Apple prices the 1TB iPhone 18 Pro $300 above last year's model

The handset line in next year's budget is a single cell, and whoever fills it in has to pick a storage tier before the number means anything. A hundred devices at 1TB run $30,000 above the same order a year ago ^[1]. The increase at that tier is $200 steeper than the increase on the base configuration ^[3].

MacRumors' guide sets the new prices against the equivalent iPhone 17 Pro models ^[20]. That makes the documented run of increases one year long.

The Pro is also no longer the top of the range. With the foldable iPhone Duo above them, the two Pro models are not the most expensive iPhones Apple sells, though MacRumors calls them the most fully-featured traditional iPhones available ^[4].

Between the two Pro models the guide counts eight differences ^[5], and cameras are not among them, since the variable aperture Fusion Main camera and the new manual Pro controls are on both ^[6]. Both measure 0.34 inches thick ^[7]. What separates them is size and endurance. The Pro Max gained six hours of video playback over the 17 Pro Max and the smaller Pro gained three, so the larger model's lead grew from six hours to nine ^[8][9]. It weighs 249 grams, more than any Pro Max before it, on a 6.9-inch display ^[10].

A US fleet has a second split to handle. Apple lists its own C2 modem in the iPhone 18 Pro in every country, while the Pro Max uses the C2 only outside the United States, and US units of the larger phone contain a Qualcomm modem that iOS code points to as the Snapdragon X80 ^[14]. The band listings differ as well: the US Pro supports LTE Band 106 and the US Pro Max does not ^[15]. Apple says the C2 is faster and more energy efficient than the C1X while adding AI-driven improvements to cellular quality and reliability ^[16]. MacRumors says real-world comparisons will not be possible until reviewers test both radios on the same networks ^[17].

Apple does not advertise battery capacities, European energy labels confirm the figures for models that keep a SIM tray, and the eSIM-only versions sold in the United States have slightly larger cells that Apple has not disclosed ^[18]. A US buyer comparing battery life is working from Apple's video playback hours.

So the useful sort is by how long a user goes between chargers, with the screen on. Those people get the Pro Max for the nine extra hours ^[9]; everyone else takes the smaller Pro, because the chip and the camera system are identical ^[6]. MacRumors puts the screen-size call down to personal preference given that the models share everything else ^[19]. Then pick the storage tier. That is where the money moved this year ^[3]. The $100 size premium holds at every tier ^[11], so a fleet that lands on 2TB is choosing between a $2,399 Pro and a $2,499 Pro Max ^[2][12].