The iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max have been officially axed – and the iPhone 16 and Plus just got underwhelming price cuts

iPhone 16 Pro in hand
The iPhone 16 Pro has only been on sale for a year (Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)

  • Apple has cut the iPhone 16 Pro/Pro Max from its store
  • The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus both get a small price reduction
  • But you can buy the new iPhone 17 for just $100 more than the iPhone 16

The iPhone 17 series is official, which means the existing iPhone range is also getting rejigged. You can no longer buy the iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro Max handsets directly from Apple as of today, while the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus have been given rather underwhelming price cuts.

A mere 12 months ago, the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max were the best iPhones Apple had ever made, so it's a little surprising to see them rather abruptly dumped from the lineup.

Could it be due to the switch to titanium that started with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, and which led to overheating issues? It's notable that Apple has gone back to aluminum for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, which is easier to colorize, and kinder to the planet too.

Whatever the reason – and Apple hasn't said anything specifically about this – the only top-tier, full-fat iPhones now listed on the Apple website (preorders begin on September 12) are the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, starting at $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,999 and $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,199 respectively for 256GB of storage.

Some small discounts

Apple iPhone 16 Review

The iPhone 16 is still available from Apple (Image credit: Future)

The iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Plus are still on sale on the Apple website, and they're now a little bit cheaper – though not much cheaper. In fact, you don't have to pay a whole lot more for the standard iPhone 17, which comes with better cameras and a faster processor.

The iPhone 16 will now cost you from $699 / £699 / AU$1,249, down from a starting price of $799 / £799 / AU$1,399. The iPhone 16 Plus is now priced at $799 / £799 / AU$1,399 and up, compared to $899 / £899 / AU$1,599 originally.

Considering that the iPhone 17 starts at $799 / £799 / AU$1,399 and has so many upgrades, it seems like the much better buy – especially as you get 256GB of storage with the cheapest model, compared to 128GB with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.

Perhaps the 2024 models will come down in price further in the weeks and months ahead, but we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, we're digesting everything Apple has announced about its new models for 2025 – including the new iPhone Air, which is the thinnest and, according to Apple, the most durable iPhone in history.

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David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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