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For the first time since Apple started selling standard and "Pro" iPhones, we're not going to get an entry-level iPhone model this fall. Apple doesn't plan to release an iPhone 18 in September, and will only launch the iPhone 18 Pro, ?iPhone 18 Pro? Max, and foldable iPhone Ultra. The lower-cost ?iPhone 18? won't come out until spring 2027.
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 The highlights of this week in Apple deals include ongoing low prices on AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Max 2, and the 2026 MacBook Pro. We're also tracking solid deals on accessories from Anker and other companies on Amazon thanks to some back to school sales.
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One of AI vendor DeepSeek's biggest selling points has been its ultra-low price point, but that party's about to end.
The Chinese model provider is raising API pricing for its V4 model family by notable margins, in some cases by more than 1,100%. The increases may not be that dramatic for all, though; the company is encouraging "more flexible workload scheduling," with peak rates and half-price off-peak rates.
The news was tucked into the announcement of the general availability (GA) of DeepSeek V4-Pro and upgrades to VR-Flash. The new pricing takes effect for most parts of the world on August 16.
"On paper, at peak, against the right comparator, DeepSeek's price advantage does disappear, and in places inverts," said Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst at Greyhound Research. But in practice, "the schedule's own clock and cache hand most of it back to any buyer paying attention."
How Flash and Pro compare now
The new API pricing structure is as follows:
Flash is now $0.22 per million input tokens (cache miss) and $0.66 per million output tokens off-peak; and $0.44 per million input tokens (cache miss) and $1.32 per million output tokens at peak.
This is up from the flat rate of $0.14 for inputs (cache miss),
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Apple continues work to get White House go-ahead to source memory from Chinese supplier CXMT, which the US government has placed restrictions on.
For Apple, the issue comes down to simple math. With the cost of making iPhones up 38% because of eye-watering memory price increases — up almost 7-fold since the beginning of 2025 — it makes sense to make pragmatic choices when it comes to sourcing supply, particularly when other computer companies (including HP and Acer) already obtain memory from CXMT.
US resistance to the plan is that because of the way Apple packages memory on chip, the use of that memory might partly contravene the technology transfer restrictions the US has in place. Note: use of off-the-shelf components is fine.
Apple has been lobbying to use memory from the supplier only on devices made and sold in China and would likely argue this is reasonable given that both HP and Acer already use CXMT memory in products sold outside the US.
Why it's really about supply
The iPhone maker's dilemma isn't just about memory price, it's also about ensuring it has enough component supply to
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