Apple may be setting up a familiar kind of price hike, one that doesn’t look like a price hike. By changing the entry storage option, it can raise what you pay to get the model you want.
Last fall, Apple discontinued the iPhone 17 Pro model with 128GB of storage. Buyers who wanted that Pro had to start at 256GB instead, which meant paying $100 more up front.
That matters for iPhone storage pricing because it changes the baseline, not just the premium choices. You’re no longer deciding whether extra space is worth it, you’re being moved into it.
An investor note from analyst Craig Moffett of Moffett Nathanson argues this is a lever Apple may pull again to offset higher costs, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The 128GB option was the floor
When the lowest storage configuration disappears, the entry price rises automatically. It’s a clean way to lift revenue per phone without selling a new feature.
For shoppers, it can feel like a forced upgrade. If you rely on cloud storage and don’t shoot a lot of high-bitrate video, 256GB may not change your daily experience, but you still pay for it.
That’s why the 128GB cut is a useful signal to watch, even before any official pricing leaks.
Why it can beat a sticker hike
A storage change lands instantly because it hits every buyer who wanted the base Pro. It also reshapes promotions, since retailers and carriers have fewer low-cost configurations to spotlight.
Moffett’s view is that storage is especially profitable for Apple, since the markup on extra memory can be large. If costs are rising, a storage reshuffle can protect margins while keeping the advertised price looking steady.
How to protect your budget
Before you buy, check your current storage use and what’s filling it, photos and video, offline downloads, games, and message attachments. If you’re comfortably under 128GB today, being pushed to 256GB is mostly a tax.
If you’re close to the limit, the jump may be easier to justify. Either way, plan for the possibility that the next Pro starts higher, and decide now whether you’d switch models or buy last year’s version if the entry price climbs.