The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are due to arrive within weeks, and one of the biggest outstanding questions is how much more they will cost than the iPhone 17 Pro. Apple has already confirmed there will be price adjustments, but it may have secured an important win to keep any increase to a minimum.
iPhone 18 Pro to use much cheaper displays
Apple has been pressing its OLED display panel suppliers to lower their prices significantly, and it appears to have succeeded. The company is reported to pay around £50 per OLED panel used on the larger iPhone 18 Pro Max, almost half the figure paid for the iPhone 17 Pro Max displays, which was reportedly between £85 and £90 per panel.
Apple has also started stockpiling OLED panels and has switched to a six-week supply buffer, compared with its usual four-week window. All iPhone 18 Pro displays are expected to come from LG Display and Samsung Display.
Will the iPhone 18 Pro be any cheaper?
Apple has apparently pushed very hard to achieve lower display prices, in an attempt to compensate for the rising cost of memory chips, which are increasing the production cost of devices such as the iPhone. Even with this much lower display price, it is highly unlikely that Apple will fully offset the rising costs of RAM and chip production.
That is why the new Pro models are expected to arrive with a notable price increase. Different forecasts put the rise anywhere between £40 and £320, though the most likely increase is between £160 and £240.
This could still feel like a steep rise, especially compared with the £80 increase applied to the Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL. However, Google also downgraded the entry versions of its Pro phones from 16GB of RAM to 12GB, forcing a more expensive storage option for anyone wanting last year’s amount of RAM.
Is the iPhone 18 Pro getting a worse display?
Despite the lower cost, the display of the new Pro iPhones will not offer lower quality. Apple managed to persuade both LG Display and Samsung Display to reduce their prices despite growing production complexity and higher costs.
Multiple reports claim the iPhone 18 Pro models will use a new type of display technology called LTPO Plus. Similar to current LTPO panels, the new displays will offer variable refresh rates, but also higher speeds and more efficient battery use. While that may not lead to dramatic image quality improvements, the technology could help the iPhone 18 Pro achieve better battery life.
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Image: phonearena.com
