Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro launch has brought an unusual change to the company’s wider smartphone lineup. Alongside the arrival of the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and foldable iPhone Duo, Apple has raised prices on several older iPhones, including models that now cost more than they did when they first went on sale.
The most striking example is the iPhone 16. Before Apple’s latest event, the phone was selling for $699 after receiving a $100 reduction following the launch of the iPhone 17. Apple has now reversed that cut, taking the iPhone 16 back to $799, exactly the price at which it launched in 2024.
That makes this year’s iPhone launch notable for more than the new hardware. Instead of automatically creating cheaper entry points further down the lineup, Apple’s latest pricing changes have pushed several previous-generation models in the opposite direction.
Apple raises iPhone 17, iPhone 17e and iPhone Air prices
The iPhone 16 is not the only older model affected.
Apple has increased the price of the iPhone 17 from its original $799 launch price to $899. The iPhone 17e, which debuted in March at $599, now costs $699. The iPhone Air has also moved higher, rising from its $999 launch price to $1,099.
That leaves three of those phones costing $100 more than their respective launch prices:
- iPhone 17e: $599 at launch, now $699
- iPhone 17: $799 at launch, now $899
- iPhone Air: $999 at launch, now $1,099
- iPhone 16: previously $699, now back to its original $799 launch price
The changes stand out because older iPhones have traditionally become more affordable when a new generation arrives. This time, buyers looking beyond Apple’s newest models are not necessarily finding the lower prices they may have expected.
iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max also start $100 higher
Apple’s new Pro models have moved up the price ladder too.
The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199, while the iPhone 18 Pro Max begins at $1,299. Both starting prices are $100 above those of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max when the previous generation launched.
The pricing creates a noticeably more expensive iPhone range at several levels. Someone considering an older iPhone 17, for example, is now looking at an $899 starting price, while moving to the latest iPhone 18 Pro requires $1,199.
Apple has also announced the foldable iPhone Duo, priced at $1,999, placing it well above the Pro lineup in the company’s latest range.
The unusual part of Apple’s 2026 pricing strategy
The important change is not simply that Apple’s newest phones cost more. It is what has happened to the phones sitting beneath them.
A price increase on a newly launched flagship can be viewed as a straightforward generational adjustment. Raising the price of existing models after they have already spent months, or even years, on sale is different.
The iPhone 16 illustrates that shift clearly. Its price fell from $799 to $699 after the iPhone 17 arrived, only for Apple to take it back to $799 following the iPhone 18 Pro launch.
For the iPhone 17, iPhone 17e and iPhone Air, the move goes further. Each now carries a starting price above its original launch figure.
That changes the usual calculation for buyers who wait for a new iPhone generation before purchasing an older model. Waiting has not automatically produced a lower official price in Apple’s current lineup.
Apple iPhone 18 Pro launch reshapes the entire price ladder
Viewed together, the changes make the iPhone 18 Pro launch as much a story about Apple’s older devices as its new ones.
The iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 and the Pro Max at $1,299, while the iPhone 17, 17e and Air have all moved $100 above their original launch prices. Meanwhile, the iPhone 16 has returned to the same $799 figure Apple charged when it first arrived two years earlier.
For consumers comparing generations rather than simply buying the newest model, that is the bigger pricing story surrounding Apple’s 2026 iPhone launch.
Also Read: iPhone 18 Pro Pre-Orders Open: Prices, Burgundy Color, Storage and Trade-In Offers
