While iPhone prices are steadily climbing, the Cupertino giant believes it could still increase its prices without offending users. The question is how much…
Sold from 1,329 and up to 2,129 euros, the iPhone Pro, Apple’s top-of-the-range smartphone, has for some time left the symbolic ceiling of 1,000 euros far behind them. And that might just be the start.
Raising the prices would not be a problem
During the phone call with financial analysts, during which Tim Cook always comments on the results of his group, the boss of Apple indeed answered an interesting question: how much the increase in the average selling price of the iPhone can it last?
According to Mark Gurman, of Bloomberg, who reports the remarks, Tim Cook’s response could not be clearer. According to him, the price increase is not a problem. Better, consumers could probably be encouraged to spend more, writes the journalist.
“I think people are ready to stretch their spending to get the best they can get in this category”explained the boss of Apple, specifying that the iPhone is now an integral part of the lives of its users, thanks to its functions of payments, control of their home, monitoring of their health, etc.
A new high end
Without specifying whether iPhone prices will be revised upwards, Tim Cook explains that by offering the right functions, those that will make the difference and constitute the new contours of a high-end device, users could spend even more .
However, recalls Mark Gurman, Apple has been thinking for some time about adding a very high-end device. In recent years, the Cupertino giant has already made the Pro models stand out from the entry-level devices, first thanks to the photographic score, then to the autonomy, the SoC difference being relatively new .
With the iPhone 15, the Cupertino giant would consider an Ultra model, which would replace or place itself above the Pro Max. This iPhone Ultra might not be introduced until 2024.
However, if it were marketed this year, it could already contrast with the rest of the range. Some rumors and information leaked by generally reliable sources indeed indicate that this iPhone could stand out thanks to the material used for its manufacture, in this case titanium instead of stainless steel. Then, its processor could also be much more powerful. It must be said that if Apple keeps the A16 Bionic for the entry-level SoC which is engraved in 5 nm (with the second generation TSMC processor), the A17 Bionic should be the first to benefit from the engraving in 3 nm, which should guarantee real gains in performance and power consumption. In addition, the greater fineness of engraving could allow Apple to integrate the elements in charge of the hardware acceleration of the rendering of the ray tracing. A technological novelty that Apple would have considered integrating into the A16 Bionic before having to backtrack.
Finally, in addition to the SoC part, Apple could introduce a periscopic telephoto lens in its high-end iPhone, in order to beef up the photographic part of its smartphone a little. Good news that would correct a certain lack in the face of competitive offers. It would also allow the Cupertino giant to boost the rest of its range.
It’s hard to justify such a high entry-level price with only two optics currently. In addition to using the 48 Mpixel sensor introduced with the 15 Pro models, Apple could offer its entry-level iPhones a third physical lens… If the difference with the iPhone Pro and/or Ultra is sufficient in its eyes.
A risky exercise
Raising prices is therefore possible for Apple. Moreover, the American giant is pushing the price of its devices upwards little by little – with a difference which now reaches 800 euros between the first model of iPhone 15 Pro and the highest model of iPhone 15 Pro Max. However, this exercise is risky. The Cupertino giant has already been caught in the act recently, in the act of rising prices for an offer that is not innovative enough or even that would justify this new price. We think in particular of the iPhone SE, but the same thing is to be said of the AirPods 3, for example.
To justify this upward race, Apple has an interest in finding tangible arguments. A next step, already taken by Samsung, could be to resort to introducing a folding iPhone. The new form factor would justify even higher prices, and create a real distinction between its entry-level, mid-range and high-end models. Would this be an opportunity to see entry-level models cross the 2,000 euro mark? This seems extreme, but not so impossible in view of the prices charged by the competition and the prices of the various current components of the iPhone family, whose prices are now all above 1,000 euros – for the models of the year , In any case.
Apple has embodied high-end and premium since the origins of its iPhone. But except to introduce really new uses, which could cause the iPhone to replace other products, it is difficult to imagine that an inevitable increase in its prices would not have a detrimental effect on sales at some point. or to another.
Bloomberg
