By Dan Moren

September 5, 2025 2:00 PM PT

This Week in Apple: Everybody needs money, that’s why they call it money

With John Moltz traversing America’s heartland, it falls to me, his trusty editor, to step in and fill his shoes. After five days in hell, I’m here with only one goal: to recap the week in Apple news. To do so, I’ll have to become someone else. Something else.

Sorry, wrong show.

As Apple’s annual September event closes in, the speculation continues apace. With apologies to the Klondike Bar: 🎶 What would you payyyyy for an iPhone Pro?🎶 Plus, Mr. Cook goes to Washington, and just another reason why 2025 won’t be like 1984.

The price is wrong, Bob

In a world of tariffs and inflation, one thing has remained largely consistent for the last few years: iPhone prices. But nothing lasts forever, as my scratched and disintegrating CD of Boyz II Men’s “Cooleyhighharmony” reminds me.

According to a J.P. Morgan analyst, some models will be more expensive than before. Well, just one model, actually.

Here’s the full lineup of what JPMorgan projects:

• iPhone 17: $799 (no increase)
• iPhone 17 Air: $899-949 (no increase or $50 increase)
• iPhone 17 Pro: $1,099 ($100 increase but with higher starting storage)
• iPhone 17 Pro Max: $1,199 (no increase)

In summary, the iPhone 17 Pro is the only model that is definitely expected to increase in price.

Hey, that’s not so ba—wait, that’s the model I always buy. Dammit, Tim!

At least rumors also suggest that the base model iPhone 17 Pro will come with double the previous storage. Just in time to fit all those new AI models coming down the road.

My dinner with androids

In what is becoming an unpleasantly common occurence—probably for most of the people involved—the president once again summoned tech CEOs to the White House this week, including Tim Cook, who failed to convince the administration that he was busy washing his hair that day. (Note to Tim: should have said Craig’s hair, they would have bought that one.)

Going around the table, each CEO took a turn saying what they were thankful for, as long as it was about how great the president was. Said Cook when it was his turn: “I’ve always enjoyed having dinner and interacting.” Which raises the question: nevermind AI, can Tim Cook pass the Turing Test?

To be fair, if I had to spend three hours with Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg—not to mention the bloviator-in-chief at the center of the table—I’d probably send my robotic doppelgänger too.

Look, we’ve talked about all of this before…and we’re going to talk about it again. As The Verge’s story about the subject illustrates, Tim Cook is doing this for a reason that probably is more complicated than simply enjoying the company:

Later, when a reporter asked about Trump’s plans to tariff semiconductors, Trump reiterated his idea that he’d deploy a “fairly substantial tariff” that could be waived if a company was planning to build in the US. “I’d say Tim Cook would be in pretty good shape,” Trump said.

Yeah, that bowing and scraping will really burn off the calories.

Ad-dieu

Speaking of authoritarian regimes, we’d be remiss if we didn’t note the passing of Steve Hayden. If you haven’t heard of Hayden, you’ve surely seen his work: he was the copywriter behind Apple’s iconic “1984” ad, directed by legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott.

For an ad that only ever aired once during the 1984 Super Bowl, it’s perhaps one of the most iconic spots in history, endlessly parodied and mocked, and definitely feels in no way uncomfortably ironic these days.

Having succeeded so wildly with that commercial, Hayden was subsequently brought on to write Apple’s followup ad for the 1985 Super Bowl, which was actually—and this is true—directed by Ridley Scott’s brother, the also-renowned filmmaker Tony Scott. You may be less familiar with that spot, “Lemmings“, which was arguably the worst Apple commercial ever made until the company decided to crush a lot of stuff in a hydraulic press.

Hayden, for his part, was a good sport about the ups and downs:

“I often remind people about ‘Lemmings’ as proof of karmic balance,” Mr. Hayden said with a laugh in an interview with Forbes magazine in 2012.

“What was missing from ‘Lemmings,’” he added, “was the girl in ‘1984,’ the savior who says, ‘The world could be different than this.’”

*stares, haunted, into the distance* Yeah, man. Too real. Too real.

[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors, as well as an author, podcaster, and two-time Jeopardy! champion. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His next novel, the sci-fi adventure Eternity's Tomb, will be released in November 2026.]