iPhone 17 may increase in price this week
The information was shared by Fixed Focus Digital, one of the reputable leak sources, on the social network Weibo. According to international technology sites, although there are still some doubts, this adjustment is considered completely well-founded in the context of the fierce memory chip crisis.
In June, after CEO Tim Cook warned about rising component costs, Apple raised the prices of a series of products including Mac, iPad, Vision Pro and home devices. At that time, the iPhone was not subject to regulation, but the company mentioned the possibility of applying new prices to the remaining devices.
According to Apple Insider, Apple's move, which takes place right before the iPhone 18 announcement ceremony, expected in early September, is a strategic step. The company may want to create a psychological buffer, when expert Jeff Pu of analysis company GF Securities believes that the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max could be 250 to 300 USD more expensive than the current generation. If there is a direct jump from 1,099 USD of iPhone 17 Pro to 1,399 USD of 18 Pro, consumers will be "price shocked". Therefore, adjusting the iPhone 17 price now will help narrow the gap.
Besides, the new step will help the company reposition its price list, when the iPhone Ultra folding phone model is rumored to cost up to 2,300 USD, which will set a new price peak for Apple's product range.
Unlike previous years, instead of Apple stopping production of the old Pro line and slightly reducing the price of the standard line when announcing the new generation, the plan for 2026 is expected to change. In particular, the standard iPhone 18 sale date has been postponed to early 2027, the current iPhone 17 model will still play a key role in the mid-range segment for about the next 6 months.
In addition, supply chain sources said Apple decided to cancel plans to expand capacity for some current lines. The serious shortage of components is even affecting the production progress of the A20 Pro processor chip for iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra, raising concerns about shortages in the first sale.
Not only Apple, major competitors such as Samsung, Xiaomi or Google have also been adjusting the prices of current and next-generation smartphones due to the pressure of semiconductor component costs worldwide.
According to Tom's Hardware, the cause of the prolonged crisis is the huge demand from AI data centers. Modern systems require large amounts of high bandwidth memory (HBM) to continuously feed data to the GPU. HBM has very high profit margins, so manufacturers are devoting production, investment and technical resources to this segment. This means they are reducing their focus on conventional DRAM memory, leading to a shortage in supply for computers, servers, and mobile devices.
In the first quarter 2026 financial report dated April 30, Mr. Kim Jaejune, leader of Samsung's memory chip segment, said that the memory crisis will not end in 2027. The gap between supply and demand next year may even widen even more than in 2026. Similarly, Mr. Chey Tae Won, President of SK Hynix, said that the pressure on memory demand related to AI will last until 2030.
Huy Duc