There are new shiny iPhones, so Apple is making you pay more for older models
- ID
- 22899
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 10 Sep 2026, 3:56 AM
- Fetched
- 10 Sep 2026, 4:19 AM
- Provider
- TechCrunch
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/09/there-are-new-shiny-iphones-so-apple-is-making-you-pay-more-for-older-models/
- Source URL
- https://techcrunch.com/feed/
Summary
- Score
- 3.5
- Created
- 10 Sep 2026, 4:20 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersai_ml_learnerssaas_founders
What happened
Apple raised prices on existing iPhone models by $100 alongside the launch of the iPhone 18 and foldable iPhone Duo, breaking its tradition of discounting older models. Prices surged even more internationally—around 20.5% in India—driven by a global shortage of memory and storage chips as AI companies and cloud providers consume massive quantities for data centers. Apple also discontinued the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.
Why it matters
The memory and storage chip shortage driving these price hikes is the same supply pressure that affects cloud, server, and device costs for builders running AI workloads. If you're budgeting infrastructure or hardware for ML projects, expect component cost inflation to persist as AI data center demand continues crowding out supply.
Discussion angle
The AI data center buildout is now visibly driving up consumer electronics prices—what does this signal about memory/storage availability and pricing for smaller teams building AI products?