Some analysts believe that amid the ongoing global shortage of memory chips and the fact that some Android phone manufacturers are forced to raise prices, Apple is expected to take the opportunity to implement a more "aggressive" pricing strategy with the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, thereby gaining a comparative advantage in the smartphone market.
Jeff Pu, an analyst from GF Securities, said in the latest research report that he expects Apple to use pricing strategies to offset the pressure of rising memory costs, so that the iPhone 18 Pro series remains price attractive to competitors. His previous prediction said that the starting price of the iPhone 18 Pro series will be "the same or only slightly higher" than the current iPhone 17 Pro series.
Currently in the US market, the iPhone 17 Pro starts at $1,099 and the iPhone 17 Pro Max starts at $1,199. Both are equipped with 256GB of storage and are equipped with 12GB of memory. It is reported that the iPhone 18 Pro series is expected to continue to use the same capacity memory configuration. Apple has previously made it clear that in the current March-June financial quarter, the company expects to face "significant increases in memory costs," showing that it is also difficult to completely avoid industry cost pressures.
However, analysts believe that with its larger procurement scale, Apple has stronger bargaining power than most Android phone manufacturers when negotiating with memory suppliers, which is expected to buffer the impact of rising costs on terminal selling prices to a certain extent. In addition, Jeff Pu also predicts that Apple will hedge its memory expenditures by optimizing the supply chain and compressing the costs of some components, such as looking for cost reduction space in aspects such as display panels and camera modules.
In addition to the price strategy, the configuration upgrade of the iPhone 18 Pro series itself has also attracted much attention. Multiple rumors show that the new phone will be equipped with a smaller "Smart Island", a higher-speed A20 Pro chip, at least one rear camera with a variable aperture design, simplified camera control buttons, support for satellite 5G connections, and a new "dark cherry" color scheme.
According to the current time plan, Apple is expected to officially release iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max in September this year. The iPhone 18 of the same series and the iPhone 18e, which focuses on a more user-friendly positioning, are believed to be launched around March 2027.