Confirmed: The iPhone 15 is the most affordable iPhone since 2007
Apple announced the new pricing for the iPhone 15 lineup today. The iPhone 15, 15 Plus and 15 Pro will see their starting prices remain the same as last year at $799, $899 and $999 respectively. The iPhone 15 Pro Max will have its starting price increase by $100 to $1,199. Apple's decision to hold most iPhone prices stable over the last few years during a period of elevated inflation has made the latest iPhones cheaper in inflation adjusted terms.
How the iPhone 15's price compares to other iPhones
We decided to take a look at the inflation-adjusted price of every iPhone. Here's what we found:
The iPhone 15 is the most affordable base model since the original iPhone was released in 2007
The iPhone 15 Plus is the most affordable large iPhone ever.
The iPhone 15 Pro is the most affordable iPhone Pro ever.
Every iPhone's retail price, adjusted for inflation
Here’s the full chart of every iPhone's retail price in 2023 dollars. We’ve grouped similar models (Pro, Pro Max, Mini, ect.) together for easier comparison. The initial retail price is for an unlocked, unsubsidized phone with the lowest memory configuration.
Here is an alternate view that makes it easier to see the inflation-adjusted price changes over time.
Here is the iPhone price history in nominal terms without any inflation adjustment.
Data
Here are all of Apple's iPhone skus released since 2007, including their nominal starting price and their inflation-adjusted price in 2023 dollars.
Model | Year released | Initial U.S. retail price | Inflation adjusted price |
iPhone | 2007 | $499 | $732 |
iPhone 3G | 2008 | $599 | $832 |
iPhone 3GS | 2009 | $599 | $850 |
iPhone 4 | 2010 | $599 | $840 |
iPhone 4s | 2011 | $649 | $878 |
iPhone 5 | 2012 | $649 | $866 |
iPhone 5S | 2013 | $649 | $849 |
iPhone 6 | 2014 | $649 | $833 |
iPhone 6S | 2015 | $649 | $831 |
iPhone 7 | 2016 | $649 | $824 |
iPhone 8 | 2017 | $699 | $873 |
iPhone XR | 2018 | $749 | $910 |
2019 | $699 | $833 | |
2020 | $799 | $943 | |
2021 | $799 | $895 | |
2022 | $799 | $824 | |
2023 | $799 | $799 | |
iPhone X | 2017 | $999 | $1,248 |
iPhone XS | 2018 | $999 | $1,212 |
iPhone 11 Pro | 2019 | $999 | $1,190 |
iPhone 12 Pro | 2020 | $999 | $1,179 |
2021 | $999 | $1,119 | |
2022 | $999 | $1,031 | |
2023 | $999 | $999 | |
iPhone XS Max | 2018 | $1,099 | $1,333 |
iPhone 11 Pro Max | 2019 | $1,099 | $1,309 |
iPhone 12 Pro Max | 2020 | $1,099 | $1,297 |
2021 | $1,099 | $1,231 | |
2022 | $1,099 | $1,134 | |
2023 | $1,199 | $1,199 | |
iPhone 6 Plus | 2014 | $749 | $961 |
iPhone 6S Plus | 2015 | $749 | $959 |
iPhone 7 Plus | 2016 | $769 | $977 |
iPhone 8 Plus | 2017 | $799 | $998 |
2022 | $899 | $928 | |
2023 | $899 | $899 | |
2020 | $699 | $825 | |
2021 | $699 | $783 | |
iPhone 5C | 2013 | $549 | $720 |
iPhone SE | 2016 | $399 | $498 |
iPhone SE | 2020 | $399 | $471 |
2022 | $429 | $443 |
Methodology
We looked at the U.S. retail price for unlocked phones purchased without a contract or carrier subsidy. We looked at the lowest cost version of each phone, without any memory upgrades.
Inflation adjustments are made using the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator comparing July of the launch year to July 2023, the last month for which data is available.
Comparison bar chart was made using Venngage. The line charts were made with RStudio.
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