iPhone 18 Pro Max margins could still drop even with $200 price hike

The iPhone 18 Pro Max may cost more to build than last year’s model, according to a new report from market research firm Counterpoint Research. The firm says the hardware cost for the 1TB version could rise by nearly $300 compared to the iPhone 17 Pro Max in the same storage size.

The main reason for the higher cost is — of course — memory. Counterpoint’s report says rising prices for NAND flash storage and DRAM are the biggest factors pushing up the overall cost of parts. Higher-capacity models, like the 1TB version, are said to be affected more since they use more memory to begin with. This means any increase in memory prices hits these versions harder than smaller storage options.

The New Chip Also Costs More

Memory isn’t the only factor for the price hike. The processor is also more expensive this time. The iPhone 18 Pro Max is expected to use Apple’s new A20 Pro chip, made using TSMC’s 2nm process. 

While the new process will offer improved performance and power efficiency, it also costs more to make, which adds to the overall hardware cost. We have already reported on the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s pricing and rising memory costs, which matches this latest cost report from Counterpoint.

Not all components are getting more expensive, though. Counterpoint expects the display and some other parts to cost less than they did on the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which could help offset some of the increase from memory and the processor. 

Apple May Raise Prices Differently by Storage Size

Since high-capacity models are affected more by memory costs, Counterpoint believes Apple may raise prices differently depending on storage size instead of a flat increase across all models. This would help protect profit margins on higher-capacity phones, which are more exposed to NAND price changes.

Counterpoint also predicts that even if Apple raises the average retail price of the iPhone 18 Pro Max by $200, its profit margin could still end up slightly lower than the iPhone 17 Pro Max. 

For more daily updates, please visit our News Section.

Stay ahead in tech! Join our Telegram community and sign up for our daily newsletter of top stories!

(source)