iPhone 18 price leak: Is Apple avoiding a hike in India?

According to a fresh investor note from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is unlikely to raise the base price of the iPhone 18 in India, even as the cost of key components continues to climb. The increase in manufacturing costs is mainly linked to TSMC’s next-generation A20 chip and rising memory prices. Even so, Apple appears willing to protect entry-level pricing to remain competitive in key markets like India, making this one of its most consumer-friendly pricing moves in recent years.

Why a price hike looked inevitable

Rising memory prices and the cost of the A20 chip had raised concerns over a possible iPhone 18 launch price increase. Initial news indicated increased manufacturing expenses of the iPhone 18, which is largely because of the next-generation A20 chip and expensive memory chips. The demand for TSMC advanced nodes is high due to AI and heavy consumer workloads based on the use of GPUs thus forcing Apple to pay extra money to achieve capacity. Meanwhile, prices of memory are in a super-cycle and its quarter-on-quarter performance has already increased certain components 10-25% above 2025 levels.

In the normal course of things, such pressures would have meant more costly phones, particularly in the high-end of the market. As the average cost of smartphone production went up and most of the brands were already pushing the prices, there was a rumour that the iPhones 18 would be following the same trend.

iPhone 18 base price: Kuo’s leak

Ming-Chi Kuo claims Apple wants to keep the iPhone 18 base price unchanged to protect sales in key markets like India. As Kuo asserts, the current internal logic of Apple is not to hike the prices of iPhone 18 at all, especially on the low-end model. The idea is to maintain the entry price constant- or rather very much close- to the current price, even when the internal costs increase. On the marketing front, maintaining the base price is useful to enable Apple to attract more and more price-sensitive consumers, without compromising the premium brand position of the iPhone.

This approach is supported by recent history. The iPhone 17 was marketed at 799 dollars in the US and approximately Rs82,900 in India in its lowest storage capacity but had more default storage than the iPhone 16. In case Apple replicates such a formula, the iPhone 18 base model may not go beyond what is known to it, particularly in major markets such as the US and India.

Apple pricing strategy

Apple’s services revenue may help offset higher Apple iPhone 18 cost, allowing the company to avoid a sharp price hike. Negotiating memories quarterly rather than every six months, Kuo reports, has allowed Apple to react more quickly, but it has had to endure frequent increases. Instead of merely transferring such costs, Apple can decide to bear part of the blow in the short run to win the market share as its competitors go through the same strains.

Of great significance, the services revenue provides Apple with additional buffers. The margin can be recaptured via subscriptions, iCloud, Apple Music, TV+ and other ecosystem services that will allow it to take a hit on thinner hardware earnings in the short-term. That is, maintaining the current prices of the iPhones can be paid off in the future when a larger number of people remain in the Apple ecosystem.

iPhone 18 vs iPhone 17 price

While the base iPhone 18 price may stay flat, higher storage models could see a price increase compared to iPhone 17. Flat pricing does not imply that no configuration will be touched. Analysts believe that Apple might maintain the starting price of the base iPhone 18 and increase the price of versions with more storage, where consumers are historically less price-sensitive. This is similar to the past years where there were superior default storage and new highest-end alternatives that came with silent changes at the top.

What it means for buyers

For Indian buyers, the iPhone 18 India launch could be more affordable than expected if Apple sticks to its current pricing plan. Provided that these leaks are true, those looking to buy the iPhone 18 in late 2026 will not be stunned by the starting price but might expect it to look like one. The trade-off here is that configurations that offer a nice-to-have, such as 512GB or 1TB storage, may be pricier, and the current supply chain still has room to change the plans that Apple has put in place before launch.

Disclaimer: The information regarding the gadgets/devices listed in the table and article has been sourced from various secondary sources. For detailed product specifications, please refer to the brand sources.