Apple UK sells iPhone 18 Pro from £1,199 and iPhone 18 Pro Max from £1,299, pre-orders open at 1:00 pm BST on Saturday 12 September, and the phones go on sale on Friday 18 September. In the UK that headline figure is the whole price, with no carrier attached to it.
That is the real difference between the two storefronts this year. In the US, Apple’s $1,199 applies when a carrier is selected at checkout and the unlocked 256GB model is listed at $1,299, while Apple UK’s newsroom figure and its store figure are the same £1,199.
| Key fact | Apple UK’s published figure |
|---|---|
| Pre-order | 1:00 pm BST, Saturday 12 September |
| On sale | Friday 18 September, stated in the press release |
| iPhone 18 Pro, 256GB | £1,199 |
| iPhone 18 Pro Max, 256GB | £1,299 |
| Instalments | 30 months at 0% APR |
| Lowest monthly figure | £39.96 for the 256GB iPhone 18 Pro |
| Apple Trade In wording | £455 in credit instantly for an iPhone 16 Pro or later |
| VAT refund for visitors | None. The scheme ended on 1 January 2021 |
Every tier, and what 30 months at 0% costs
Apple UK publishes a monthly figure against each storage tier, which the US store does not do.
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| Storage | iPhone 18 Pro | Per month | iPhone 18 Pro Max | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 256GB | £1,199 | £39.96 | £1,299 | £43.30 |
| 512GB | £1,399 | £46.63 | £1,499 | £49.96 |
| 1TB | £1,799 | £59.96 | £1,899 | £63.30 |
| 2TB | £2,399 | £79.96 | £2,499 | £83.30 |
Thirty months at 0% is a longer term than the 24 months Apple offers in the US, so the monthly number is lower without the total being lower. The 2TB iPhone 18 Pro Max comes to £2,499 whether it is paid at once or over 30 months.
The £455 trade-in line, read carefully
Apple’s UK wording is a single figure rather than a range: customers trading in an iPhone 16 Pro or later can get £455 in credit instantly.
Two things follow from that. The eligibility bar is higher than the US line, which starts at iPhone 13 or later, and there is no published per-model table behind it. Apple’s UK trade-in page serves the process explainer only, with no values in the page itself.
Treat any per-model figure you see as a value recorded for that handset rather than a number Apple publishes.
Where the UK and US checkouts diverge
| Question | Apple US | Apple UK |
|---|---|---|
| Price of the 256GB Pro | $1,199 with a carrier, $1,299 unlocked | £1,199, one figure |
| Instalment term | 24 months, Apple Card | 30 months at 0% APR |
| Trade-in wording | $175 to $885, iPhone 13 or later | £455, iPhone 16 Pro or later |
| Carrier step at checkout | AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon or none | Not published by Apple |
| Pre-order time on the store page | 5:00 a.m. PT | 1:00 pm BST |
| Pre-order time in the press release | 5 a.m. PT | 5 a.m. PT |
That last row is worth a moment. A UK reader who only saw Apple’s own press release would be given a Pacific time for a British pre-order, and would have to convert it themselves. The store page is the one with the local number.
VAT, and the refund that no longer exists
UK list prices include VAT, so £1,199 is the amount that leaves your account. US list prices exclude sales tax, which is the main reason a straight currency conversion makes the US look cheaper than it is.
Visitors cannot claim the VAT back. The VAT Retail Export Scheme was abolished on 1 January 2021 and has not been restored, so a tourist buying an iPhone in London pays the full £1,199 with no reclaim at the airport.
What has not been confirmed
- UK network offers. Apple publishes no British carrier terms, and the sterling price does not move with a network selection the way the US price does.
- UK prices for the rest of the lineup. Apple’s UK newsroom has not published the Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4 or AirPods 5 releases, so sterling figures for those are missing from Apple’s own pages.
- AppleCare+ per device. Apple’s tables list the products and leave the price cells empty.
- UK delivery estimates. Apple says only that a final delivery date follows once an order is placed.
Pre-orders open at 1:00 pm BST on Saturday 12 September and the phones arrive on Friday 18 September. iOS 27 lands on Monday 14 September as a free update, four days before the hardware.