Apple is making substantial margins on storage upgrades for its latest iPhone 18 Pro models, charging customers considerably more than its estimated cost of the additional memory components, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.
The biggest gap is on the 1TB configuration. Apple reportedly spends around $192 on the additional flash memory but charges customers $600 more than the 256GB base model.
This means the company earns an estimated gross profit of $408 on the upgrade alone.
The findings come after Apple reported record revenue in India for the fourth quarter of 2026, with iPhone and Mac sales reaching all-time highs in the quarter ended September.
The company attributed the strong performance to demand for products including the MacBook Neo, MacBook Pro and the latest iPhone models.
The analysis by WSJ highlights how storage upgrades remain a lucrative source of revenue for Apple, even as rising memory costs increase expenses across the technology industry.
According to the Wall Street Journal analysis, Apple’s estimated cost of supplying additional storage has risen significantly compared with the previous-generation iPhone 17 Pro.
However, the company has also adjusted its upgrade prices, allowing it to maintain or increase its gross profit on certain configurations.
For the 1TB upgrade, reportedly pays suppliers around $192, up from approximately $42 for the equivalent upgrade on the 17 Pro. Despite this increase in component costs, its estimated gross profit has risen from $358 to $408 per phone.
The trend is different for the 512GB configuration. previously spent around $15 on the additional storage for the iPhone 17 Pro while charging customers a $200 premium.
For the iPhone 18 Pro, the estimated component cost has increased to $66, narrowing the company’s gross profit on the upgrade.
The 2TB iPhone 18 Pro configuration appears to be particularly lucrative for Apple.
The company reportedly charges customers an additional $1,200 over the 1TB variant, while the estimated cost of the extra storage is around $450.
This leaves with an estimated gross profit of $750 on the upgrade.
The Wall Street Journal analysis also points to a change in Apple’s storage pricing strategy across generations.
The company reportedly charged a markup of around 1,000% over its estimated storage costs on the. While that markup has declined for the latest generation, the company continues to earn substantial margins on higher-capacity models.
The report also does not specify how much of Apple’s component expenditure is attributable to RAM.
Apple offers multiple storage configurations for the iPhone 18 Pro, with prices rising substantially as buyers opt for higher-capacity variants.
In the US, the iPhone 18 Pro starts at $1,199 for the 256GB variant. The 512GB model costs $1,399, a $200 premium over the base configuration. The price rises to $1,799 for the 1TB variant, which is $600 more than the base model. Customers opting for the top-end 2TB configuration have to pay $2,399, a premium of $1,200 over the 256GB version.
Customers have to pay an additional ₹25,000 to move from the 256GB to the 512GB variant. Upgrading from 512GB to 1TB costs another ₹50,000, while choosing the 2TB configuration requires an additional ₹75,000 over the 1TB model.
The pricing illustrates how storage capacity has become an important part of premium pricing strategy.
While higher-capacity memory comes at an additional cost to the company, the substantial premiums charged to consumers allow it to generate significant returns from customers seeking more storage.
