Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models are expected to get more expensive this year. While Apple managed to maintain a decent price gap between its Pro and non-Pro models last year, things may get a bit hard to justify with the new non-Pro models expected to get more ‘Pro’ features like Dynamic Island and switch to high-resolution cameras. A new report now points out that Apple is expected to raise the price of its iPhone 15 Pro models even higher while packing in many more features than iPhone 14 Pro models.

A report on Weibo, first spotted by MacRumours, claims that the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models could be priced higher than the existing iPhone 14 Pro models. The source claims that price increase has been done to “widen the gap” between the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro models and the iPhone 15 Plus model. Going by US pricing, the Apple iPhone 14 Pro was launched at $999 while the iPhone 14 Pro was launched at $1099. As indicated by MacRumours, this would push the price of the base iPhone 15 Pro model over a thousand dollars this year.

The same Chinese source from Weibo also claims that with the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are gaining more Pro features this year. So, Apple will need to add more features to its top-end Pro models to separate the two lineups in terms of pricing this year. MacRumours states that with iPhone 14 and 14 Plus turning out lower than expected Apple is trying out different strategies to increase the sales of its non-Pro iPhone models.

With the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus models Apple went with an older A15 Bionic processor with additional GPU cores (5 in all) for better performance. It also packed similar 12-megapixel camera sensors as before with minor improvements to performance as seen in our review.

In India, the Apple iPhone 14 is currently available from Rs. 79,900 while the iPhone 14 Plus sells from Rs. 89,900. The iPhone 14 Pro starts from Rs. 1,29,900 with the iPhone 14 Pro Max starting from Rs. 1,39,900.

Indeed, there’s enough of a price gap compared to US prices, so it’s a bit hard to imagine how much more Apple can justify an even higher price tag if the news turns out to be genuine. The iPhone 15 Pro models as per recent reports have been tipped to come with frames made of titanium instead of the usual stainless steel. The iPhone 15 models are tipped to feature this year’s Apple A16 Bionic processor instead of newer silicon which is expected to make it to the Pro models.

Again, the news comes from a new source on Weibo so we would recommend taking this news with a pinch of salt.