iPhone 15 Pro price could increase this year: What that means for Android

Just like the iPhone 14 series, it’s expected that Apple will launch the iPhone 15 line up sometime in September of this year. While there will obviously be a few key differences in specs between the current generation vs the next generation, there might be one other change we could see — the price.

According to MacRumors, Tech Analyst at Hong Kong-based investment firm Haitong International Securities, Jeff Pu claims that the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are in store for a price hike. If this is true, it would mark the first time the price of an iPhone has been raised in the US since the iPhone X, which released six years ago.

It appears that Pu predicted the price increase due to several rumored hardware upgrades. These upgrades could include a new periscope camera, a bump in RAM, and extra Taptic Engines for the phone’s new solid-state design.

While this would be the first time Apple increased the price of an iPhone in the US since 2017, this won’t be new to other areas. A few countries outside of the US experienced multiple price increases, like the one during the transition from the iPhone 13 to the iPhone 14. However, the US was lucky and got sparred from the price hike.

It’s uncertain if this increase will affect the iPhone 15 or the iPhone 15 Plus. However, given the information Pu based his prediction on, it seems unlikely since those models won’t get the same hardware upgrades.

So what does this mean for Android owners? If Apple is confident enough to raise the cost of its premium iPhones, it’s possible that OEMs like Samsung or OnePlus could follow suit. We do know that Samsung raised the price of the Galaxy S23 series outside of the US. If this news ends up being true, there may now be a greater likelihood that Samsung will decide to raise the price of the Galaxy S24 stateside.