Apple’s iPhone lineup changed in two directions on September 9. Two new phones arrived at the top, and every older iPhone Apple kept is now $100 more expensive than it was the day before: Apple’s Store pages list iPhone 17e from $699, iPhone 16 from $799, iPhone 17 from $899 and iPhone Air from $1,099.
Two models left the line at the same time. iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are discontinued, and iPhone 16 Plus is gone. What remains is a seven-model range that steps upward in neat $100 increments from $699 to $1,299, with the $1,999 iPhone Duo sitting above it in October.
Key facts: every iPhone Apple lists today
| Model | Storage Apple lists | Apple’s price | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone Duo | 256GB to 2TB | From $1,999 | New, pre-orders October 16, on sale October 23 |
| iPhone 18 Pro Max | 256GB to 2TB | From $1,299 | New, pre-orders September 12, on sale September 18 |
| iPhone 18 Pro | 256GB to 2TB | From $1,199 | New, pre-orders September 12, on sale September 18 |
| iPhone Air | 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | From $1,099 | Carried over, $100 higher |
| iPhone 17 | 256GB, 512GB | From $899 | Carried over, $100 higher |
| iPhone 16 | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | From $799 | Carried over, $100 higher |
| iPhone 17e | From 256GB | From $699 | Carried over, $100 higher |
All seven prices are Apple’s own Store listings, read on September 10.
Don’t miss the best of The Mac Observer
Set us as a preferred source and our Apple reporting ranks higher in your Google Search results and Discover feed — one tap, no account changes.
The four increases, side by side
| Model | What Apple listed before September 9 | Apple’s price now | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 17e | $599 | $699 | Up $100 |
| iPhone 16 | $699 | $799 | Up $100 |
| iPhone 17 | $799 | $899 | Up $100 |
| iPhone Air | $999 | $1,099 | Up $100 |
The left-hand column is what Apple listed for each phone before the event. Apple made no announcement about the change, has published no explanation on any of the four product pages, and did not mention it on stage or in any press release from the day, which is covered in full in our event recap.
The catch inside two of those from prices
Two of the four figures are not the price you pay if you want an unlocked phone. Apple’s shop footnotes state that the price shown for iPhone 17 includes a $30 AT&T connectivity discount that requires carrier activation, and that the same $30 applies to iPhone 16. Choose to connect later and Apple’s listing shows $929 for iPhone 17 with 256GB and $829 for iPhone 16 with 128GB.
The discount is real, but it is not a general one. Apple’s footnote says it applies only to customers who connect with select carriers at the time of purchase, not to anyone who activates later or uses a prepaid plan, and Apple publishes no connectivity discount at all on iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max or iPhone Duo.
Higher tiers, where Apple lists them: iPhone 17 with 512GB is $1,129, iPhone Air is $1,299 with 512GB and $1,699 with 1TB, and iPhone 18 Pro runs $1,199, $1,399, $1,799 and $2,399 across its four capacities.
What left the lineup
- iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, both discontinued, after a year on sale at $1,099 and $1,199.
- iPhone 16 Plus, removed from the lineup with no replacement at that size.
- iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max and iPhone 16e, none of which Apple sells any more. The 16e was replaced by iPhone 17e.
Apple announced none of these removals. They are visible only in what its Store pages now list, and there is no first-party route back to them: Apple’s Certified Refurbished catalogue has no iPhone 17 generation stock and Apple publishes no schedule for when it appears.
What it does to the usual advice
The standard move every September is to buy last year’s model the moment the new one lands. In 2026 that move does not work on Apple’s own store. The cheapest new iPhone Apple sells is $699, which is what iPhone 16 cost on September 8, and every rung of the ladder moved with it.
It also compresses the decision at the top. iPhone Air is $1,099 and iPhone 18 Pro is $1,199, so $100 now separates the thinnest iPhone from the one with the full Pro camera system, the A20 Pro chip and Apple’s longest battery rating short of the Pro Max.
The one Apple-side lever that still moves is trade-in. Apple’s published range is $175 to $885 in credit for an iPhone 13 or later, applied instantly at checkout rather than as monthly bill credits. Note the timing, though: the values recorded for individual models fell on September 9, some by as much as $120, so anyone who waited for the event to trade in was paid less for waiting.
What has not been confirmed
- Apple has published no reason for the higher prices and no announcement that they changed.
- Apple has not published a full storage price list for iPhone 16 beyond the entry configuration.
- Apple has not said whether iPhone 17 Pro or iPhone 17 Pro Max return in any form, including as refurbished stock.
- No connectivity discount is published for any model launched in 2026.
The dates that matter next: iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max pre-orders open on Saturday, September 12 at 5 a.m. PT and ship on Friday, September 18, while iPhone Duo takes pre-orders on October 16 and arrives on October 23. If you are buying one of the four carried-over models instead, the price on the page is the price, and it is $100 above where it stood on September 8.
