Apple will likely unveil the iPhone 18 Pro Max on Sept. 9 and ship it Sept. 18, with one analyst warning the price could reach $1,499. Key Points: Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pr
Apple will likely unveil the iPhone 18 Pro Max on Sept. 9 and ship it Sept. 18, with one analyst warning the price could reach $1,499.
- Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro Max at a Sept. 9 event, with sales starting Sept. 18.
- Price forecasts range from a $100 increase to a jump that would push the Pro Max near $1,499.
- The standard iPhone 18 will not arrive until around March 2027, leaving the Pro models alone this fall.
The company has confirmed nothing, yet the pattern behind its fall keynotes is unusually rigid. Watchers of that pattern have settled on Wednesday, Sept. 9, because Apple has never staged the event on the day after Labor Day.
An invitation should go out around Aug. 26, with pre-orders opening on Friday, Sept. 11, and the phones reaching stores a week later, on Sept. 18.
The keynote will also mark the first appearance of John Ternus as chief executive, a job he takes over on Sept. 1. A foldable model, widely called the iPhone Ultra, should share the stage, and forecasters expect it to start above $2,000.
Also Read:OpenAI Flew Influencers To A Farm Resort, Their Followers Pushed Back Hard
Jeff Pu, an analyst at GF Securities, told clients that both Pro models will cost $250 to $300 more than last year's versions.
That math puts the iPhone 18 Pro Max somewhere between $1,449 and $1,499, well above where the line sits today. He points to the A20 Pro processor, LPDDR5X memory and NAND storage, and the last two now cost Apple roughly three times what they did a year ago.
Mark Gurman, who has covered the company's supply chain for years, expects a smaller jump, closer to the $100 to $200 increases that landed on Macs and iPads in recent weeks.
Neither outcome is trivial for a phone that has started at $1,199 for two straight years. Memory prices have climbed for months as AI data centers soak up supply, and the company has already passed part of that cost to customers.
The A20 Pro chip moves to TSMC's 2nm process, a shift that should lift speed and efficiency at the same time. Trackers have listed a dozen changes for the Pro line, among them a smaller Dynamic Island, a variable aperture main camera, a third-generation C2 modem and 5G over satellite.
Regulatory filings suggest a battery nearly 10% larger than the current Pro Max, tucked into a slightly thicker body that arrives in a new Dark Cherry finish.
Apple raised prices on Macs, iPads and the Apple TV within the past several weeks, blaming memory costs, while leaving the iPhone and AirPods untouched. It also broke up the lineup for the first time, holding the standard iPhone 18, the cheaper 18e and a second iPhone Air until around March 2027.
Read Next:Dogecoin Faces $0.05 Test Before A Possible Run To $0.12
