Apple has quietly made its existing iPhone lineup more expensive in the U.S., raising the starting prices of the iPhone 16, iPhone 17e, iPhone 17, and iPhone Air by $100 each.

The price changes appeared on Apple’s online store following the company’s latest iPhone event, where it introduced the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and its first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo. Rather than cutting prices on the models that remain in its lineup, Apple has gone in the opposite direction.

The new U.S. starting prices are now $799 for the iPhone 16, $699 for the iPhone 17e, $899 for the iPhone 17, and $1,099 for the iPhone Air. Each model is therefore $100 more expensive than it was immediately before Apple’s September event.

Apple reverses the usual iPhone price-cut pattern

Apple traditionally lowers the price of older iPhones when new models arrive, giving shoppers a cheaper way to enter the lineup. This year’s strategy is notably different.

The iPhone 16, which had dropped to $699 after the iPhone 17 launched, is now back at its original $799 starting price. The iPhone 17e has similarly moved from $599 to $699, while the iPhone 17 has increased from $799 to $899. The iPhone Air is now particularly notable because its $1,099 starting price pushes the model above the $1,000 mark.

That means shoppers looking for one of Apple’s less expensive iPhones are now paying substantially more than they would have just before the event. The increase also changes the price gap between Apple’s remaining models, making the new entry points considerably higher across the board.

Rising memory costs are a major factor

Apple’s price increases come after months of warnings about rising component costs, particularly memory and storage.

Apple CEO Tim Cook previously indicated that the company was facing significant increases in memory and storage costs and could no longer absorb all of those additional expenses. Demand from the rapidly expanding AI infrastructure industry has put pressure on memory supplies as data-center operators compete for components.

The broader memory shortage has already affected other parts of Apple’s hardware business. The iPhone increases now bring those cost pressures directly to the company’s smartphone lineup.

The iPhone lineup is changing at the top, too

The price increases arrive at the same time Apple is reshaping its premium iPhone lineup.

With the launch of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, Apple has discontinued the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max from its official online store. Those models are being replaced at the top of the lineup by the new Pro models, while the iPhone Duo introduces a completely new foldable category.

Apple has therefore made two significant changes at once: it has removed some of its most expensive previous-generation models while making several of the remaining older and lower-priced iPhones more expensive.

For consumers, that makes the traditional strategy of waiting for a new iPhone generation and buying the previous model less attractive this year. Instead of automatically receiving a discount, shoppers are now facing higher prices on several of the models that remain available.

The move also makes the iPhone Air’s new $1,099 starting price particularly interesting. A device that previously occupied a relatively straightforward position below $1,000 now crosses that psychological price barrier, while the standard iPhone 17 starts at $899.

Apple’s latest pricing strategy suggests that the era of predictable iPhone price cuts with every new generation may be becoming less certain, particularly while memory and storage costs remain elevated.