In the United States, iPhone 18 Pro costs $1,199 with a carrier selected at checkout or $1,299 bought unlocked. Nowhere else Apple sells the phone does that split exist. Every other storefront checked, from the UK to Japan, shows one price only.
Apple’s own newsroom quotes $1,199 as the US starting price, while the US store’s unlocked configurator lists $1,299 for the very same 256GB model. Apple never states the $100 gap as a number in either place. Our iPhone 18 Pro price breakdown covers how that reconciles.
Key facts: the US split versus everywhere else, iPhone 18 Pro 256GB
| Market | Newsroom “starts at” | Store price, 256GB | Same number? |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | $1,199 | $1,299 (unlocked) | No, $100 apart |
| UK | £1,199 | £1,199 | Yes |
| Canada | C$1,749 | C$1,749 | Yes |
| Germany | €1,449 | €1,449 | Yes |
| India | ₹1,64,900 | ₹1,64,900 | Yes |
| Japan | ¥219,800 | ¥219,800 | Yes |
Why the US price splits in two
Apple’s own disclosure explains the mechanism without naming the amount: “Connectivity discounts are reflected in the advertised price of select iPhone models, and are available to customers who connect with select carriers at the time of purchase.” The US buy page offers four connectivity choices at checkout: AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, or “Connect on your own later.” Only the fourth choice costs $100 more.
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There is a second layer to it. Apple’s own footnote on financing says buyers who choose Apple Card Monthly Installments “will need to select AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon as their carrier when they check out,” yet the phone that results “is always unlocked, so they can switch carriers at any time.” A US carrier selection is required to reach the lower price, and the resulting phone is not actually locked to that carrier.
Why nowhere else has this
The UK is the clearest comparison. Apple’s UK newsroom says iPhone 18 Pro “starts at £1,199,” and the UK store lists 256GB at £1,199.00, the same number, with no carrier choice attached to the price at all. The same pattern holds in Canada, Germany, India and Japan. The $100 US gap is a carrier-subsidy artifact specific to the US market, not a pricing structure Apple uses anywhere else. Australia, Singapore and the UAE follow the same rule as the UK: one price per storage tier, with no carrier-connected discount attached anywhere on the page.
The same pattern on iPhone 18 Pro Max
| Market | Newsroom “starts at” | Store price, 256GB | Same number? |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | $1,299 | $1,399 (unlocked) | No, $100 apart |
| UK | £1,299 | £1,299 | Yes |
| Canada | C$1,899 | C$1,899 | Yes |
| Germany | €1,599 | €1,599 | Yes |
| India | ₹1,79,900 | ₹1,79,900 | Yes |
| Japan | ¥239,800 | ¥239,800 | Yes |
The gap repeats exactly on iPhone 18 Pro Max: $100 apart in the US, identical everywhere else in this list. Deciding between the two models is a separate question from which US price applies; our Pro versus Pro Max guide covers what actually differs between them. Our iPhone 18 Pro announcement has the full specification list both models share.
What this means for pre-order day
A US buyer who picks “Connect on your own later” pays the higher, single number that every other market in this piece already uses as its only price. Outside the US, there is no separate “unlocked premium” line item for Apple to publish, because Apple is not publishing two prices for the same configuration in the first place.
The US carrier trade-in offers are a separate matter from this price split and worth keeping apart from it. AT&T’s own wording on Apple’s buy page is “up to $1200 for an eligible trade-in in any condition,” and T-Mobile’s is “save up to $1200 for an eligible trade-in in any condition.” Those figures apply on top of whichever of the two base prices a buyer ends up paying, and Apple has not published an equivalent carrier trade-in figure on any of the non-US pages checked for this piece.
What Apple has not said
- The $100 figure itself, stated as a number, in either the press release or the store page.
- Whether a connectivity discount could ever apply to iPhone 18 Pro outside the US.
- Any carrier-connected discount on the UK, Canada, Germany, India or Japan pages checked here.
Pre-orders remain open in both pricing structures as of Saturday, September 12. iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max reach stores Friday, September 18, in every confirmed first-wave market. Our pre-order guide covers the checkout choices that decide which US price a buyer pays.
