iPhone 15 Pro Max Storage Cost Apple Less, That’s Why Its 256GB

Before the release of the newest Apple devices, industry analysts and insiders predicted that the pricing for the iPhones would be increased this year, keeping in line with the global economic crisis. The iPhone 15 Pros are the only smartphones in the world powered by the a 3nm SoC, and that did incur a premium cost for Apple. Not to mention the titanium frame and how it doesn’t come cheap!

Surprisingly, when these phones were announced, Apple surprised everyone by keeping the same pricing policy as before – or so it seemed.

According to industry insider, @Tech_Reve, most of the credit goes to Samsung. Earlier, we reported on how Samsung was looking to reduce it’s NAND flash production due to an imbalance in supply and demand. Turns out that a few misjudgments in Samsung’s management decisions led to the company postponing it’s reduction policy.

How this helped Apple was that they were able to secure memory components at relatively cheaper prices, apparently half of what they had to pay for the iPhone 14 series. Since these memory components make up almost 10% of iPhone’s Bill of Materials (BOM), Apple now had the flexibility to improve it’s hardware and introduce better features within the same price bracket.

Now, the margins were still not enough for Apple as far as the Pro Max is concerned. Apple did dampen the blow by completely scraping off the 128GB model and increasing the minimum storage capacity to 256GB. This way, they maintained the illusion of keeping the same pricing policy and also covered their costs.

It would have been interesting to see how things would have turned out if Apple had increased prices, citing the Titanium frame and the A17 Pro as reasons. As it is, Apple is facing some problems with its new phones. Some users reported discoloration around the buttons on the Titanium frame, allegedly due to uneven PVD coating. Others complained about the frame being a fingerprint magnet, the phone overheating when stressed, or even swelling up on normal use.

This is all we know for now, but rest assured that we will keep you updated as new information becomes available.