Apple sells seven iPhones this week, from the $699 iPhone 17e to the $1,999 iPhone Duo, and only two of them carry a dedicated telephoto lens. That makes the decision simpler than the size of the lineup suggests: the iPhone 18 Pro at $1,199 is the cheapest iPhone Apple sells with a real zoom lens, the iPhone Air at $1,099 is the lightest at 165 grams, and everything below $1,000 is a question of which camera you give up.
The lineup changed shape on September 9. Apple discontinued the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, dropped the iPhone 16 Plus, and the four carryover models it kept are each $100 more than they were listed at the day before. Buying last year’s phone on keynote day does not work in 2026, so the table starts with what Apple charges now.
Key facts: every iPhone Apple sells and what it costs
| Model | Apple’s starting price | Starting storage | When you can buy it |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 17e | $699 | 256GB | On sale now |
| iPhone 16 | $799 | 128GB | On sale now |
| iPhone 17 | $899 | 256GB | On sale now |
| iPhone Air | $1,099 | 256GB | On sale now |
| iPhone 18 Pro | $1,199 | 256GB | Pre-order September 12, in stores September 18 |
| iPhone 18 Pro Max | $1,299 | 256GB | Pre-order September 12, in stores September 18 |
| iPhone Duo | $1,999 | 256GB | Pre-order October 16, in stores October 23 |
One caution on that first column. Apple’s advertised prices for iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 include a $30 carrier connectivity discount, named for those two models and no others. Unlocked on Apple’s Store page they are $829 and $929. No connectivity discount is published on the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max or Duo.
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 decision table
Every row below is settled by a figure Apple publishes, not by taste.
| If this is you | Buy | The published number behind it |
|---|---|---|
| You want the longest reach | iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max | 48MP 4x telephoto at 100 mm, which Apple calls 8x optical-quality zoom and a 16x range |
| You want the biggest battery figure | iPhone 18 Pro Max | Up to 45 hours video playback and 30 hours typical use, against 36 and 24 on the 6.3-inch Pro |
| You want the lightest phone | iPhone Air | 165 g, against 211 g for the iPhone 18 Pro |
| You want the largest display | iPhone Duo | A 7.6-inch inner display Apple says is 50 percent larger than the iPhone 18 Pro Max |
| You want a phone now for under $1,000 | iPhone 17 | 6.3-inch ProMotion display, 48MP Ultra Wide, up to 30 hours video playback |
| You move large video files off the phone | iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max or Duo | USB 3 at 10 Gb/s. The iPhone 17 and iPhone Air are USB 2 at 480 Mb/s |
| You rely on Face ID | Anything except iPhone Duo | The Duo uses Touch ID in the side button and has no Face ID |
What each step up the ladder costs
The arithmetic below is ours, worked from Apple’s own starting prices.
| Step | Extra | What the specification adds |
|---|---|---|
| 17e to iPhone 16 | $100 | A18 chip, 48MP main plus 12MP Ultra Wide, 22 hours video, MagSafe at 25W |
| iPhone 16 to iPhone 17 | $100 | 6.3-inch ProMotion, 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide, 18MP front camera, 30 hours video |
| iPhone 17 to iPhone Air | $200 | 165 g titanium and a 6.5-inch screen, but no Ultra Wide camera and 27 hours video |
| iPhone Air to 18 Pro | $100 | A20 Pro, variable aperture f/1.48 to f/4.0, the 4x telephoto, 36 hours video, USB 3, a 2TB tier |
| 18 Pro to 18 Pro Max | $100 | 6.9-inch display and 45 hours video, at 249 g rather than 211 g |
| 18 Pro Max to iPhone Duo | $700 | The 7.6-inch folding display and a five-week wait, without Face ID or a telephoto lens |
Where the ladder misleads
Two rungs deserve a second look. The first is reach. With the iPhone 17 Pro discontinued, the entry price for an iPhone with a dedicated telephoto lens moved from that model’s $1,099 to the iPhone 18 Pro’s $1,199, a $100 rise at the cheapest point of entry by our arithmetic. The second is the iPhone Air, the only model above $1,000 with no Ultra Wide camera, so its $200 premium over the iPhone 17 buys thinness and loses a lens.
The iPhone Duo also runs on its own timetable. It ships with iOS 27.1 rather than iOS 27, arrives October 23 rather than September 18, and is eSIM only everywhere. If you need a phone this month, it is not in your decision. If you are choosing between the two Pro sizes, our iPhone 18 Pro against iPhone 18 Pro Max comparison takes that apart in detail.
What has not been confirmed
- Apple has not published AppleCare+ prices for iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max or Duo. The published coverage figures are AppleCare One at $19.99 a month for up to three devices and AppleCare One Family at $49.99 a month from September 14.
- There is no per-model trade-in table from Apple. Its own wording is a range of $175 to $885 in credit for an iPhone 13 or later in the US.
- The $350, $930 and $1,200 carrier credit tiers appear in Apple’s footnotes, and the carriers’ own pages carry no matching terms.
- Apple publishes no battery capacity or memory figure for any iPhone, so those rows cannot be compared.
Pre-orders for iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max open Saturday, September 12 at 5 a.m. PT, with both in stores Friday, September 18. iOS 27 arrives free on Monday, September 14. iPhone Duo pre-orders follow on Friday, October 16, shipping Friday, October 23. Our breakdown of the price increase and the full event recap cover what changed on September 9.
