a modest discount.
However, fall 2026 won’t be following the same pattern at all due to splitting the launches. Since Apple sells more of the premium models at first and then more of the standard edition later, it can help both its marketing teams and supply chain by staggering the releases.
The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max are certainly anticipated to launch in September as usual, as well as the iPhone Fold, but the lower-spec iPhone 18 won’t until spring 2027.
Rather than leave a gap in the mid-section of its catalog, Apple should keep the iPhone 17 in that slot.
In that scenario, Apple has an incentive to raise the price of the iPhone 17, on the basis of it being an actively sold device for another six months. All during the memory crisis.
It is unclear if the leaker intends the iPhone 17 Pro line to go up in price, too. However, as the iPhone 18 Pro will replace them in a month’s time, complete with a $300 price increase, it may not be a good move for Apple to make.
Either way, it’s not going to be long until we know if the leaker is correct this time.
