Apple will reportedly hike the iPhone Pro Max starting price this year for the first time

Jeff Pu is an analyst who covers Apple for Hong Kong's Haitong International Tech Research. We've written before about some of Pu's notes to clients and according to 9to5Google, today he has been focusing on the upcoming iPhone 15 line. We've been writing about the 2023 iPhone models for a long time and now we are only about eight weeks away from seeing the iPhone 15 line officially introduced to the world.

Before the new iPhone handsets are unveiled, mass production of the new handsets will kick off and Pu says that this will start next month. This year, the analyst writes that Apple will have 84 million units manufactured during the second half of this year. That figure represents a healthy 12% increase over the number of iPhone 14 units produced during the second half of last year. It also reveals that Apple is extremely confident that demand for the latest iPhone series will be stronger this year.

Part of that thinking is due to the large number of active iPhone users (believed to be 25%) who haven't upgraded to a new model over the last four years. Some analysts expect a large percentage of these iPhone users, representing latent demand, to be in the market for a new iPhone this year or next. But there is some potentially bad news on the horizon for those interested in the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Pu says that he expects Apple to hike the price of its top-of-the-line handset from the $1,099 starting price that the Pro Max models have been priced at since the first Pro Max model (the iPhone Xs Pro Max) was released in 2018. But unlike previous years, the iPhone 15 Pro Max will have a feature that it won't share with the iPhone 15 Pro. This "exclusive Pro Max feature" is a periscope lens that will increase the optical zoom from 3x to as high as 6x.

The analyst goes on to say that the 2024 iPhone 16 line will use new "metalens" technology for the proximity sensor. That's the sensor that makes sure that when you're on a call and you move the iPhone's screen near your face, the display turns off to prevent an accidental activation of an app. Earlier this year we told you about the flat-lens technology that could reduce the size of the Face ID hardware in future Apple devices and could even lead to the creation of under-display Face ID. The iPhone 16 will also support Wi-Fi 7.

We expect the non-Pro models to get the Dynamic Island this year and a 48MP Wide camera sensor on the back. The Pro models will sport a body with titanium sides, and an action button that will replace the mute switch. The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will both be powered by the 3nm A17 Bionic and will be the only smartphones powered by a 3nm SoC this year.

All four iPhone 15 models are rumored to get a hike in battery capacity and the whole line will have a USB-C port on the bottom of the device where the proprietary Lightning port used to be. If the past is prologue, we should see Apple unveil the 2023 iPhone models this September as we pointed out at the top of this story. We could also see the Apple Watch Series 9 and the second-generation Apple Watch Ultra introduced during the event. The next-generation of AirPods aren't expected to be part of this September's event.

As soon as Apple announces a date for the upcoming new product introduction event, we will pass it along to you.