Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan maintained a Buy recommendation on Apple with a $370 price objective, while AAPL shares rose 1.38% during Thursday's trading. Apple raised retail prices for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max by $100 from their predecessors and applied the increases to iPhone 17 and 16 models, but wireless carriers have lifted maximum trade-in incentives to $1,200 for the iPhone 18 Pro Max, up from $1,100 and $1,000 for the two prior generations. Carriers are also offering 36-month payment plans that combine device installments with service fees, which Mohan said improves affordability. Eligibility is limited: Verizon and AT&T generally require an iPhone 14 or newer for the highest credits, while T-Mobile requires an iPhone 15 Pro or newer. Buyers still face upfront activation fees and taxes based on full retail value, with initial payments of about $291-$296 for the iPhone 18 Pro and $400-$405 for the Pro Max. South Korean media reports indicate Samsung may have agreed to higher memory component prices, potentially lifting Apple's LPDDR5X RAM costs to $2.00 per gigabit in the first quarter of 2027 from $1.50 in the third quarter of 2026, while NAND flash storage would rise from $0.26 to $0.33 per gigabit. Oppo and vivo reportedly rejected Samsung's terms, leaving their future memory suppliers uncertain.