# The iPhone price rise gets bigger the more storage you buy

Source: https://idevice.com/the-iphone-price-rise-gets-bigger-the-more-storage-you-buy
Published: 2026-09-10

> Apple cut trade-in values the same afternoon it raised prices, so the distance between an old iPhone and a new one widens from both ends.

The [iPhone 18 Pro](https://idevice.com/phones/iphone-pro/roadmap) starts at $1,199 for 256GB, a hundred dollars above where the [iPhone 17 Pro](https://idevice.com/phones/iphone-pro/roadmap/iphone-17-pro) started. That gap widens as you go up the ladder. Per [MacRumors' tier-by-tier comparison with last year](https://www.macrumors.com/2026/09/09/iphone-18-pro-storage-price-hike/), 512GB is $1,399 against $1,199, 1TB is $1,799 against $1,499, and the new 2TB Pro Max at $2,499 sits five hundred dollars above the 2TB iPhone 17 Pro Max. Apple's press release priced only the 256GB models, so the full ladder was not public until the Store page went live.

The other half of the arithmetic landed the same afternoon. Apple cut the maximum it will pay for older iPhones, and an iPhone 16 Pro fell from up to $630 to $510 while the 16 Pro Max went from $720 to $610, [figures taken from Apple's updated trade-in page by Mashable](https://mashable.com/tech/apple-lowers-iphone-trade-in-values-iphone-18). Storage and memory costs have been climbing on supply shortages, and that is the reason given for the surcharge on the bigger tiers. The iPhone 16 Pro Max went from $695 to $720 in August. It's $610 today.

## Sources

- [MacRumors](https://www.macrumors.com/2026/09/09/iphone-18-pro-storage-price-hike/) (MacRumors)
- [Mashable](https://mashable.com/tech/apple-lowers-iphone-trade-in-values-iphone-18) (Mashable)