Compare prices from Amazon, Walmart & Target
PHONES
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| Released | Sep 18, 2026The newest flagship here — and the hardest to buy honestly. |
|---|---|
| Display | 6.9"Same size as Samsung's Ultra — the tie ends at the screen. |
| Cameras | Triple 48MP · 4x & 8x zoomZooms farthest of the big flagships. |
| Chip | A20 ProApple's fastest — 2026 top class. |
| Base storage | 256GBThe model priced on this page, at Apple's $1,299 list — where you can find it. |
The phone itself is the complete flagship: the 6.9-inch screen, the triple-48MP system with 4x and 8x zoom, and the A20 Pro — nothing about the hardware is the problem.
The problem is the door: none of the big 3 sells it unlocked. Amazon's only offer is a reseller at $1,549 — $250 over Apple's own list.
So the honest routes are two: a carrier plan at list price, sliced monthly (read the math below first) — or last year's Pro below, Renewed Premium at $1,029.
Do not pay the reseller premium. Expercom's $1,549 is the same phone Apple lists at $1,299 — the $250 buys nothing but impatience. And if a listing ever shows this phone "sold by Amazon," re-check before you trust it: as of Oct 27, 2026, Amazon does not sell it.
THE CARRIER MATH (checked Oct 27, 2026 — carrier offers change often; the carrier's page is final)
Every carrier door slices the same $1,299 list price: about $36.08/mo × 36 months at the base math. Walmart's carrier shelf (checked Oct 27) showed the same pattern — Verizon and AT&T plans from $34.70/mo, on larger-storage models.
The real price is the plan: carrier prices assume a premium plan kept for the full term. A plan that costs $30/mo more adds $1,080 over 36 months — more than any credit on this phone.
Trade-ins can cut the device cost, sometimes to $0 — but the credits arrive monthly and vanish if you leave early. The catch is never the phone price. It is the 36 months.
Want this phone? Buy it at Apple's $1,299 — through a carrier plan you were keeping anyway, or direct from Apple. Never at $1,549. And if "new" is not the point, last year's Pro below does almost everything for $1,029.
+α THE VALUE OPTION
$1,029.00 at Amazon — $270 less than the 18 Pro Max's list price
Buy at AmazonMAIN FUNCTIONS
THE TRADE-OFF
Renewed Premium — inspected and guaranteed by Amazon, but not new; last year's chip and cameras.
WHY SMARTBUYCOMPARE
Same product. Three stores. Three different prices. On this phone, the honest answer is that none of the three sells it unlocked — so we show you the doors that do exist, and we price the trap.
The +α below is last year's Pro at $1,029 — the same job, renewed and guaranteed, for $270 less than list.
The compared pick is the lowest checked price we can stand behind — today, that is Apple's list price through a carrier you already keep, or the Renewed Premium under it.
