iPhone Pro Pricing — The Big 💰Speculation

Justin Lake
Jul 10, 2017 · 3 min read
Mockup of potential new iPhone design by Benjamin Geskin.

John Gruber’s article this past weekend has caused a lot of discussion and speculation on the pricing of the next iPhone. I wrote the majority of the post below on May 17th, but never posted it. I‘ve adjusted my guess on the new iPhone Pro(8) by bumping the price up $100. With new rumors that have come out in the past couple months, I’ve also added in some guesses I refer to as alternate new pricing.

Current iPhone Pricing:

iPhone SE 32GB: $399
iPhone SE 128GB: $499
iPhone 6s 32GB: $549
iPhone 6s 128GB: $649
iPhone 6s Plus 32GB: $649
iPhone 6s Plus 128GB: $749
iPhone 7 32GB: $649
iPhone 7 128GB: $749
iPhone 7 256GB: $849
iPhone 7 Plus 32GB: $769
iPhone 7 Plus 128GB: $869
iPhone 7 Plus 256GB: $969

New Pricing With Introduction of New Models This Fall:

iPhone SE 32GB: $399
iPhone SE 128GB: $499
iPhone 7 32GB: $549
iPhone 7 128GB: $649
iPhone 7 Plus 32GB: $669
iPhone 7 Plus 128GB: $769
iPhone 7s 32GB: $649
iPhone 7s 128G: $749
iPhone 7s 256GB: $849
iPhone 7s Plus 32GB: $769
iPhone 7s Plus 128GB: $869
iPhone 7s Plus 256GB: $969
iPhone Pro(8) 64GB: $999
iPhone Pro(8) 256GB: $1099

I have one wildcard guess as well:

iPhone Pro(8) 512GB: $1299

Alternate New Pricing With Introduction of New Models This Fall:

iPhone SE 32GB: $399
iPhone SE 128GB: $499
iPhone 7 32GB: $549
iPhone 7 128GB: $649
iPhone 7 Plus 32GB: $669
iPhone 7 Plus 128GB: $769
iPhone 7s 64GB: $649
iPhone 7s 256G: $799
iPhone 7s Plus 64GB: $769
iPhone 7s Plus 256GB: $919
iPhone Pro(8) 64GB: $999
iPhone Pro(8) 256GB: $1099

I have one wildcard guess as well:

iPhone Pro(8) 512GB: $1299

The thing that’s funny is people are acting like it’s unimaginable to pay over $1000 for an iPhone. My iPhone 6 Plus 128GB was $849 + $99 AppleCare + tax $80. That came out to roughly $1028. So yes, I’ve paid over $1000 for an iPhone. And one that I kept for 12 months. Eeek! Trust me, it’s not sustainable.

Of course, this new phone, for 256GB, may cost MORE than that grand total before ever adding AppleCare and tax, making the new phone over $250 more expensive. That’s actually a pretty big increase in price. Let’s look at a little comparison: The full retail price of the Galaxy S8 Plus is $840 for 64GB. A starting price of $999 for a 64GB iPhone Pro(8) would put it a $160 price increase. That’s a lot but may not be so much that people who are bought into Apple now feel compelled to to switch to Android/Samsung. That will be the key for Apple. A high price that people ultimately are willing to swallow to stay with what they know and love.

As one who really likes Apple products and has a tendency to pre-order the latest and greatest but lacks access to sufficient monetary resources, I’m really hoping this isn’t the case. But, I think it may very well be.

Note: I think the naming is going to surprise us. To be honest, I think the new updated iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will be called the iPhone and iPhone Plus, and I think the revolutionary new iPhone will be called the iPhone Pro. Numbers will hang around this year since they’ll still sell the 7, but no new iPhone will have a number. I don’t know how they would deal with naming come NEXT year if they do in fact ditch numbers, but hey, they’ll figure it out.

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I’m a guy who, thanks to the internet and a keyboard, can write about technology, cars, and other sundry topics I find interesting.

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