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So far, 2017 appears to be the year of expensive flagships. Back in August, Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 8 with a $930 price tag. Now this month, Apple has upped the ante further with the iPhone X, which will launch for a staggering $999. What is perhaps more staggering is the fact that Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, considers this to be a “value price”.
In an interview on Good Morning America earlier this week, Cook was asked whether or not he agreed that the iPhone X's new price tag was “out of reach for the average American”, to which he responded with:
“Well, it’s a value price actually for the technology that you’re getting. As it turns out, most people are paying for phones over long periods of time. And so, very few people will pay the full price of the phone initially. Also, most people actually trade in their current phone, and some carriers throw in subsidies and discounts.”
Now, I don't necessarily think that a $999 smartphone is too outlandish, but labelling it a ‘value price' seems like a pretty big misstep. Particularly since features like Face ID are still unproven as a replacement for Touch ID. On top of that, much of the internal hardware is the same across the iPhone 8 and iPhone X.
KitGuru Says: There is a report that the iPhone X costs close to $600 for Apple to build, so it is a very expensive even when broken down based on part-by-part costs. However, I don't think we should pretend that $999 is somehow a value purchase.
Coming from a billionaire it probably is…
“And so, very few people will pay the full price of the phone initially. Also, most people actually trade in their current phone, and some carriers throw in subsidies and discounts.”
Translation: People can pretend it’s not insanely priced if they spread out the cost, and get a few cent shaved off from deals.
This will be the new trend for flagship phones. Saying it’s $999 is a hard sell. Saying it’s an extra $5 or $10 a month is much easier.
Oh that makes total sense. Most people pay over a longer period of time, you know, like they do when they buy a house or a car. Just because you don’t pay it all at once, does not mean it’s cheap.
I know people are crazy and so will be dying in their thousands to pay 1000 or even 1300 for the new iPhone. But seriously, you make the most expensive phone by far with by far the highest profit margin; that’s not a value price, that’s not even close to a value price. That’s like saying a 500k Ferrari is a value price.
Are people really that dumb that they would take this seriously?