Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Apple’s Secret RAM trick could SAVE iPhone 18 Pro’s Price
While the ongoing Rampocalypse sends component prices to the moon as AI companies gobble up every chip they can get their hands on, Apple has been forced to up the prices of many products across the board. The new MacBook Neo, up $100, base Mac mini and MacBook Air up 200, and don’t even ask about the more powerful MacBook Pro and Studio models. Even the HomePods and Apple TV have taken a hit.
But Apple didn’t raise prices on the iPhone series at all, nor the Apple Watch, and that may be because of a trick up their sleeves that VERY few people have been talking about. We’ll come to that in a bit.
While you may think this is because there are new models just around the corner and so Apple will just change those prices then, I’m less confident that this is the case. Analysts are suggesting that the prices could go up for the new Pro iPhones by as much as 200, starting at $1299 and $1399 for the Pro and Pro Max respectively, but I’m not sure that the analysts are right this time. So in this video, we’ll dive a little deeper into why Apple may be able to maintain pricing on the iPhone, and why I’m not convinced by the analysts.
Apple’s price hikes leaving out the iPhone is my biggest clue for this. Apple doing a single hit price increase on the Mac and home lines is not because they’re costing more to build today. Look at the HomePods, both sizes are expected to be upgraded in the near future in order to accommodate Apple’s new Siri, as is the Apple TV. When the original HomePod Big was discontinued, quite some time before it was refreshed, it seemed that all of the inventory had been produced in a single original production run years earlier. These do not sell in huge numbers, I mean we’re still talking 10s of millions, more than I could make in my flat, but small numbers for Apple. And way smaller numbers of course towards the end of their product lifespan, which these are very much approaching. I would hazard a guess that every one of the HomePods that will be sold this side of their next refresh had already been built way before the price increases arrived.
So if building them won’t cost Apple any more because of the price increases, why have they gone up in cost? Well, we’ll come to that. Apple TV has, by all accounts also already been built ahead of the new release with Siri AI and has been sat in warehouses since last year, just awaiting the software it needs to fulfil its destiny. Did you notice how few mentions there were of Apple TV and HomePod related software at WWDC? That’s basically because those platforms need the new hardware in order to run all the cool new features. Plus, we’re expecting the new mini screen-based home hub from Apple this year too, which I’m placing my bet on being the HomePod Touch, basically smart home management from Apple.
So if Apple isn’t really building any more of the HomePods and current Apple TVs, why did the products go up in price? So that when the new versions arrive, the conversation is about the product and its new features, and not about a price increase overshadowing the release. Make sense? Every single year, there are questions about whether the iPhone price will go up, and if it does, that becomes the headline for pretty much all of the media. Think about the iPhone X when that released at $999 alongside the iPhone 8 at $799. Every headline was about the first $1000 phone.
Apple’s Secret RAM trick could SAVE iPhone 18 Pro’s Price
While the ongoing Rampocalypse sends component prices to the moon as AI companies gobble up every chip they can get their hands on, Apple has been forced to up the prices of many products across the board. The new MacBook Neo, up $100, base Mac mini and MacBook Air up 200, and don’t even ask about the more powerful MacBook Pro and Studio models. Even the HomePods and Apple TV have taken a hit.
But Apple didn’t raise prices on the iPhone series at all, nor the Apple Watch, and that may be because of a trick up their sleeves that VERY few people have been talking about. We’ll come to that in a bit.
While you may think this is because there are new models just around the corner and so Apple will just change those prices then, I’m less confident that this is the case. Analysts are suggesting that the prices could go up for the new Pro iPhones by as much as 200, starting at $1299 and $1399 for the Pro and Pro Max respectively, but I’m not sure that the analysts are right this time. So in this video, we’ll dive a little deeper into why Apple may be able to maintain pricing on the iPhone, and why I’m not convinced by the analysts.
Apple’s price hikes leaving out the iPhone is my biggest clue for this. Apple doing a single hit price increase on the Mac and home lines is not because they’re costing more to build today. Look at the HomePods, both sizes are expected to be upgraded in the near future in order to accommodate Apple’s new Siri, as is the Apple TV. When the original HomePod Big was discontinued, quite some time before it was refreshed, it seemed that all of the inventory had been produced in a single original production run years earlier. These do not sell in huge numbers, I mean we’re still talking 10s of millions, more than I could make in my flat, but small numbers for Apple. And way smaller numbers of course towards the end of their product lifespan, which these are very much approaching. I would hazard a guess that every one of the HomePods that will be sold this side of their next refresh had already been built way before the price increases arrived.
So if building them won’t cost Apple any more because of the price increases, why have they gone up in cost? Well, we’ll come to that. Apple TV has, by all accounts also already been built ahead of the new release with Siri AI and has been sat in warehouses since last year, just awaiting the software it needs to fulfil its destiny. Did you notice how few mentions there were of Apple TV and HomePod related software at WWDC? That’s basically because those platforms need the new hardware in order to run all the cool new features. Plus, we’re expecting the new mini screen-based home hub from Apple this year too, which I’m placing my bet on being the HomePod Touch, basically smart home management from Apple.
So if Apple isn’t really building any more of the HomePods and current Apple TVs, why did the products go up in price? So that when the new versions arrive, the conversation is about the product and its new features, and not about a price increase overshadowing the release. Make sense? Every single year, there are questions about whether the iPhone price will go up, and if it does, that becomes the headline for pretty much all of the media. Think about the iPhone X when that released at $999 alongside the iPhone 8 at $799. Every headline was about the first $1000 phone.
