iPhone, iPad and Mac Price Hikes Could Be 'Fairly Imminent': Mark Gurman

Apple is expected to raise the prices of the iPhone, iPad, and other products. While CEO Tim Cook recently acknowledged that increasing memory and storage costs could force the company to pass higher expenses on to customers, the official stopped short of revealing when the increases could come into effect. A seasoned journalist has now suggested that the price hikes could be imminent as Apple navigates rising component costs.

Apple Might Not Wait Until September to Hike Prices of Its Product

In a recent post on X, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman predicts that Apple may not wait until the launch of the iPhone 18 series to increase prices. According to the journalist, the Cupertino-based tech giant would have little reason to publicly warn customers about upcoming price increases if they were still several months away.

"Regarding Apple price hikes, have to imagine these are fairly imminent. No other reason to flag them now," Gurman wrote. The X post further mentioned speculation that the company could use its annual Back to School promotion as a buffer to soften the impact of higher list prices. However, the sale is only geared towards students and educational buyers, meaning other users may have to shell out more to own Apple devices.

The journalist's comments follow recent remarks made by Tim Cook. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the Apple CEO reportedly admitted that Apple has been trying to absorb rising component costs for as long as possible. However, this strategy may no longer be sustainable.

"Unfortunately, price increases are unavoidable," Cook reportedly said. "We're doing our best to mitigate the huge increases that are being passed to us, and we've been trying to shield our customers from the increases, but the situation has become unsustainable."

While Cook revealed that the company was exploring avenues to support increased memory production, Apple has no intention of manufacturing the chips itself.

So far, there has been no word from the tech giant as to exactly how much the price could increase. However, that does not mean there isn't chatter about it in the rumour mill. Shortly after the interview with Tim Cook, WSJ attempted to quantify the potential impact of a price hike on the upcoming iPhone 18 lineup. Citing estimates from research firm TechInsights, the publication claimed that DRAM costs for a base iPhone 18 Pro could rise from roughly $39 (around Rs. 3,700) to $145 (around Rs. 13,700). Storage costs are also expected to increase substantially, climbing from about $13 (roughly Rs. 1,200) to $51 (roughly Rs. 4,800).

These, combined with manufacturing and other component expenses, could translate into the production cost of a base iPhone 18 Pro increasing by nearly 25 percent compared to the iPhone 17 Pro. Consequently, Apple may reportedly raise the handset's starting price from $1,099 (roughly Rs. 1.04 lakh) to around $1,299 (roughly Rs. 1.23 lakh) to maintain its profit margins.