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Manufacturing Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 Pro Max could become significantly more expensive, as preliminary component estimates indicate a major increase in memory and chip costs for the 1TB model.

According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, the component cost of the iPhone 18 Pro Max with 12GB RAM and 1TB storage is expected to rise by around $300 compared to the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

The bulk of this increase comes from the cost of NAND and DRAM memory, which continues to face pressure from ongoing widespread component shortages, according to a report by tech news site Mac Observer, as seen by Al Arabiya Business.

Counterpoint also noted that Apple's expected 2nm chip and newer packaging technologies are another major reason behind the rising production cost of the iPhone 18 Pro Max.

Key expected cost changes

- Overall component cost increase: around $300 compared to iPhone 17 Pro Max.

- Main driver of cost increase: NAND and DRAM memory.

- Chip cost: expected to rise due to 2nm SoC and newer packaging technologies.

- Camera cost: slight increase due to new technologies.

- Display and other components: expected to become less expensive.

- Consumer selling price: expected to rise by an average of around $200.

Counterpoint also expects Apple to apply varying price increases to its upcoming phones depending on storage capacity, meaning that higher-capacity versions may see larger price hikes.

Despite the higher consumer selling price, Apple is also expected to achieve a slightly lower gross profit margin on the iPhone 18 Pro Max compared to the current iPhone 17 Pro Max.

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