How Much Will the ‘iPhone 13’ Cost?

At this point, it’s fair to say that we know almost everything about this year’s upcoming iPhone lineup, from the specs to the overall design, but one piece of info that the rumour mill has been particularly quiet about this year is how much the new iPhone models are going to cost.

Considering everything else we’ve heard, it’s actually a bit surprising, especially since we were hearing leaked pricing details on the iPhone 12 a full five months before its release.

This year, however, we’ve heard all about the design — four direct successors to the equivalent iPhone 12 models with a smaller notch a new camera layout. We also know that it’s going to sport an even faster A15 chip, new 120Hz LTPO displays with always-on capabilities, and possibly even a 1TB storage option, and bigger batteries. This year’s “Pro” colour is also rumoured to be “Sunset Gold.”

What we don’t know much about, however, is what the selling price will be – but prices are likely to remain the same as they were for the corresponding iPhone 12 lineup.

How Much Will the iPhone 13 Cost?

History of iPhone Prices

It’s also not that surprising, to be fair. Apple has long trended toward keeping standard price points for almost all of its products, offering nice upgrades each with reasonably well-established price tags. In fact, the few times when there have been pricing changes, it hasn’t fluctuated by more than $50 year-over-year for the equivalent models since the very first iPhone.

For example, the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4 all sold for prices that started at $599. This increased to $649 with the iPhone 4S; however, that would continue to be the selling price of the base model iPhone for the next five years, until the iPhone 8 bumped that up by another $50 to $699.

The introduction of the iPhone 6 Plus in 2014 added a new, more expensive version, but this has remained consistently $100 more ever since that time. We even see that today with the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini and the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

1. iPhone $499
2. iPhone 3G $599
3. iPhone 3GS $599
4. iPhone 4 $599
5. iPhone 4S $649
6. iPhone 5 $649
7. iPhone 5s $649
8. iPhone 6 $649 / $749
9. iPhone 6s $649 / $749
10. iPhone 7 $649 / $749
11. iPhone 8 $699 / $799
12. iPhone XR $749
13. iPhone 11 $699
14. iPhone 12 $699 / $799

If anything, it was the iPhone X that introduced the first big price bump, with a price starting at a previously unheard-of $999. From a pricing perspective, the iPhone X really was the first “Pro” model, and the 2018 iPhone XR was arguably a more direct successor to the iPhone 8 that had come before. With an initial $749 price tag, the iPhone XR peaked above all prior entry-level iPhone models, and it’s interesting that the 6.1-inch iPhone 11 brought us back down to the $699 base price.

1. iPhone X: $999 / $1,099
2. iPhone XS: $999 / $1,099
3. iPhone 11 Pro: $999 / $1,099
4. iPhone 12 Pro: $999 / $1,099
   

Last year’s iPhone 12 mini then mixed that up a bit again, filling in the $699 price point while the standard 6.1-inch iPhone 12 bumped up to $799. It was, for the first time, a $100 price increase over its predecessor, the 6.1-inch iPhone 11, but Apple obviously felt it had to make room for the smaller 5.4-inch model, and there was nowhere to go but up — especially since it continued selling the iPhone 11 for $599, and even the iPhone XR for $499.

Add the 2020 iPhone SE into the mix and Apple basically had an iPhone at almost every $100 interval from $399 to $1,099, with a gap only between the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro.

Of course, even though the prices remain the same each year, the specs always increase. Every so often, we even see the base storage capacity double, making the new model seem like an even bigger bargain at the same price. This happened with the iPhone 12 Pro models last year, which started at 128GB as opposed to the 64GB that came before, although the higher-tier 256GB and 512GB models remained the same.

This year, however, we could see that increase again, with rumours of a 1TB “iPhone 13 Pro.” Since Apple has never offered more than three capacity options, this would likely take the place of one of the lower-capacity versions, although it’s unclear which one. Apple could even double the base capacity again, giving us a 256GB entry model, followed by 512GB and 1TB options.

Except for the groundbreaking new iPhone X in 2018, Apple has rarely changed its prices even during major iPhone releases. The larger 4.7-inch iPhone 6 sold for the same price as the four-inch iPhone 5s that came before, and even the iPhone 11 and iPhone 8 had the same price, despite some pretty dramatic improvements.

In fact, many of the smaller price bumps over the years seem to have come more for normal economic reasons than any major upgrades. The iPhone 4S and iPhone 8 sold for $50 more than their predecessors — the only two price bumps in almost ten years — and those were both basically “S” upgrades, in principle if not entirely in name.

iPhone 12s or iPhone 13?

This is also where a bit of confusion comes in as to what Apple will actually call this year’s iPhone.

Most of the bets are on “iPhone 13,” which isn’t unreasonable, but some other reports have suggested that it could be called the “iPhone 12s.” It all comes down to whether Apple plans to abandon its “S” designation once and for all.

Traditionally, Apple has used the “S” suffix for iPhone models that feature almost no physical design changes, but simply pack in new hardware capabilities. The iPhone 4S added Siri, the iPhone 5s added Touch ID, and the iPhone 6s added Force Touch, however each of those models were virtually indistinguishable from their predecessors to anyone without a trained eye.

When Apple released the iPhone 8 back in 2017, many were predicting it would actually be called the “iPhone 7s” — a reasonable assumption considering its design and features. However, since Apple also debuted the groundbreaking iPhone X, it obviously realized that if it wanted the traditional iPhone to stand on its own, it needed a whole new number. To be fair, many folks expected the iPhone X to be called the iPhone 8, but it’s easy to see how it needed to kick off a whole new numbering system.

Apple resurrected the “S” the following year for the iPhone XS, but that was ultimately just the iPhone X coming into its own. The original iPhone X was a device on the bleeding edge of technology — almost to the point of being a prototype. The iPhone XS (and XS Max) arguably introduced the new design to the masses, especially alongside the very similar but more affordable iPhone XR.

Then came the iPhone 12. Even though it followed the iPhone 11, there was no way this model was ever going to be an “iPhone 11s.” It was just far too big of an upgrade. Apple redesigned it completely, added 5G capabilities for the first time, and debuted a new 5.4-inch “mini” version.

In fact, the iPhone 12 parallels the 2012 iPhone 5 in many ways. The iPhone 5 was the first to get LTE, the iPhone 12 was the first to get 5G. The iPhone 5 adopted the iPhone 4’s squared-edge design, the iPhone 12 brought that same design back. Anybody who was an iPhone 5 user will find that holding an iPhone 12 mini feels eerily familiar.

Then came the iPhone 5s. Same design, same LTE features, but also the addition of Touch ID. This year’s iPhone is also rumoured to feature in-display Touch ID — assuming Apple can pull it off. We’ve heard nothing about that lately, but it’s one of the reasons that some believe this could be called the “iPhone 12s” instead, as it would be another parallel with the iPhone 5s series.

Others believe that Apple may knuckle under to superstition and avoid the number 13. There’s no reason to believe that Apple cares about this, however. After all, it already released iOS 13 two years ago, and while some may believe that the choice of number had to do with the messy early release problems, it’s hard to believe Apple would see it that way.

Further, if Apple was really concerned about superstitions affecting sales, it would almost certainly also avoid the number “4” entirely. Many Chinese people consider 4 to be the unluckiest number because it sounds like the word for “death.” Those who do fear the number 4 are also even more serious about it — many buildings not only exclude a 4th floor, but all occurrences of the number 4 entirely. This means you won’t see a 14th, 24th, or 34th floor, and really tall buildings will skip from 39 straight to 50. The number 4 won’t appear in any unit numbers, either.

Since China is one of Apple’s largest markets, this would suggest that a future “iPhone 14” could be an even worse idea than the “iPhone 13.” However, this didn’t affect Apple’s decision to release the iPhone 4 in China back in 2010, and there was no shortage of demand for it.

Of course, Apple is under no obligation to follow previous history, and it really does feel like it’s time to abandon the “S” moniker entirely, and just move forward with the name “iPhone 13.” Ultimately, however, we won’t know for sure until Apple takes the stage next month to show off this year’s model, as the name is one of the few cards that Apple manages to hold very close to its vest, since it’s one of the few things that supply chain sources really have no way of knowing.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]