Skip to content
Editorial standardsAdvertise
MeridiansIndependent reporting, reviews and buying advice
LIVE
Deals/News

Apple Quietly Raises Prices on Older iPhones After Unveiling the iPhone 18 Lineup

The iPhone 16, 17e, 17 and iPhone Air each cost $100 more this week, with no announcement — and no discount at all on the last generation's Pro models, which Apple pulled from sale.

Meridians Reviews Desk

Published 11 September 2026 · Updated 11 September 2026 · 4 min read

Apple Quietly Raises Prices on Older iPhones After Unveiling the iPhone 18 LineupDeals
Photo: Photo by Josh Sorenson / Pexels (Pexels License — free to use, no attribution legally required (credited above as good practice).)

The short answer

  • The iPhone 16 rose from $699 to $799, the 17e from $599 to $699, the iPhone 17 from $799 to $899, and the iPhone Air from $999 to $1,099, according to TechCrunch and TechRepublic.
  • The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max were not discounted — they were discontinued outright and pulled from Apple's US online store.
  • Apple issued no press release on the changes; the new prices simply appeared on its website this week.
  • Apple has previously pointed to a global memory and storage chip shortage as a cost pressure it can no longer fully absorb.

Buying last year's iPhone used to be the easy way to save money right after a new model launched. This week that pattern broke: four older iPhone models got more expensive, not less, in the days after Apple introduced the iPhone 18 lineup and its first foldable phone.

What changed, in dollars

  • iPhone 16: $699 → $799
  • iPhone 17e: $599 → $699
  • iPhone 17: $799 → $899
  • iPhone Air: $999 → $1,099

TechCrunch and TechRepublic independently confirmed the same four price points this week, both noting that Apple made no public announcement. The new prices simply replaced the old ones on Apple's online store.

No discount for the outgoing Pro models, either

Normally a superseded Pro model gets marked down and stays on sale for a year. Instead, the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max were discontinued entirely and removed from Apple's US store alongside the price increases on the non-Pro lineup.

Why: a chip shortage Apple says it can no longer absorb

Both outlets tie the increases to remarks made earlier this year by then-CEO Tim Cook, who described a global memory and storage chip shortage as a "hundred-year flood" and said Apple could no longer fully absorb the rising cost of those components. Raising prices on older, lower-margin models is one way to offset that cost without touching the new iPhone 18 line's headline price.

Sources

Every factual claim above is traceable to these documents. Check them — that is why they are here.

About this byline

Meridians Reviews Desk is an editorial desk at Meridians, not an individual. A desk byline means the article was produced and fact-checked to that desk's published standards. Read our editorial standards and corrections policy.

Sponsored

Paid placement · not editorial

Related reading

The Meridians Brief

One considered email a week

What changed, what it costs you, and what to do about it — from the Meridians desks. No sponsored picks disguised as recommendations.

Sign-up opens with our launch issue. Nothing is sent or stored yet.