iPhone 18: a new price increase could arrive as early as 2027

iPhone 18 may not have finished with the price hikes yet: according to Korean media and supply-chain sources, the cost of memory for smartphones is rising rapidly, and this could translate into a new price increase as early as 2027.

iPhone 18: why memory costs more and what could change in 2027

At the base of the increase would be the growing demand related to artificial intelligence, which has constrained the availability of mobile DRAM and NAND memory: manufacturers such as Samsung and SK hynix would indeed be prioritizing higher-margin products, such as high-bandwidth memory for servers, at the expense of smartphone production.

Samsung would set for the first quarter of 2027 a price for LPDDR5X memory of around $2.00 per gigabit, versus $1.50 in Q3 2026, an increase of 33%.

The price of NAND memory would also rise, from about $0.26 to $0.33 per gigabit, with a 27% increase. OPPO and Vivo would have rejected these new conditions, seeking alternative suppliers to contain costs.

It would not be the first time that production-cost increases are reflected in the final price of the range: iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max have already seen a $100 rise compared to the corresponding 2025 models, the same hike previously applied to the iPhone 17 and iPhone 16 series (Pro and Pro Max).

At the moment it is not yet clear whether Apple will decide to pass on the entire increase in memory costs to consumers, but for the iPhone 18 family (or for the potential new generation arriving in 2027) a further hike is described as a realistic possibility.

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