- iPhone 17 costs 48.6% less in BTC and 44.9% less in ETH than iPhone 16 in 2024.
- Bitcoin surged to $111K and Ethereum to $4.2K, reducing crypto needed for iPhone purchases.
- From 162 BTC in 2011 to 0.0072 BTC in 2025, iPhone cost in crypto fell by 99.9%.
Apple’s iPhone 17, launched this month at $799, now costs just 0.0072 BTC or 0.1866 ETH. That’s almost half the crypto required for the iPhone 16 a year earlier, which priced in at 0.0140 BTC and 0.3386 ETH.
The decline underscores how crypto appreciation has outpaced retail inflation.
iPhone 17 in Bitcoin and Ether Terms
The shift reflects a steep rise in crypto valuations. Bitcoin has nearly doubled from $57,049 at the iPhone 16 release to $111,033 today. Ethereum climbed from $2,359.57 to $4,282.40 in the same period.
As a result, buyers now need less than half the amount of BTC or ETH to purchase Apple’s flagship.
How Higher iPhone Models Convert in Crypto
Apple’s premium models follow the same trend:
- iPhone Air ($999): 0.0090 BTC or 0.2333 ETH
- iPhone 17 Pro ($1,099): 0.0099 BTC or 0.2567 ETH
- iPhone 17 Pro Max ($1,199): 0.0108 BTC or 0.2800 ETH
For high-end buyers, the crypto cost is now just fractions of a coin, even as retail prices inch up.
Historical Decline in iPhone Crypto Pricing
The long-term trend is even sharper. In 2011, an iPhone 4S priced at $649 cost 162.25 BTC when Bitcoin was only $4. By 2025, a base iPhone 17 requires just 0.0072 BTC, a 99.9% drop in Bitcoin terms.
Ethereum shows the same trajectory. At the 2015 iPhone 6S launch, $649 equaled 876 ETH, when ETH traded below $1. A decade later, the iPhone 17 costs just 0.18 ETH.
Data Highlights the Crypto-Apple Gap
CoinGecko mapped each iPhone launch price against BTC and ETH valuations since 2011. Apple’s base iPhone rose modestly from $649 in 2011 to $799 in 2025.
Meanwhile, crypto appreciation has reduced the cost of iPhones to slivers of a coin — illustrating how Bitcoin and Ethereum outpaced retail price growth by orders of magnitude.
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