The iPhone 18 might just cost the same as the iPhone 17 before it. | Image by PhoneArena
Price hikes were expected all across the smartphone industry a few months back when memory shortages hit markets. These price hikes have now started occuring — smartphones from all brands are seeing unavoidable jumps in cost — but Apple might be able to use this chaos to its advantage and improve iPhone sales all over the world.
Apple’s game plan for rising prices
Renowned analyst Ming-chi Kuo has a fascinating theory about Apple’s business practices during these turbulent times. The newly released MacBook Neo and iPhone 17e support Kuo’s theory due to their very competitive pricing. In fact, the 17e actually kept the same price as last year’s iPhone 16e while also offering more storage for the same cost, a strategy that the company has made use of before.
Kuo believes that Apple might use its influence to secure a reliable source of memory modules during these times and absorb the inflated costs to capture more market share. Apple’s new agreements with Samsung already reflect this as the latter will now renegotiate pricing much sooner than it used to before.
Recommended For You
Do you think this strategy will help Apple secure more market share?
More market share for the iPhone?
The iPhone 17e costs the same as last year's iPhone 16e. | Image by Apple
Due to its significant buying power in the industry, Apple has been able to negotiate terms where other companies are still stuck bargaining. Samsung demanded double the cost of its memory modules and Apple reportedly accepted the new prices on the spot without any attempt at negotiation.
The company likely believes that the memory shortages will last at least a few years. Kuo reckons that Apple will try to refrain from hiking up prices for its products in an attempt to coax more customers into switching over to its ecosystem. That is how the company will cover the current losses while also capturing a significant portion of the market share.
It might just work
The new Galaxy S26 phones saw price jumps too, which makes me think that Apple might be on to something if it is in fact doing what Kuo believes. Then again, the iPhone 17 series saw price hikes for certain models last year as well.
It can’t be denied that the MacBook Neo is excellent value. If Apple does absorb rising costs for the next few years, it will undoubtedly see a significant subset of customers make the switch to its products, even if they might not have ever considered doing so before.
$5/mo off for 5 years on Visible premium plans
$30
/mo
$35
$5 off (14%)
New members get $5/mo off the $35/mo Visible+ plan or $5/mo off the $45/mo Visible+ Pro plan for the first 60 months when they port-in from an eligible carrier. Use code 5OFF5 at checkout to save up to $300.
Abdullah loves smartphones, Virtual Reality, and audio gear. Though he covers a wide range of news his favorite is always when he gets to talk about the newest VR venture or when Apple sets the industry ablaze with another phenomenal release.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: