Apple may indeed hike the prices of its upcoming iPhone 15 Pro line, as another analyst report claims the same, based on sources from Apple’s supply chain in Taiwan, says Digitimes. The introduction of an expensive periscope zoom camera on the iPhone 15 Pro Max could make it $200 pricier than the $1099 iPhone 14 Pro Max, while the iPhone 15 Pro and its Apple A17 processor would perhaps cost $100 more than its predecessor.
The company has some leeway with its fans when it comes to raising prices, as even its flagship models start from $1099, while direct competitors from Samsung or Oppo cost more. Granted, the Android flagships come equipped way better than even Apple’s Pro Max line, but once Apple slaps a periscope zoom camera on the 15 Pro Max, it can charge as much as what Samsung wants for the Galaxy S23 Ultra that also has folded optical zoom lens.
iPhone 15 Pro Max price hike and sales number forecast
On the other hand, higher iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max prices would reflect on the sales numbers that Apple analysts have been predicting so far. The last forecast by market research firm Omdia has Apple shipping 28.5 million units of the iPhone 15 Pro Max this year, riding high on its periscope camera zoom for the first time on an iPhone, the expected thinner bezels and titanium frame, as well as the fast new Apple A17 chipset.
Next in line is the iPhone 15 Pro with 20.5 million units of predicted sales this year. That leaves the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus, which are rumored to ship with older chipset and slow display refresh rate, to battle for the 26 million units left to a 75 million total of new 2023 iPhone series that Apple is forecast to move by the end of the year.
This would peg the sales share of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models as 65% of the total iPhone 15 series mix from the get-go. This unprecedented share of the iPhone 15 Pro line in the sales mix would have contributed greatly in terms of revenue and profits, if it wasn’t for the predicted price hike that may now see Apple sell less iPhones than forecast.
Moreover, 75 million of the new generation iPhones sold is still lower than the 83.5 million Apple managed to ship in the year the iPhone 13 made a cameo. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is also expected to ship later than the rest of Apple’s 2023 gang, which could further contribute to less enthusiastic sales numbers, and it remains to be seen if Apple will manage to recuperate the potential revenue loss with the eventual higher prices of the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max.
