Apple May Launch More Expensive iPhone ‘Ultra’ in 2024: Report

In this week’s edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman speculated that Apple could launch an even pricier iPhone model, positioned above the “Pro Max,” as early as 2024.

The renowned analyst previously reported that Apple could rename this year’s iPhone 15 Pro Max the iPhone 15 “Ultra.” However, he now believes the company is reserving the “Ultra” moniker for a future, higher-end iPhone model, following the latest branding for its top-end Apple Watch and M-series Mac chip models.

According to Gurman, Apple CEO Tim Cook may have even hinted at the possibility of launching a more expensive iPhone model during the company’s recent earnings call for its fiscal first quarter.

When asked if he thought the iPhone’s rising average sales price was sustainable, he essentially said that customers could be convinced to pay even more. “I think people are willing to really stretch to get the best they can afford in that category,” Cook said on the call.

The Apple CEO didn’t say anything about price increases, but he did imply that consumers may be willing to spend more on an iPhone if it offers more value and new features.

Apple is already trying to better differentiate between its Pro and non-Pro iPhone models. With the iPhone 15 family, this will reportedly take the form of a new chip, solid-state Power and Volume buttons, and more premium construction materials for the Pro models. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is also rumoured to be getting an exclusive periscope lens for the telephoto camera, enabling greater optical zoom.

Gurman said that Apple could take this differentiation to a whole new level with an even higher-end model than the “Pro Max” we’ve seen at the top of each iPhone line since 2019’s iPhone 11.

“I think it would make sense for Apple to eventually shift to 1 entry iPhone, 2 Pro iPhones and 1 Ultra iPhone. The last two attempts at new regular iPhone screen sizes (Mini and then Plus) have both been failures. So basically three high end and one entry level versus 2 and 2,” the oracle of all things Apple elaborated in a tweet.

In Canada, the iPhone 14 Pro Max tops out at a whopping $2,239 for 1TB of internal storage. What do you think about an iPhone in the next couple of generations costing (likely substantially) more? Let us know in the comments below.