It's as if Steve Jobs himself priced the new iPhone 18 Pro Max and the iPhone Duo

The new iPhone 18 Pro Max is here and Apple now asks $100 more for it. We need to reach deeper in our pockets for the smaller-sized iPhone 18 Pro, too. The brand-new iPhone Duo (Apple's first-ever foldable) isn't exactly cheap, either. Technically, it's $1,999, but that's two grand and two grand can get you a car (if you're lucky enough, it will run mostly fine, too).

I didn't expect Apple's new smartphone trio NOT to be expensive, since it's Apple we're dealing with here. As a matter of fact, my initial reaction yesterday was that of surprise when it became clear that Apple isn't inflating prices too much. "Only a hundred dollars", I said to myself, "it's not THAT bad".

In other words, Apple's marketing team had successfully conditioned me. For a brief moment, I was almost happy that we'd have to pay $100 more for the new iPhones.

Good ol' price anchoring

The fact that Apple fans are ultra loyal and stick with the brand through thick and thin isn't a random phenomenon. Apple has worked hard for this for many years: ad after ad, interview after interview, presentation after presentation. Sure, they make nice phones and tablets, too. But the main ingredient is charisma (and the fact that Huawei is banned in the US).

Up its sleeve, Apple has numerous marketing and psychological tricks. On the day of the event, I think, we were exposed to the good ol' price anchoring strategy.

That's when a higher, but unofficial price is established only to be seriously undercut by the final lower price: boom, you're happy!

Expectations can be tricky and tend to go both ways. Sure, everybody has had to deal with disappointment after hoping for something too good to happen; but we've all been thankful when confronted with the lesser evil in many situations.

Some wild rumors

In the case of the iPhone 18 Pro duo and the new iPhone Duo (I still can't get over that shockingly bland moniker!), there were some wild price rumors in the months before September 9 and the "Surprise and Shine" event.

Almost all leaksters and tipsters were convinced that the foldable iPhone would be over $2,000 for sure. Some said it would be almost $2,500. A $500 difference (between the rumored $2,500 and the $1,999 price) is not to be neglected. It's a real relief even in this economy, where $500 can get you less and less with each passing day.

The iPhone 18 Pro Max and iPhone 18 Pro, meanwhile, were rumored to get slapped with "at least" $200–$300 inflated price tags. Probably the wildest rumor said the new Pro Max variant would be sold for $1,625.

Instead, John Ternus' company (sorry, Tim Cook) announced that the two new iPhone Pro models are only $100 more expensive than their predecessors.

The iPhone 18 Pro is now $1,199 (instead of $1,099 for the iPhone 17 Pro), and the iPhone 18 Pro Max is now $1,299 (instead of $1,199 for the iPhone 17 Pro Max).

The reason behind the rumors

These aforementioned rumors didn't materialize just because Apple wanted to spread the word that users should prepare to pay way more for iPhones. The ongoing RAMpocalypse is causing a severe memory and storage chip shortage across the world. The tech industry is suffering from too much success: AI projects (all the rage today) and AI models literally inhale all the RAM and handset makers have to pay more for memory and storage chips.

The Galaxy S26 arrived at the start of 2026 with a $100 price hike and so did the Pixel 11 last month. Chinese companies are affected, too, it's not just the big players who are hurting.

Apple just exploited the situation better than anybody else. Price anchoring is risky: if rumors say that the price hike would be too severe, people can get scared and decide to stick with their current device months before the thing itself arrives.

Steve Jobs did this 16 years ago

Remember what Steve Jobs did in 2010 when he was presenting the iPad? He walked up and down the stage talking about how if Apple listens to the "pundits", they should price it at $999. Steve played with fire and left the huge $999 sign on the screen behind him for quite some time.

A minute later (which seemed like an eternity), Steve Jobs said that instead, the iPad starts at $499. That's twice as cheap! What a bargain, oh my; where's my credit card at?

Fast forward to September 9, 2026: it feels almost like Steve Jobs presented the iPhone 18 Pro duo and the foldable iPhone Duo. Although I'm sure he wouldn't name it Duo. Maybe the iFold! You know, that paves the way to the iFlip.

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