Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
why is an off contract iphone
- Thread starter BFizzzle
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Price is set by what the market will pay. It is really not so "absurd", it is Free Enterprise at work! 
Aren't smaller form factor items harder and more expensive to make. Including R&D cost and smaller parts.
never thought about that, thanks for a legit answer and not restating what i said about people will pay regardless.
Yeah, it's probably only part of the answer too though. I would imagine with the demand for iPhones it allows them to keep the price higher too.
for sure. and the fact that most people subsidize them, id bet a big part of the of the price is due to the carriers trying to make a pretty penny
The relative prices do seem a bit odd, but your point makes perfect sense. I an additional reason may be the cost of licensing all the patents involved in mobile phone calling and messaging.
On a side note, your reason is part of my hope that Retina Macs will appear sooner rather than later. A Retina Mac may need far more pixels, but they will be at a lower density, hopefully helping improve the ease of manufacture and reduce the cost.