With storage prices surging, Apple won't be merciful! iPhone 18 Pro series price prediction: the China version starting at 10,000 yuan shouldn't be a problem.

Global storage chip prices continue to surge significantly. The persistently high component costs are directly forcing phone manufacturers to raise product prices, partially shifting the sharply increased cost pressure onto end consumers. Now even Apple is preparing to adopt a similar price-increase strategy for its next-generation iPhone products.

Now, The Wall Street Journal and professional research institution TechInsights have jointly conducted a detailed price breakdown analysis of the upcoming iPhone 18 series, predicting that the high-end Pro series starting price will reach at least $1,299, with the final result more aligned with Apple's pricing logic being closer to $1,399 — a price increase far exceeding the magnitude of typical annual updates.

According to the latest cost research data from TechInsights, the current iPhone 17 Pro priced at $1,099 has an overall product gross margin of approximately 47%, within Apple's conventional profit range for previous high-end flagships.

If Apple wants to maintain exactly the same profit level on the iPhone 18 Pro and offset the cost increase from storage price hikes, the new model would need to be priced at $1,371 to achieve that.

Combined with calculations based on Apple's long-standing preference for integer-tier standardized pricing strategy, if the starting price were set at $1,299, the iPhone 18 Pro's overall gross margin would drop directly to 44%, clearly below the conventional profit requirements for Apple's high-end product line.

If the factor that renowned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously mentioned — that the next-generation iPhone camera system costs will rise by 50% — is also included in the calculation, following the same cost logic, Apple will likely ultimately set the iPhone 18 Pro starting price at $1,399, approximately RMB 9,450 or even higher.

Deriving the domestic Chinese version pricing rules backwards from this overseas pricing, the iPhone 18 Pro's domestic starting price will likely directly reach the ¥9,999 range, and in extreme cases could even break ten thousand yuan to reach ¥10,999.

After all, the previous generation iPhone 17 Pro already had a domestic starting price of ¥8,999, so there is almost no suspense about this price increase.