First-order effects

• Buyers choosing on Sept. 16 across 28 countries face a three-tier ladder where each storage bump costs $100, making the 128GB model the de facto middle pick.
• The Plus's $769–$969 range prices it against the top of the standard line plus one tier, directly testing whether customers pay the size premium — early US receipts analyzed by Slice Intelligence suggest they do, with the Plus outselling the 7 in the first 48 hours.

Second-order effects

• A Plus-heavy sales mix pushes Apple's average selling price above the $649 headline, which is exactly the dynamic the following year's XR-at-$749 and Pro-tier pricing builds on.
• In China, where the 7 Plus ranked second-best selling phone behind the OPPO R9s, the large-screen premium becomes the battleground against local rivals rather than the base model.

Third-order effects

• IHS's teardown work pegs material cost at roughly 35% of sale price for both the 32GB 7 and the 64GB 8, implying storage tiers function primarily as margin segmentation — a structure that persists even as the entry point later falls back to $699 with the iPhone 11 and $399 with the 2020 SE.
• If the pattern holds, Apple maintains one flagship price ceiling that only climbs while retired flagships cascade down to fill every rung beneath it, squeezing room for a genuinely cheap new iPhone.