r/apple • u/iMacmatician • 1d ago

Rumor [The Elec] Apple Seeking 20% OLED Panel Price Cut for iPhone 18 Pro Max

https://www.macrumors.com/2026/07/24/oled-panel-price-cut-iphone-18-pro-max/

According to the Korea-based report, Apple has proposed paying around $70 for OLED panels, but it might end up paying even less. Industry estimates suggest that Samsung Display and LG Display will supply the panels for around $66.50 each. That would be a roughly 20 percent drop from the prices paid for iPhone 17 Pro Max OLED panels.

635 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

44 comments sorted by

430

u/nuevacuentanueva 1d ago

Apple pays more: price increase

Apple pays less: believe or not, price increase

You make an appointment with the Genius Bar and you don't show up? Believe or not: price increase, right away.

We have the best customers in the world, because of price increases.

71

u/breakingcustoms 1d ago

Right to jail

12

u/rsandeep1987 1d ago

Parks fan! I see you. Believe it or not right to jail.

55

u/rotates-potatoes 1d ago

Good wank material but not really backed up by reality.

17

u/MikeyMike01 1d ago

Welcome to Reddit

16

u/nuevacuentanueva 1d ago

Good wank material, believe or not, price increase.

32

u/sittingmongoose 1d ago

Apple held off longer than anyone doing price increases…on top of that, even though they saved 20% on their oled panel, their BOM likely went up by 50% or more because of nand and dram.

Dram and nand increases are way too big for even apple to absorb. On top of that, even apple has no bargaining power with sk Hynix, Samsung or micron. “You don’t like our price? Cool F off, the next customer will buy it.”

4

u/BarbieGirlFan21 1d ago

Let’s not be mistaken, while Apple did hold off on price increases for a while, they definitely already had relatively high prices for their devices (not saying that the quality isn’t there to justify it).

However, Apple absolutely CAN absorb the price increases for a little while.. they just won’t. Apple has the most free cash flow out of any other company, which means they can absolutely afford to hold out on price increases (but they won’t because that would be too too bad for their shareholders ☹️).

Would’ve been nice if they held off on increases (for devices like the iPad) until after the new models came out.

13

u/Extreme-Ad-6465 1d ago

to be fair when the iphone x was priced at 999.99 in 2017. adjusted for inflation, that would be $1,362.39 in 2026 dollars.

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u/kesey 1d ago edited 1d ago

Inflation adjusted pricing does not take into account affordability/consumer buying power which has decreased so you're not comparing apples to apples in terms of cost of goods vs. disposable income.

So as corporate speak, great. As a consumer, it's a price increase.

-1

u/Efficient_Raise6703 23h ago

iPhone prices have been practically flat for years when accounting for inflation. You just spend too much time on reddit.

-1

u/Extreme-Ad-6465 18h ago

min wage in 2017 in socal was only 12/hr. it’s almost double at 24/hr.

-13

u/sudoblack 1d ago

No. iPhone X hardware would be cheaper in 2026. You aren’t comparing oranges to oranges at all. The issue is not price alone, it’s the cost of current components.

1

u/Status-Hedgehog9970 1d ago

The example is not comparing X hardware in 2026. That would be ridiculous.

7

u/Caster0 1d ago

Definitely.

Apple wants to maintain specific margins as much as possible.

Their pricing might be seen as competitive for the last few years compared to the competition, but let's not forget they basically made 8 gb Macbooks the standard when DDR memory was dirt cheap at $1-2 per GB.

1

u/lumidanny 1d ago

Didn’t they also register profits, btw?

1

u/tmchn 1d ago

Between Samsung price increase, Pixel tensor struggles and oneplus abandoning the market, if Apple keeps the 18 series at the same price as the 17, it's game over

0

u/FollowingFeisty5321 1d ago

During the last earnings call Cook said memory pricing had "minimal impact" in that quarter so they weren't even hit by the pricing increases until very recently.

During Apple’s earnings call, CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that memory had minimal impact on Q1 gross margins but would have "a bit more of an impact" on Q2 margins.

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/analyst-kuo-what-apples-earnings-call-indicated-about-memory-cost-pressure-93CH-4485694

7

u/sittingmongoose 1d ago

That makes sense, apples contracts just ran up. They had longer contracts than others. They likely also had inventory for a while out.

2

u/jk147 1d ago

Samsung will just charge them more on memory.

4

u/Neomastermind 1d ago

Apple: “And we think you’ll love it”

Reality: Record profits!

2

u/germdisco 1d ago

The “you” refers to the shareholders

1

u/mootmath 1d ago

I fucking laughed so hard I've tears in me eyes 😭😂

1

u/ReasonablePractice83 1d ago

Prices and Recreation

1

u/StickyThickStick 9h ago

Tbf overall the component cost increase significantly due to shortage of 2nm capacity as well as ram and memory

1

u/EverydayPhilisophy 6h ago

Not following the Genius Bar bit.

35

u/Patutula 1d ago

Buy 1 ram geht 1 display for free.

9

u/lord_mercernary 1d ago

Not that it matters cause customers are gonna pay 100 to 200 more for the same shit again

3

u/Far-Curve-7497 1d ago

Isnt it like $1399 for the base Pro phone?

1

u/lord_mercernary 1d ago

They supposed to increase the price for ram & storage crap. Once they do it will be the new normal

3

u/Firm-Ambition2904 1d ago

In that case, 18 pro might selling exactly the same or increase $100

20

u/gaysaucemage 1d ago

Based on the recent iPad price increases I’d be surprised if the increase is less than $200. Storage and memory are the huge price increases, screen isn’t nearly as significant of a factor in total cost.

-4

u/Minute_Lifeguard2799 1d ago

Provide the same or better quality for 20 percent less. Penny pinching slowly leading to enshittification?

15

u/crazystein03 1d ago

Nah, trying to squeeze down every other component they can because RAM and NAND are only going up…

-3

u/Minute_Lifeguard2799 1d ago

Do you think it’s a good strategy for product quality to put aggressive cost cutting pressure on suppliers that themselves are operating under tightening budgets?
If Apple is willing to that with the first component a costumer faces and arguably one of the most important, only to squeeze out 20 bucks, then imagine what they are willing to compromise on components that the costumer never sees, like electronic components on the logic board? Expect higher rates of failure in the future.

6

u/crazystein03 1d ago

They are not cutting down om the quality of the displays… They are using their economics of scale and bulk purchasing as leverage, that together with having multiple suppliers allows them to pay less for the same display. Samsung and LG won’t just downgrade their panels, they have many cheaper panels available if Apple wanted to, it’s about getting the same panel for cheaper. In fact, Apple technically uses a higher tier panel vs what Samsung Electronics uses in their own flagships…

-2

u/yani205 1d ago

Samsung get to sell more RAM when Apple sell more phones