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iPhone 13 Pro line finally gets 1TB of storage, creating the most expensive iPhone ever

The iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max double the top storage of the previous generation's iPhones, but the 1-terabyte Pro Max's price bloats to nearly $1,600.

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Joan E. Solsman Former Senior Reporter
Joan E. Solsman was CNET's senior media reporter, covering the intersection of entertainment and technology. She's reported from locations spanning from Disneyland to Serbian refugee camps, and she previously wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. She bikes to get almost everywhere and has been doored only once.
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Joan E. Solsman
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The iPhone 13 Pro line adds storage-intense features like a higher-quality video recording system, ProRes.

 Apple/Screenshot by Sarah Tew/CNET

Apple's iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max will finally introduce options for you to buy an Apple phone with a full terabyte of storage built in, Apple said Tuesday. But these highest-end iPhones will cost more than the last generation's, which maxed out at 512 gigabytes: The 1TB iPhone 13 Pro costs $1,499 and the 1TB iPhone Pro Max costs $1,599, making it the most expensive iPhone yet. They essentially double the storage from the 512GB versions for $200 more. 

The news came at Apple's event revealing the latest iterations of its iPhone, as well as new Apple Watches and iPads. The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max will be open for preorder Friday and available Sept. 24. The system software iOS 15 is coming Sept. 20.

Apple has been criticized over the years for dragging its feet in upgrading storage options for iPhones, and these latest iPhone Pros come with storage-gobbling features like new higher-quality video recording system called ProRes, making the need for more space on your phone all the more intense. Up until now for its "pro" devices, Apple's largely kept between 128GB and 512GB. Apple began offering a 1TB version for its iPad Pro in 2018, but waited until this year to bring that option to the iPhone. 

Storage may not be the only factor ratcheting up the price of the most expensive iPhones. Escalating prices of chip production from its supplier, TSMC, also augured the possibility of pricier iPhones too. Apple's supplier is aiming to increase the cost by as much as 20% for "advanced and mature process technologies" by January, according to a report. 

Up until the iPhone 13 Pro Max, the most expensive iPhone had been the iPhone 12 Pro Max with 512GB of storage, which was  $1,399 in the US at launch. 

See also

--Ian Sherr contributed to this report. 

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Watch this: The iPhone 13 Pro is just like the 13 Pro Max, except smaller

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