iPhone 18 Pro Release Date and Price: September 9 Event, $100–$200 Hikes Rumoured

We're now inside the final countdown to Apple's biggest launch of the year. Reporting has converged tightly enough on a date that we can say this with real confidence: the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and Apple's first foldable iPhone are landing in the second week of September. What's far less settled is the price you'll pay for one.

September 9 Keynote, September 18 in Stores

Apple has followed a consistent pattern for over a decade: avoid the Tuesday after Labor Day and hold the keynote the following week. That points to Wednesday, September 9, 2026 for the event itself, with the formal invitations expected to go out around August 26. From there, the pattern that's repeated every year since 2021 suggests pre-orders opening Friday, September 11, and devices reaching stores and customers a week later, on September 18.

This year's keynote carries extra significance beyond the hardware: it's expected to be the first Apple product keynote fronted by John Ternus as CEO, following Tim Cook's planned transition.

A Smaller Line-Up Than Usual

Because Apple is splitting the iPhone 18 generation across two launch windows, September's event covers a narrower range of phones than a typical autumn keynote. Expect the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the foldable iPhone on stage — while the standard iPhone 18, a new budget iPhone 18e, and a second-generation iPhone Air are pushed to spring 2027. Anyone who wants an iPhone on Apple's traditional September schedule effectively has to buy Pro this year.

Why Analysts Expect a Genuine Price Increase

Apple has held iPhone Pro pricing steady since the iPhone 16 Pro, even as memory and storage costs climbed sharply enough that the company raised prices on Mac, iPad, and Apple TV earlier this summer — notably carving out iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch from those hikes at the time. That restraint looks unlikely to survive a second round. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has reported Apple is now planning meaningful iPhone 18 Pro price increases, with some estimates putting the jump at $100 to $200 over the iPhone 17 Pro's $1,099 starting price and iPhone 17 Pro Max's $1,199. Other analyst notes have floated figures as high as $1,399 for the Pro model, though that sits at the aggressive end of current estimates rather than a consensus.

The reasoning behind the hikes is consistent across sources, even where the exact dollar figures differ: Apple's first 2-nanometer chip costs meaningfully more to manufacture than the 3nm process it replaces, and DRAM/NAND pricing has risen industry-wide through 2026. One supply-chain estimate puts the iPhone 18 Pro's total bill of materials nearly 40% higher than the iPhone 17 Pro's — a gap that's difficult for Apple to absorb entirely on margin alone.

The Foldable Sets Its Own Price Ceiling

Apple's first foldable iPhone — widely expected to carry the "iPhone Fold" name, though "iPhone Ultra" is also circulating unofficially — isn't expected to compete on price with anything else Apple sells. Estimates cluster between $2,000 and $2,500, which would make it comfortably Apple's most expensive phone ever, ahead of any Pro Max configuration. Read our full breakdown of what's rumoured for that device separately.

Apple has not confirmed any date, price, or product detail in this article. All figures are estimates based on supply-chain reporting and analyst commentary, and remain subject to change until Apple's official announcement.