IPhone 15 Pro Price Increases Warranted, Apple Stock Analyst Says

Rumored price increases for Apple's (AAPL) high-end iPhone 15 smartphones will be justified by the enhanced technology they contain, investment bank Goldman Sachs said Thursday.

Apple will introduce its 17th-generation iPhones at a media event on Sept. 12, analysts say. The company also likely will debut its Apple Watch Series 9 smartwatches.

News leaks point to Apple announcing four models of the iPhone 15. They include a base model iPhone 15 with a 6.1-inch display and an iPhone 15 Plus with a 6.7-inch display, with starting prices at $799 and $899, respectively. Apple also will have Pro and Pro Max models in the same screen sizes, starting at $1,099 and $1,199, respectively.

While the base and Plus models will have the same pricing as their iPhone 14 predecessors, the Pro models will cost $100 more, analysts say.

In a note to clients, Goldman Sachs analyst Michael Ng said the price increases are warranted by new features in the iPhone 15 Pro models. Those features will include the A17 processor, the first chip made at 3-nanometer scale, making the phone faster and more power efficient, he said.

The Pro models also will sport design improvements such as a titanium frame, improved battery life and more memory. The top-of-the-line Pro Max model will include an upgraded camera with a periscope lens for greater optical zoom capability.

"The iPhone Pro has not seen a price increase since it was first introduced with the iPhone 11 Pro in September 2019," Ng said.

The new technology in the iPhone 15 Pro models should drive a continued shift in the sales mix to the more expensive handsets, Ng said.

Ng rates Apple stock as buy with a price target of 222. In midday trades on the stock market today, Apple stock rose 0.3% to 188.28.

Follow Patrick Seitz on X, formerly Twitter, at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.

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