The short version

Ben Thompson predicted on September 9, 2024: “I believed that Apple would surely raise prices this year; that $999 iPhone Pro is now $177 cheaper than in 2020 in real terms, and given the fact that Apple was increasing the bill of materials on the lower end phones in particular (bumping them to 8GB RAM, and onto the latest TSMC…

Prediction by

Ben Thompson

On September 9, 2024

“I believed that Apple would surely raise prices this year; that $999 iPhone Pro is now $177 cheaper than in 2020 in real terms, and given the fact that Apple was increasing the bill of materials on the lower end phones in particular (bumping them to 8GB RAM, and onto the latest TSMC process), surely they wouldn’t accept the hit on margins on top of the loss in value of their longstanding iPhone pricing. In fact, though, I had it right in 2022: Apple held the line on prices once again; I should have realized the company — like myself! — really is in a different stage.”

Follow-up

Thompson wrote that Apple would surely raise iPhone Pro prices in 2024 (noting $999 in 2024 was $177 cheaper than the 2020 Pro in real terms). Apple did not raise them: the iPhone 16 Pro launched September 9, 2024 at the same $999. The source article was itself Thompson same-day self-correction, so this receipt records the call he got wrong.

From the High Caliber AI network — see the AI for PR module in the course.