Apple’s newest top-tier iPhone, now available at about $2,000, represents a new high-water mark in smartphone pricing and a bet that affluent buyers and long-delayed upgraders will pay for incremental advances in storage, camera systems and artificial intelligence features. The device arrives as manufacturers and investors reassess how much consumers will tolerate for premium compute and on-device AI capabilities.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said the price tag is unlikely to blunt demand entirely. “We expect iPhone preorders will increase five to 10% compared to last year,” he said, noting Wedbush’s estimate that roughly 20% of global iPhone owners haven’t upgraded in the past four years. That sizable upgrade backlog, Ives argued, gives Apple room to push higher-end pricing without rapidly shrinking its market.

The $2,000 sticker is striking when compared with competitors: Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra and Google’s Pixel 10 Pro XL, two of the most direct rivals in camera and compute performance, top out at 1 terabyte of storage on their highest-end models. Apple’s premium configuration pairs expanded storage with software-driven camera upgrades and on-device neural processing, components the company says deliver a level of performance aimed at pro users and creators.

But the new price has underscored an industry trend that goes beyond metal, glass and chips. Developers in China, including a group known as DeepSeek, have recently publicized the steep costs associated with training large artificial-intelligence models, bringing renewed attention to the energy, hardware and human capital investments necessary to build and maintain advanced AI systems. Those upstream costs are increasingly visible in consumer products: phone makers must invest in specialized chips and software engineering to enable local AI tasks like real-time video processing or generative photography without sending data to the cloud.

Industry analysts and consumer advocates warn that the escalation could polarize the market. “High-priced flagship devices drive innovation, but they also accelerate elite capture of next-generation features,” said a technology policy researcher at a U.S. think tank. Financeable monthly plans offered by carriers will likely soften the blow for many buyers, but such financing can mask the long-term economic burden on lower- and middle-income consumers who may feel pressure to upgrade.

Investors will be watching preorder numbers and early sales closely for signs that Apple can maintain its historically elastic pricing power. For Apple, the risk is twofold: pricing out a portion of its customer base, and inviting scrutiny over the fairness and sustainability of a premium-first model in a market where repairability and longevity are becoming public policy concerns.

There are also environmental considerations. The computational intensity of modern AI, from data-center training to on-device inference, carries carbon and resource footprints that are prompting calls for clearer accounting and design choices that prioritize efficiency. As manufacturers market ever-more-powerful pocket computers, the debate over who bears the cost — financially and ecologically — is likely to intensify.

For now, Apple’s $2,000 phone is a proving ground. If preorders swell as some analysts expect, it will reinforce the view that the consumer tech market will continue to absorb higher prices in exchange for advanced functionality. If demand falters, it may prompt a rethinking of how much of the AI revolution belongs in the palm of a single user — and at what cost.