The $1,500 flagship might be closer than you think

Apple September 2026 event: iPhone 18 Pro, foldable iPhone, and more

This story is part of our complete Apple event coverage

In July, a Google executive broke the silence on the ongoing memory crisis, highlighting a more than fourfold increase in RAM prices between 2025 and 2026, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. The prices have gone up from $2.80 in 2025 to roughly $12 in 2026, as mentioned in the same report. Run the math for a 16GB memory package, and the cost to the company has apparently gone up from $45 to $192.

That’s not a rounding error; it’s the floor moving under the entire industry’s feet. Google is not alone in speaking about the ongoing memory crisis. We’ve also seen Nothing’s CEO speak about it, and other brands like Motorola, OnePlus, and Xiaomi make price adjustments across their lineup.

Flagship smartphones are about to get gut-wrenchingly expensive

The effect isn’t just visible at the entry level; it’s evident at the flagship end of the smartphone market. Given that these devices use the best DRAM and NAND configuration out there, production costs have been on a never-ending upward trajectory, at least since the beginning of 2026.

As the next wave of flagships is already rumored to come with a price hike, are we reaching a point where a top-tier flagship with 256GB of storage could cost around $1,500? To start, let’s analyze the flagship smartphones and their current starting prices.

If you want to buy an iPhone 17 Pro Max in the United States, you have to spend $1,199, or perhaps even lower if you manage to get it during a sale. Other flagships like the Galaxy S26 Ultra or the Pixel 10 Pro XL have an entry-level price of $1,299.99 and $1,199, respectively. But wait, these look quite normal, so am I worried for nothing?

Setting aside the fact that we’ve gone through several price increments, I’d like to turn your attention to what’s about to come.

Upcoming flagships could set new baseline pricing standards

Multiple sources have indicated an impending iPhone 18 Pro Max price hike. While the initial rumors suggested a revision of around $200, recent reports have indicated an upward hike of around $250 to $300 for Apple’s upcoming flagship. Do that math against the current iPhone 17 Pro Max’s $1,199 baseline price, and you land somewhere between $1,449 and $1,499 for the base iPhone 18 Pro Max.

Whether or not Apple offsets the rumored 20 to 25% price hike with a bump in the base storage needs solid commentary. However, a $1,500 entry point is looking increasingly likely to me.  

And Apple isn’t the only company affected by the memory shortage. The Pixel 11 Pro XL is rumored to cost $1,299 when it arrives in August 2026, up from $1,199. Samsung’s Galaxy S27 Ultra is tipped to clear $1,300, with some reports suggesting it could push past $1,400. Do you see where I’m going with this, or rather where the smartphone industry is going with this?

Removal of free storage upgrades and 36-month financing options are all signs

As the availability of consumer-grade memory and storage shrinks further, brands will start skimping on the introductory offers as well. Take Samsung as an example. The company didn’t announce any free-storage upgrades for the Galaxy S26 Ultra or its latest lineup of Galaxy Z foldables.

Without that cushion, prices simply don’t have anywhere to hide anymore. What you see at launch is increasingly what you pay.

That perk existed because the company’s margins could still absorb the upgrade cost, but it’s clear that they can’t anymore.

Mobile carriers are already bracing for the impending adjustment to flagship pricing. Most recently, T-Mobile launched a new 36-month financing plan, which essentially divides the increased upfront cost into smaller monthly installments that run for three straight years. And that’s exactly what the new Apple Upgrade program does.

Have foldables already shown us where this is headed?

Here’s the proof that $1,500 isn’t a future hypothetical. Motorola’s Razr Ultra 2026, the brand’s most premium flip phone, launched at $1,499.99, a $200 jump from the Razr Ultra 2025’s $1,299. It’s shipping today, at that exact price, driven by the same memory crisis behind the regular flagships. 

It’s important to look at what Motorola is doing, as it leads the flip market in the US. If a compact clamshell with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and three 50MP cameras can cost $1,500, a regular flagship with a 2nm chip (the rumored A20 Pro or the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6), higher-quality cameras, and bigger batteries can certainly cost the same.

For now, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra happens to be the only book-style foldable, and a smartphone that demands over $2,000 for the base variant. Given that it’s a top-tier foldable and represents the epitome of Samsung’s smartphone engineering, you could argue that it earns the additional premium over what conventional flagships cost.

That’s exactly the kind of psychological permission regular flagships don’t have yet, and it’s the only real wall standing between where we are and where this is going. 

What does this look like for buyers outside the US?

Worse, frankly. India already pays a real premium on top of parity pricing, typically 15 to 25% above what the same phone costs stateside. Apple already launched the iPhone 17 Pro Max at $1,574 in India (when converted from the local launch price), which is already over 30% higher than the official listing price in the US.

Run the projected iPhone 18 Pro Max hike through that filter, and you’re looking at something in the neighborhood of ₹1,80,000 to ₹1,90,000 ($1,891–$1,996) for the base model. Even if I consider the lower band for the sake of argument, we could be looking at a $1,800 to $1,900 launch price in India, and that’s pretty close to the $2,000 mark I’m worried about.

The Pixel 11 Pro XL and Galaxy S27 Ultra follow the same calculation. If you’re budgeting for a flagship upgrade in India next year, brace yourself, because the gap between US and India pricing isn’t closing.

So, is $1,500 the new flagship norm?

Yes, or close enough that the distinction barely matters. Not every flagship has crossed that line in August 2026. Whether it’s Apple, Samsung, or Google, the starting price for their upcoming flagship could slide toward the same $1,300 to $1,500 bracket, at least in the US. 

The Pixel 11 Pro XL is expected to cost $1,300 for its baseline variant, so Android buyers should still be grateful. Samsung’s purported S27 Ultra could follow the same upward trend. If the memory crisis doesn’t ease anytime soon, hardware upgrades combined with the ever-increasing costs of DRAM could push the entry-level pricing closer to $1,500 by next year.

However, on the other side of the fence, iPhone users who want to stick with their ecosystem and want the best technology Apple has on offer might have to pay around $1,400 to $1,500. For them, the new $1,500 flagship norm might become a reality in September 2026.

And that’s just what’s happening in the US. If you zoom out a little and consider global smartphone prices, especially in key markets like India, there’s a good chance that flagship pricing could touch the $1,500 to $1,800 mark this year itself.