iPhone 15 Ultra's Shocking Price Leak Points To Apple's Most Expensive Smartphone Ever

Apple is rumored to be changing up the name of its upcoming high-end iPhone, and its price as well. The new name is said to fall in line with a few other name changes in the family of Apple devices.

The iPhone 14 lineup has only been out a couple of months, but that has not stopped the rumor mill from beginning to churn about the yet-to-be-released iPhone 15. Recently, rumblings about a new cutting-edge Sony camera sensor with superior low-light photos were purported about the next iPhone.

Apple has been changing up the naming scheme of a few of its high-end devices recently, such as the Apple Watch Ultra and the Mac Studio M1 Ultra chip. Now, it seems the company will be giving its highest-end iPhone 15 the Ultra label also. For Apple, ultra means "beyond," or a place it has never gone before. The name also seems to mean more expensive as well.

"It's going to be a more expensive iPhone. Even in the United States," a leaker speaking with Forbes stated. "Apple has been losing margins year after year. Rising production costs and inflation, that makes the money the company has in the bank worth less, have finally broken the camel's back."

In a recent tweet, LeaksApplePro indicated that the "iPhone 15 Ultra will cost substantially more to manufacture than iPhone 14 Pro Max." The starting price is purported to be $1299, a $200 increase from the iPhone Pro Max cost. It would also be the highest single-generation price hike in iPhone history.

As of right now, there is no word if the price increase will trickle down to the lower-end iPhones. Industry experts think that it will more than likely translate into an increase across the board, since Apple will not want to have a large difference in price in the lineup. However, leaks are also indicating that the iPhone 15 Ultra will ship with a minimum of 256GB of memory, so that could offset the price hike somewhat if the lesser variants continue to ship with a minimum of 128GB.

Along with a new name and price point, the iPhone 15 Ultra is also rumored to be shipping with dual front-facing cameras, USB-C with Thunderbolt 4 (40Gbps) replacing the lightning port, and it will be made with titanium. LeaksApplePro has stated that the use of titanium will be limited to the Ultra only.