iPhone 8 Predicted to Cost $999 For 128GB And $1,099 For 256GB, With No 32GB Model

[HobeSoundDarryl]

For younger people, it's more than just a mobile device. It's something they use for literally 4+ hours a day, every day. It's their camera, communicator, computer, audio and video consumer, banking & wallet, social life and basically everything else.

Maybe but who pays for it? If Mommy & Daddy decide this price is too high and buys Junior or Junette some other brand of smart phone for substantially less, can Junior still take pictures, communicate, compute, consume media, bank & buy, socialize and basically everything else? Why yes... yes they can. Can they do that for 4+ hours a day, every day on other company phones? Why yes... yes they can.

That's an issue here. It's not a question of whether or not a phone can be deemed essential (though I personally might think there is plenty of debate in that question too). The question is: does this rumored price- if it pans out- prove to be "the straw" for the masses (that are not raging fans that would roll over and pay anything)? There are more choices than just iPhone 8 or bust. We can beat down anything that is NOT an iPhone all we want but those other phones will do much of what iPhones do (some have added features iPhone can't yet do). Mommy & Daddy might decide the kiddies should have a different brand of phone, where they might be able to get 2 or 3 for the kiddies for $1000.

And yes, some of the kiddies may whine about it. But given the choice of free phone vs. no phone vs. getting a job and paying for their own phone, which will most of the kiddies choose?

 

[NT1440]

Maybe but who pays for it? If Mommy & Daddy decide this price is too high and buys Junior or Junette some other brand of smart phone for substantially less, can Junior still take pictures, communicate, compute, consume media, bank & buy, socialize and basically everything else? Why yes... yes they can.

That's an issue here. It's not a question of whether or not a phone can be deemed essential (though I personally might think there is plenty of debate in that question too). The question is: does this rumored price- if it pans out- prove to be "the straw" for the masses that are not raging fans that would roll over and pay anything? There are more choices than just iPhone 8 or bust. We can beat down anything that is NOT an iPhone all we want but those other phones will do much of what iPhones do (some have added features iPhone can't yet do). Mommy & Daddy might decide the kiddies should have a different brand of phone, where they might be able to get 2 or 3 for the kiddies for $1000.

And yes, some of the kiddies may whine about it. But given the choice of free phone vs. no phone vs. getting a job and paying for their own phone, which will most of the kiddies choose?

And stay off my lawn while you're at it!

 

[Smartass]

Of course it will still sell, but not in the numbers the iPhone 6 enjoyed. $999/£800 is obscene.

Samsung Galaxy S8 has the same price and its selling in record numbers... So why wouldnt Apple in the same price range?

 

[sracer]

For anyone predicting that sales will drop at these rumored price points:

What did you predict sales would be when Apple removed the headphone jack? What actually happened to iPhone sales?

 

[lazard]

Samsung Galaxy S8 has the same price and its selling in record numbers... So why wouldnt Apple in the same price range?

$720 vs $999 is a big difference.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

The reason why Apple can do this today is because no one, except the handful of suckers who buy unlocked at full retail and think they are beating the system, will see it as $1000. It is $49/mon for 12 months, then trade up and continue.

Poor guy doesn't math very well.

 

[curtvaughan]

For anyone predicting that sales will drop at these rumored price points:

What did you predict sales would be when Apple removed the headphone jack? What actually happened to iPhone sales?

Good question - did they sell enough of the 7/7+ phones to make up for folks like myself who won't buy a jackless smart phone? They most certainly lost my business because of that decision in conjunction with increased prices, but I'm only one person who likes nice quality headphones. Apple chose to push me out of the loop with their phones and laptops this last year. I still have a three year old iMac that will need to be replaced this next year, as it has become too slow with its old 5400rpm HDD, and its form factor - being quite thin for a desktop - lends to overheating and excessive fan noise. If those things change in the upcoming model, and for a reasonable price point, I'll buy a new iMac; otherwise, like with my laptops, I'll buy a nice desktop PC with SSD and i7 quality chip and put Linux on it. I hope that won't be necessary, as my wife will not be a happy camper. As to the phone, I simply want a headphone/speaker jack that I can use even while charging the phone.

 

[TurboPGT!]

news flash for you, your paying full price for the phone no matter how you end up with it. Monthly or upfront

Newsflash for you: $49 * 12 mons = $588. You have to keep it for the full 20 months in order to "pay it off", which is exactly what most us are NOT doing.
[doublepost=1494860254][/doublepost]

You are beating the system if you buy up-front. you just have to know how to do it.

In no way shape or form are you beating anything by doing that. Maybe 10 years ago. Not today.
[doublepost=1494860324][/doublepost]

Not beating the system. Some don't like debt and/or would just rather pay the phone rather than paying apple or a carrier every month.

Not a realistic reason when there are more Pros than Cons of buying on an upgrade program.
[doublepost=1494860385][/doublepost]

You can generalize all you want, but where I live, the only contract I can get to subsidize a phone would raise my bill at least $40/mo and cuts my data in half. That price increase would offset the subsidy in 15 months... and the contract is for 24. And I'd be stuck with a more expensive/lower service plan forever more.

I wish there was a better option, and I'd always gotten phones on contract before, but plans around here have gotten truly awful.

I don't where "here" is for you, but what you describe is what the US was like 10 years ago. The options today make buying outright up front the least sensible thing to do.

 

[nightcap965]

For younger people, it's more than just a mobile device. It's something they use for literally 4+ hours a day, every day. It's their camera, communicator, computer, audio and video consumer, banking & wallet, social life and basically everything else.

Younger people? I'm an old fart, and I'm never parted from my iPhone. it's my auxiliary brain.

If I recall correctly, my iPhone 6 Plus cost $950 in 2014. So $999 for the iPhone 8 is neither surprising nor outrageous.

 

[TurboPGT!]

So if I plan on keeping my iPhone 7 Plus for 3-4 years, how exactly is my paying full retail considered being a sucker? (Actually got a nice discount on it through Best Buy but that's neither here nor there.)

1) Why would you plan on keeping it for 3-4 years? How does that benefit you? Moreover, how do you even know that you'll still feel that way in a year?
2) Even if you do have such a "plan"...what are you losing by paying that same amount over 20 months while keeping your options open? Absolutely nothing, is the answer.
3) Did you know that with most carriers your monthly device fee is on average $15/mon cheaper if you are on an installment plan? So I guess you can not only afford to drop $1000 on a phone you may want to sell in a year, but you can forgo $15/mon savings on already overpriced cell service? Yeah, you really beat the man on that one.
[doublepost=1494860602][/doublepost]

They do not THINK they beat the system..... they DO BEAT the system.
I would argue that suckers are the ones who think they are not paying the full amount just because they are paying monthly. Do your math and you will find they will end up paying more. Actually much more. It is a trick that network carriers have been using for over a decade and it does work.

WTF are you talking about? When was the last time you did the math? It hasn't made sense to buy full retail in years.

 

[curtvaughan]

Perhaps with sufficient price increases, iPhones will have to compete for an exclusive market targeted by companies like this:

https://www.kickmobiles.com/SilentC...edition.html?gclid=CP-dwp-Q8tMCFdGFswodoCkEbw

There are people who actually are willing to pay for stuff like this. I guess the closest Apple got to that price point was with this watch:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/expensive-apple-watch-costs-114-995-article-1.2154271

 

[TurboPGT!]

And if someone doesn't want a new phone every year, what do they do then? Buying up front and sim-less does a few things. First, your plan is cheaper. Second, you can jump from one carrier to another. Third, you can choose to skip a month if you don't have the money because an emergency came up. Fourth, your credit is not on the line if you miss a payment.

Freedom is always better.

1) No, you are simply misinformed. Buying upfront ensures you will pay more per month than anyone for service. Carriers lower monthly device fees from avg. $40/mon to $15/mon for users on installment plans. Completely and totally false notion you are propagating.

2) Who wants to switch carriers all the time? That isn't a benefit.

3) This is totally illogical. Installments are $30-50 depending on the phone. If you're that strapped you shouldn't have spent $1000 on phone in one day either, eh?

4) Responsible credit activity is a positive force and people should seek it wherever possible.
[doublepost=1494860820][/doublepost]

I buy my devices unlocked at full retail. I am not beating any system, there is just no real difference so I go for what is most useful for me. At most I can save £50 over the lifetime of a contract by paying 3 times as much a month, but that also locks me to that carrier for 12-24 months instead of 30 days. The suckers are those who think they are not paying full or nearly full list price because they do not add up their monthly bill, or are not offered lower monthly bills if no handset is included.

Again, you obviously haven't run the numbers in the last several years. None of what you say has been true for a long time now.
[doublepost=1494860852][/doublepost]

How are we suckers? My iPhone 6 Plus cost me less per month to pay off the initial retail price than any contract and now only costs me £10 a month for my pay as you go deal, with unlimited texts and vastly more data and phone usage than I use. I can always sell it and "trade up" any time I want too, and still be paying FAR less than any contract.

None of this has been true for the last several years.

 

[lazard]

Younger people? I'm an old fart, and I'm never parted from my iPhone. it's my auxiliary brain.

If I recall correctly, my iPhone 6 Plus cost $950 in 2014. So $999 for the iPhone 8 is neither surprising nor outrageous.

Not sure why you're comparing the 6 plus cost to the 8 cost. If comparing apples to apples its most likely $950 vs $1,099 for 8 plus base model.

 

[TurboPGT!]

Why are they suckers? You also pay 600 dollars after 12 months and 1200 dollars after 24.
So whats the point? "Out of sight, out of mind"?

Actually we pay about 1/2 the cost of the phone over 12 months, then get a brand new model. Oh, and we pay less per month than you do for the plan itself, since carriers incentivize it.
[doublepost=1494861023][/doublepost]

Actually, if I buy it outright and keep it for 21 months and beyond, I come out ahead relative to those who rent it and always have a phone payment. Plus mine will have residual value I can get back. Oh and I don't incur an activation fee as a pre-paid customer.

Might want to rethink that sucker mentality.

No need to rethink, the numbers don't lie. As I expected, all of the triggered unlock lovers haven't run the numbers themselves in the last few years. You cannot possibly come out "ahead" in any sense of the word by buying unlocked.
[doublepost=1494861065][/doublepost]

Poor guy doesn't math very well.

Actually it looks like the unlockers that haven't done math in years. They think this is still 2009.

 

[sracer]

The options today make buying outright up front the least sensible thing to do.

Apple and the carriers want you to believe that. And you are free to do so. They also have perpetuated the stigma against no-contract/prepaid plans as being for those people who are poor or with bad credit.

I've saved thousands of dollars in my household by buying phones outright and upfront and going with no contract plans. Great phones, great service, and greater flexibility.

 

[BlueGummiBear]

At this rate, the iPhone 20 will cost more than a small automobile. Seems reasonable.

 

[TurboPGT!]

Apple and the carriers want you to believe that. And you are free to do so. They also have perpetuated the stigma against no-contract/prepaid plans as being for those people who are poor or with bad credit.

I've saved thousands of dollars in my household by buying phones outright and upfront and going with no contract plans. Great phones, great service, and greater flexibility.

I'm sorry but no, you haven't "saved" anything. This is the same old tired logic that people who can't understand the plans seem to believe, and think - "eh...eh....too much math....I'll just buy it. Somehow I win if I just buy it".

Yeah. I bet you buy cars too. Single worst investment on the face of the planet.

 

[sracer]

I'm sorry but no, you haven't "saved" anything. This is the same old tired logic that people who can't understand the plans seem to believe, and think - "eh...eh....too much math....I'll just buy it. Somehow I win if I just buy it".

Yeah. I bet you buy cars too. Single worst investment on the face of the planet.

Like I said, you are free to believe that "leasing" a phone for 12 months is a better deal than a straight out purchase of one. I have no desire to convince you otherwise, because basic elementary school math would show that leasing that phone is not a good financial decision.

 

[lazard]

Like I said, you are free to believe that "leasing" a phone for 12 months is a better deal than a straight out purchase of one. I have no desire to convince you otherwise, because basic elementary school math would show that leasing that phone is not a good financial decision. View attachment 699783

The only leasing option that I think is worth it is T-Mobile's JoD...assuming you use at least 2 jumps...but then again that's not an option for iPhone users.

 

[btrach144]

That's a lot of cash.

 

[Dozer_Zaibatsu]

Get ready for the backlash from people sick of Apple pandering to only the wealthy and elite. I myself am buying my first PC this weekend, I can't afford Apple anymore (especially for what they offer now: form > function) and am happy to finally downgrade. I feel we're reaching a tipping point with Apple.

I only disagree that buying a PC is necessarily a "downgrade." MacOS is really good. And things like the Magic Trackpad are the best in the field. If you need Logic or Final Cut, obviously it wouldn't be an option to use anything but a Mac, but you know that.

But Windows isn't the blue-screeney mess it once was. They halted the pranks like forcing users to use Windows 8. I think W10 is on the best trajectory MSoft could have taken from where they were. Point for Nadella.**

There are plenty of PCs that will let you do more, better, than equivalently priced Macs. Sorry to say.

**I still get BSODs on Windows of course. I still get kernel panics on Macs, too.

 

[Jimmy James]

The reason why Apple can do this today is because no one, except the handful of suckers who buy unlocked at full retail and think they are beating the system, will see it as $1000. It is $49/mon for 12 months, then trade up and continue.

$588 per year sounds worse than $1,000 outright.

I'm going on 3 years on my current phone, at which point I would have paid $1,764 for hardware. And counting...

 

[racersimage]

Actually we pay about 1/2 the cost of the phone over 12 months, then get a brand new model. Oh, and we pay less per month than you do for the plan itself, since carriers incentivize it.
[doublepost=1494861023][/doublepost]
No need to rethink, the numbers don't lie. As I expected, all of the triggered unlock lovers haven't run the numbers themselves in the last few years. You cannot possibly come out "ahead" in any sense of the word by buying unlocked.
[doublepost=1494861065][/doublepost]
Actually it looks like the unlockers that haven't done math in years. They think this is still 2009.

So you rent your phone for half the price of buying it? What happens to that phone when you get a new one before paying it off? Do you get to sell it or does the carrier get it back? I'm genuinely curious because I buy my iPhones outright so that I can sell them when I get a new one for roughly 75% of what I purchased it for.

I don't see the appeal of paying 50% of the total cost of the phone and not getting anything back out of it when I want to switch to a new one after a year if I choose to.

My plan is the same either way with AT&T. I'm paying the plan cost +$20 per line whether I am paying on a phone or not.

 

[OneMike]

Not a realistic reason when there are more Pros than Cons of buying on an upgrade program.

It's a very realistic reason. Some don't like debt, it's simple as that. The only pro of an upgrade program goes towards whatever company is offering the upgrade as it's users are more likely to keep sending them money and remain locked in a never ending contract cycle.

At the end of the day do what makes you happy.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

Actually we pay about 1/2 the cost of the phone over 12 months, then get a brand new model. Oh, and we pay less per month than you do for the plan itself, since carriers incentivize it.
[doublepost=1494861023][/doublepost]
No need to rethink, the numbers don't lie. As I expected, all of the triggered unlock lovers haven't run the numbers themselves in the last few years. You cannot possibly come out "ahead" in any sense of the word by buying unlocked.
[doublepost=1494861065][/doublepost]
Actually it looks like the unlockers that haven't done math in years. They think this is still 2009.

Unlocked iPhone $649.
iPhone Upgrade Program - $32.41/month - $388.92/year

At the end of 12 months, you trade in your iPhone, get nothing, and keep paying $32.41/month. So now you're up to $777.84 after two years.

When you own the phone, you sell it after 12 months for $400+, buy another one for $650, and sell it at the end of the 12 months again for another $400+.

So I have paid $500 (probably less) for 2 years of having the newest phone. You have paid $274 more than me.

How are you coming out ahead? How could you possibly think that an upgrade plan would be a better deal financially? You know the companies offer those programs to make money, right?