Apple Products Could See 'Noticeable' Price Rises Amid Increased Chip Costs

[bobcomer]

1) Delayed (and may never see the light of day)

I hope so, though I'm a bit more pessimistic.

It should be a meaningful upgrade for people using an iPhone 11 or earlier.

Maybe, the battery is starting to go, but faster and better camera, not so much. Get rid of the on device CSAM, add touch ID on the power button, hole punch camera instead of the notch, and I'd be back to buying Apple stuff.

 

[MacBH928]

1) Delayed (and may never see the light of day)

2) People said the same thing with the iPhone 12 last year. Suffice to say, not everyone has been impacted equally by Covid, many are still gainfully employed and can afford to upgrade.

3) Compared to? It should be a meaningful upgrade for people using an iPhone 11 or earlier.

4) Since when has high prices impacted sales of Apple products?

The companies doing so (like Oneplus) can’t sustain this indefinitely. Flagship phones cost more for the simple reason that they cost more to design, make and support.

There’s no conspiracy here. You get what you pay for at the end of the day.

1-Doesn't matter, the circle of trust has been broken, no need to remind you for the Siri listening sessions

2-You might be correct, but I think COVID has been going on for a long time now we might see even higher impact plus all people upgraded like crazy last year so they might wait a while.

3-Overall we have been seeing marginal upgrades in iphone, no super jumps. If you give it a 3-4 years maybe its worth it yes.

4-Since they were sane and now they rise year after year. Apple was always the more expensive company but things have a limit. You release a $500 , ok. then make it $600 ok, then $800 maybe... but hitting $1200 there is a limit to where people will keep buying.

5-A flagship phone for $500 obviously I didn't mean all the bell and whistles in the PRO MAX. I meant a product that is a main seller - not a side model- for the company. No need for the FACE-ID , pro-motion, 3 lense, 5g, LiDAR, AR,... it could shave a real big number off the cost price.

 

[subi257]

I was referring to the MacBook Pro. I've purchased at least a few MBP at the $2,400 mark across a few years without upgrades.

I just purchased 5 MBP's for coworkers at $5700.00 each

 

[Abazigal]

1-Doesn't matter, the circle of trust has been broken, no need to remind you for the Siri listening sessions

Broken for whom? Apple still has my trust in this regard (I wasn’t against CSAM scanning in the manner proposed by Apple), and this news doesn’t seem to be mainstream knowledge. So a lot of the outrage (and potential fallout) appears to be largely confined to forums like this.

2-You might be correct, but I think COVID has been going on for a long time now we might see even higher impact plus all people upgraded like crazy last year so they might wait a while.

Not all.

Apple recently exceeded the 1 billion user install base. This means that even despite all the people upgrading last year, there still remains a lot of people on older devices who are prime targets for upgrades.

Apple has also been releasing a number of initiatives designed to make iPhones more affordable. There’s the trade-in programme, there’s instalment plans, even talk of buy-now-pay-later schemes.

I believe they will all come together for yet another solid year of iphone sales.

3-Overall we have been seeing marginal upgrades in iphone, no super jumps. If you give it a 3-4 years maybe its worth it yes.

And while more people are opting to hold on to their iPhones longer, we also have more people owning iPhones, so a smaller percentage of upgraders each year multiplied by a larger base can still result in a larger number of people in absolute terms.

4-Since they were sane and now they rise year after year. Apple was always the more expensive company but things have a limit. You release a $500 , ok. then make it $600 ok, then $800 maybe... but hitting $1200 there is a limit to where people will keep buying.

I guess that’s the difference between price and value.

Apple products have never been cheap, but for me at least, I continue to buy them because while they do cost more upfront, my experience has been that they more than pay for themselves in the form of fewer problems and greater productivity overall.

Is there a limit? Possibly, but I haven’t hit that limit yet.

And even then, Apple doesn’t need people to keep buying iPhones, they just need people to keep using iPhones. There’s still plenty of ways to continue earning from iphone users, from accessories to subscriptions to app sales.

So I will say Apple seems to have it all worked out.

5-A flagship phone for $500 obviously I didn't mean all the bell and whistles in the PRO MAX. I meant a product that is a main seller - not a side model- for the company. No need for the FACE-ID , pro-motion, 3 lense, 5g, LiDAR, AR,... it could shave a real big number off the cost price.

Apple released the iPhone 5c once upon a time. It didn’t sell.

I think that this experience has shown Apple is that people don’t just want iPhones, they want the best, and more importantly, are willing to pay for the best (or pay for a model that was once considered the best).

That’s why we see Apple continuing to sell older iphone models at a discount, rather than releasing a budget iphone model. People don’t want to be seen carrying an iphone model that telegraphs to everyone else that it’s the “cheap” model. Even an older iphone (like the iPhone X or 11) can tell people that you had the best iphone at one point, and that’s enough.

So where I see Apple going with this is that their top of the line iPhones are what they know the majority (say ~70%) of their user base wants, then they have cheaper variants to cater to the edge cases.

By maintaining a premium pricing strategy, Apple positions the iPhone as an aspirational product to which consumers gradually move into Apple’s target market as they move up the socioeconomic ladder.

 

[jdsingle]

Broken for whom? Apple still has my trust in this regard (I wasn’t against CSAM scanning in the manner proposed by Apple), and this news doesn’t seem to be mainstream knowledge. So a lot of the outrage (and potential fallout) appears to be largely confined to forums like this.



Not all.

Apple recently exceeded the 1 billion user install base. This means that even despite all the people upgrading last year, there still remains a lot of people on older devices who are prime targets for upgrades.

Apple has also been releasing a number of initiatives designed to make iPhones more affordable. There’s the trade-in programme, there’s instalment plans, even talk of buy-now-pay-later schemes.

I believe they will all come together for yet another solid year of iphone sales.



And while more people are opting to hold on to their iPhones longer, we also have more people owning iPhones, so a smaller percentage of upgraders each year multiplied by a larger base can still result in a larger number of people in absolute terms.



I guess that’s the difference between price and value.

Apple products have never been cheap, but for me at least, I continue to buy them because while they do cost more upfront, my experience has been that they more than pay for themselves in the form of fewer problems and greater productivity overall.

Is there a limit? Possibly, but I haven’t hit that limit yet.

And even then, Apple doesn’t need people to keep buying iPhones, they just need people to keep using iPhones. There’s still plenty of ways to continue earning from iphone users, from accessories to subscriptions to app sales.

So I will say Apple seems to have it all worked out.



Apple released the iPhone 5c once upon a time. It didn’t sell.

I think that this experience has shown Apple is that people don’t just want iPhones, they want the best, and more importantly, are willing to pay for the best (or pay for a model that was once considered the best).

That’s why we see Apple continuing to sell older iphone models at a discount, rather than releasing a budget iphone model. People don’t want to be seen carrying an iphone model that telegraphs to everyone else that it’s the “cheap” model. Even an older iphone (like the iPhone X or 11) can tell people that you had the best iphone at one point, and that’s enough.

So where I see Apple going with this is that their top of the line iPhones are what they know the majority (say ~70%) of their user base wants, then they have cheaper variants to cater to the edge cases.

By maintaining a premium pricing strategy, Apple positions the iPhone as an aspirational product to which consumers gradually move into Apple’s target market as they move up the socioeconomic ladder.

This was well written and thought out.

 

[rukia]

Looks like TSMC will increase prices by 2%, 5%, and 20% for Apple, AMD, everyone else respectively. So as mentioned previously BOM cost won’t be the driver of Apple MSRP changes.

 

[MacBH928]

Broken for whom? Apple still has my trust in this regard (I wasn’t against CSAM scanning in the manner proposed by Apple), and this news doesn’t seem to be mainstream knowledge. So a lot of the outrage (and potential fallout) appears to be largely confined to forums like this.



Not all.

Apple recently exceeded the 1 billion user install base. This means that even despite all the people upgrading last year, there still remains a lot of people on older devices who are prime targets for upgrades.

Apple has also been releasing a number of initiatives designed to make iPhones more affordable. There’s the trade-in programme, there’s instalment plans, even talk of buy-now-pay-later schemes.

I believe they will all come together for yet another solid year of iphone sales.



And while more people are opting to hold on to their iPhones longer, we also have more people owning iPhones, so a smaller percentage of upgraders each year multiplied by a larger base can still result in a larger number of people in absolute terms.



I guess that’s the difference between price and value.

Apple products have never been cheap, but for me at least, I continue to buy them because while they do cost more upfront, my experience has been that they more than pay for themselves in the form of fewer problems and greater productivity overall.

Is there a limit? Possibly, but I haven’t hit that limit yet.

And even then, Apple doesn’t need people to keep buying iPhones, they just need people to keep using iPhones. There’s still plenty of ways to continue earning from iphone users, from accessories to subscriptions to app sales.

So I will say Apple seems to have it all worked out.



Apple released the iPhone 5c once upon a time. It didn’t sell.

I think that this experience has shown Apple is that people don’t just want iPhones, they want the best, and more importantly, are willing to pay for the best (or pay for a model that was once considered the best).

That’s why we see Apple continuing to sell older iphone models at a discount, rather than releasing a budget iphone model. People don’t want to be seen carrying an iphone model that telegraphs to everyone else that it’s the “cheap” model. Even an older iphone (like the iPhone X or 11) can tell people that you had the best iphone at one point, and that’s enough.

So where I see Apple going with this is that their top of the line iPhones are what they know the majority (say ~70%) of their user base wants, then they have cheaper variants to cater to the edge cases.

By maintaining a premium pricing strategy, Apple positions the iPhone as an aspirational product to which consumers gradually move into Apple’s target market as they move up the socioeconomic ladder.

1-We will have to wait and see it might not break Apple but I still think their CSAM idea will shift some people away from Apple. I know it will shift me. You can continue to trust them. Some people trust FB. To each his own.

4-There is value in it for you. Some people find value in a $50K truck because they make $300K off it each year. I think for many people out there would rather do installments of of $25 over 2 years than $50 for an iphone. Remember this is a per person thing not per house hold. So family of 5 installment to apple would be closer to $250/m for their iphones.

5-the 5c was released in different times and today might be different times. I tried to understand people behaviour before in economics and I failed. No one can predict people. So yes, what you say that someone is willing to buy a 4 year old phone for a cheaper price than this year's lower tier model might be the norm. personally I find it idiotic since usually the mid/lower-tier is better than the best from 2-3 years ago. Maybe Apple's 5c today is the iPhone X.

But this drag us to another talk when people don't want to be seen in a "lesser" iphone, but I can clearly see your car, home , clothing, and your job...so who are you fooling?!

I think we have to test the market where a company would release a high end phone but without the luxurious bells and whistles like 4 cameras and 120Mhz display and see how the consumer behaves.