Are you ready: era of the $2,000 iPhone

Apple’s iPhone prices have remained remarkably steady since 2017, but that era of restraint is beginning to shift. The company has now introduced a 2-terabyte iPhone 17 Pro Max priced at $1,999 — the first time an iPhone has approached the $2,000 mark.

When Apple launched the iPhone X eight years ago, it did more than debut facial recognition and an edge-to-edge display. It set a new benchmark: the $1,000 smartphone. Since then, prices have nudged only slightly higher. The iPhone 17 Pro starts at $1,099 — just $100 more than the iPhone X — while the entry-level model is $799, also only $100 above its 2017 equivalent.

Ahead of the iPhone 17 launch, analysts braced for steep tariff-driven increases. But Apple’s adjustments were modest: the Pro models climbed from $999 to $1,099, softened by doubling the base storage to 256 gigabytes. The new iPhone Air, replacing the iPhone 16 Plus, rose $100 to $999. For consumers expecting shocks, the hikes were tame.That moderation may not last. Apple faces rising costs, from tariffs on Chinese imports to its global supply chain shifts. The $1,999 Pro Max signals where the company is heading: into the era of the $2,000 iPhone.

A bigger leap looms with Apple’s first foldable iPhone, expected next year. Foldables from Samsung and Google already sell for $1,799 to $2,419. With the single-screen iPhone Air priced at $999, analysts expect Apple’s foldable to land at least twice that before storage upgrades and accessories.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has long argued that customers will pay. “People are willing to really stretch to get the best they can afford in that category,” he told investors in 2023, calling the iPhone “integral” to daily life — from payments to health tracking.

Looking further ahead, Apple is developing a 20th anniversary “iPhone 20,” an overhaul expected to redefine the product line as radically as the iPhone X did. Just as that model normalised the $1,000 phone, the iPhone 20 may cement the $2,000 tier as the new standard.