Since the introduction of the iPhone X on September 2017, Apple’s “true” flagship iPhone model has always started at under a grand, which is coded for $999. Well, according to TrendForce, it looks like that trend is coming to an end with the upcoming iPhone 17 Pro, which is expected to be unveiled next week. However, that alleged price hike partially contributes to the claim that the iPhone 17 Pro will feature double the default storage at 256GB.
If we take a look back at the iPhone 14 Pro models from September 2022, both the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max started at 128GB of storage, and those models had starting prices of $999 and $1,099, respectively. However, with the introduction of the iPhone 15 Pro, Apple dropped the 128GB capacity for the iPhone 15 Pro Max, so that smartphone started at $1,199 instead, but at the same time, it started with 256GB of storage – double the capacity as before. That was the same price as its predecessor at that capacity. The smaller iPhone 15 Pro stayed at the same default storage (128GB) and same starting price ($999).
Apple carried that pricing/storage tier to the follow-up iPhone 16 Pro models: the base iPhone 16 Pro starts at $999 with 128GB storage, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,199 with 256GB storage. Currently, both the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the M4 iPad Pro start with 256GB of storage. Nowadays, for pro users, the 128GB storage tier definitely feels limiting, especially for people who want to take ProRAW photos or even ProRes video at higher resolution. So it would make sense for Apple to axe the 128GB capacity on its upcoming base iPhone 17 Pro. So a base iPhone 17 Pro with double the storage (256GB) and a higher starting price at $1,199 could be a better bargain for a $100 price increase if you compare the current iPhone 16 Pro at that same capacity ($1,099).
With that said, it’s expected that both the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max could both see price hikes, and they will both still max out at 1TB of storage. The iPhone 17 Air could start at $1,099, but the base iPhone 17 is expected to start the same $799. So here are the storage tiers/prices we could see for all iPhone 17 models:
- iPhone 17: 128GB ($799); 256GB ($899); 512GB ($1,099)
- iPhone 17 Air: 256GB ($1,099); 512GB ($1,299); 1TB ($1,499)
- iPhone 17 Pro: 256GB ($1,199); 512GB ($1,399); 1TB ($1,599)
- iPhone 17 Pro Max: 256GB ($1,299); 512GB ($1,499); 1TB ($1,699)
As you can see, since the pricing for the iPhone 17 Air is relatively closer to that of the iPhone 17 Pro models, it seems that Apple is positioning the iPhone 17 Air as a more “premium” model as it could share the same starting storage and capacity options as the Pro models. Starting next fall, it’s expected that Apple will reserve fall announcements for iPhone Air/Pro/Pro Max models along with the highly anticipated “iPhone Fold”. Going forward, spring announcements will be for the iPhone “e” and the “base” model. It won’t be long until Apple will unveil its iPhone 17 lineup and reveal all the tech specifications for all models.
