Apple's iPhone 18 Pro costs £100 more than last year's model

For a company buying phones in bulk, the £100 applies to every handset. ITPro reports that Apple markets to small businesses through AppleCare+ but does not necessarily offer business deals ^[11]. Its reviewer wrote that "there is no real difference between purchasing it as a consumer or a business" ^[12]. Last year's Pro models started at about £1,099 ^[18]. An order of 100 handsets now costs £10,000 more at list than the same order a year ago ^[19].

The Guardian headlined its review "big changes for small differences" ^[10], but the gains inside the phone are substantial. It measured the A20 Pro at about 27% faster than the A19 Pro, with about 45% faster graphics ^[4]. The battery lasted six hours longer than the iPhone 17 Pro's and stretched to about two days between charges ^[5]. ITPro's looped video test ran 26 hours 58 minutes, and its reviewer called the result "frankly marvelous" ^[6]. The outside barely moved: the Guardian describes a modest refinement of last year's redesign, and ITPro lists the same dimensions as the 17 Pro ^[7][8].

ITPro writes that the phone is "very much worth our time" ^[9]. I think that holds for a handset already due for replacement. It is a weaker case for retiring a year-old 17 Pro, because the rest of the iPhone line received iOS 27 on 14 September ^[15]. The main software addition, Siri AI, is built on Google's AI technologies ^[16]. According to the Guardian, its suggestions drawing on mail and messages work only in Apple's own apps, so staff on Gmail and WhatsApp get none of it ^[17]. Neither review says which older models receive Siri AI.

The repair figures favour long service from whatever is bought this year. According to the Guardian, the 18 Pro's battery keeps at least 80% of its capacity beyond 1,000 full charge cycles and costs £119 to replace ^[13]. The swap costs about a tenth of the £1,199 entry price ^[20]. Out-of-warranty screen repairs cost £349, and iFixit scored the phone seven out of 10 for repairability ^[14].

The memory blamed for the rise is also where the two reviews disagree. The Guardian's specification lists 12GB of RAM and storage of 256GB, 512GB or 1TB ^[21]. ITPro says the phone comes with up to 12GB of RAM and up to 2TB of storage ^[22]. Later in the same review it describes the A20 Pro matched with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage ^[23].

In my view, this quarter's decision is a budget line: Pro handsets priced at £1,199, with year-old phones left on their existing replacement schedule ^[1]. Next quarter's decision turns on the regular iPhone 18, which the Guardian says is yet to be announced ^[3]. Its price will show whether stepping down a tier gets a fleet around the memory-driven rise.