iPhone 18 Pro Faces Dual Blow of Price Hike and Shortage! Despite High A20 Pro Yield, DRAM Bottleneck Persists — Wall Street: New Model Starts at $1,399

According to the latest foreign media reports, with just weeks remaining before the launch of the iPhone 18 series, Apple’s new devices are facing a dual blow of 'soaring costs + DRAM shortages,' making a price increase almost certain and initial stockouts unavoidable.

U.S. tech media outlet 9to5mac, citing supply chain sources and institutional estimates, identifies three key hardware cost drivers behind the price hike. First, global DRAM and NAND flash memory remain critically tight, causing spot market prices to surge. Second, the newly introduced variable aperture main camera costs 50% more than the previous generation. Third, the debut of TSMC’s 2-nanometer A20 Pro chip combined with WMCM packaging has significantly increased advanced process expenses.

Wall Street estimates suggest that to maintain baseline gross margins, the new model’s minimum price must be set at $1,299. Factoring in the imaging performance premium, Apple is likely to anchor the Pro model’s starting price at $1,399—$300 higher than the previous equivalent model. The Pro Max variant is expected to see a similar upward adjustment.

Earlier reporting by Bloomberg indicated a Pro model price increase between $100 and $200, though JPMorgan believes partial cost pressure could be offset through component optimization. At a $1,299 price point, the device’s gross margin would drop from the prior generation’s 47% to 44%, supporting Apple’s rationale for targeting $1,399.

Production challenges are even more severe. While A20 Pro wafer yields are stable and TSMC’s production lines are operating normally, there is a massive shortfall in dedicated DRAM supply. As a result, already-produced chips cannot proceed to WMCM integrated packaging, leaving over $1 billion worth of Apple processor capacity at TSMC idle.

Supply chain forecasts indicate that while basic availability can be maintained at launch, online order wait times will lengthen, and physical retail inventory will deplete rapidly.

Compounding the issue, product line contraction has been confirmed: the standard iPhone 18 and iPhone Air 2 have been canceled for this fall (with Air 2 delayed to early 2027), leaving only the iPhone Ultra and 18 Pro series. This shifts all entry-level demand onto the Pro models, further amplifying supply-demand imbalances.

For consumers, the next-generation Pro is no longer a question of 'can I afford it?' but rather 'how long will I have to wait after paying $1,399?'

For Apple, the DRAM price surge is partially shifting hardware pricing power away from brand premium and back toward memory manufacturers.