Thankfully I'm perfectly happy with my XS Max. I think it has been very clear that phone money is money better spent on less disposable products and/or saved.
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Over The Last 14 Years, iPhone Prices Have Gone Up More Than 80%
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My first iPhone was the 3GS — what an experience getting and using that first iPhone! My significant other at the time felt very ignored those first couple weeks.
Here's the thing, for the first several years, these phones were generally subsidized by carriers. So I got a new iPhone for $200 (I took advantage of that for the 5 and 5S). Yes, it came with plan costs. But the last time I did the math a few years ago, I don't believe the purported "savings" that carriers advertised when they eliminated subsidies have really materialized.
On that margin, an 80% cost increase feels understated.
Here's the thing, for the first several years, these phones were generally subsidized by carriers. So I got a new iPhone for $200 (I took advantage of that for the 5 and 5S). Yes, it came with plan costs. But the last time I did the math a few years ago, I don't believe the purported "savings" that carriers advertised when they eliminated subsidies have really materialized.
On that margin, an 80% cost increase feels understated.
I always click on the original links. By using the 80% number lumping in the whole world is disingenuous. Ultimately purchase power of the local currency as well as supply and demand drive the costs. Something is only overpriced if the price results in decreased sales.
Many of these countries have had a marked growth in the middle class driving demand. Local factors including inflation, COL, tariffs also play a factor.
Macrumors is a U.S. based site, so the perspective will always skew that way. The headline should have been the U.S. price had increased 60%, with the world average 81%.
Only they aren't comparing 200 dollars to 1300 dollars. They don't calculate subsidies at all. They're calculating the new retail price. If you compare the current prices to the subsidized price in 2007, the increase is even greater.
A grand in 2021 isn't a grand in 2007. The original iPhone was $599 on TOP of a 2 year contract with a 3.5" 163 PPI screen, 8 GB of storage, 2 MP camera, 128 MB or RAM It had no GPS
The iPhone in 2007 is a cheaply made toy compared to the iPhone 13 Pro in every respect. Fit & finish, workmanship, technology, durability, versatility. You can presently buy an iPhone 13 Pro for $899 from a nationwide big box electronics retailer with no contract commitment if you google for about 10 seconds.
That's a $300 price increase in 14 years Adjusted for inflation that's about $100 difference. The camera and being basically waterproof and not made like a plastic play toy alone makes up for the Benjamin.
Then add in the long long list of features added between the original iPhone and the 13 Pro and well, it's actually cheaper for what you get, IMHO.
Car makers used to charge hundreds for power windows and remote start, and now it's just assumed you get it. Sure, cars cost more, but they're absolutely better than they used to be.
I have a 1999 classic convertible muscle car with less than 50,000 miles on it. While I enjoy driving it, I would never drive it day to day or on a long trip. Heck, I won't even drive it down the beach. It's a PITA compared to my 2020 vehicle, or my wife's 2021. I can't even plug an MP3 player into it!
No one, and I mean NO ONE would say they would rather pay $599 for the original iPhone today than $899 for an iPhone 13 Pro.
And if you say you would, you're full of dog excrement.
The iPhone in 2007 is a cheaply made toy compared to the iPhone 13 Pro in every respect. Fit & finish, workmanship, technology, durability, versatility. You can presently buy an iPhone 13 Pro for $899 from a nationwide big box electronics retailer with no contract commitment if you google for about 10 seconds.
That's a $300 price increase in 14 years Adjusted for inflation that's about $100 difference. The camera and being basically waterproof and not made like a plastic play toy alone makes up for the Benjamin.
Then add in the long long list of features added between the original iPhone and the 13 Pro and well, it's actually cheaper for what you get, IMHO.
Car makers used to charge hundreds for power windows and remote start, and now it's just assumed you get it. Sure, cars cost more, but they're absolutely better than they used to be.
I have a 1999 classic convertible muscle car with less than 50,000 miles on it. While I enjoy driving it, I would never drive it day to day or on a long trip. Heck, I won't even drive it down the beach. It's a PITA compared to my 2020 vehicle, or my wife's 2021. I can't even plug an MP3 player into it!
No one, and I mean NO ONE would say they would rather pay $599 for the original iPhone today than $899 for an iPhone 13 Pro.
And if you say you would, you're full of dog excrement.
A LOT of this is going to be true inflation related, and at least as international markets are concerned a lot is going to be currency exchange rate related. While the currency exchange of the USD with say the Euro, CAD, JPY, WEAKENED by at least 20% from 2007 through 2011, companies are often loath to raise prices or adjust prices in real time. But, apple certainly looks at lasting currency exchange weakness to the USD and makes ANNUAL adjustments to price when it goes the other way. prices then go Usually UP.
At the retail level, prices for many goods rarely ever FALL, certainly not much. Even with a strong move in currency valuation. At most, a country can hope for retail price stability - even not adjusting for inflation and then a company will certainly take the opportunity during a new product launch to make a reasonable adjustment up in prices.
So, in the end, I do NOT find an overall 80% increase in average retail price surprising at all especially for the international markets where apple sells the phones.
At the retail level, prices for many goods rarely ever FALL, certainly not much. Even with a strong move in currency valuation. At most, a country can hope for retail price stability - even not adjusting for inflation and then a company will certainly take the opportunity during a new product launch to make a reasonable adjustment up in prices.
So, in the end, I do NOT find an overall 80% increase in average retail price surprising at all especially for the international markets where apple sells the phones.
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Yeah, but the original iPhone represented peak technology at the time. Now that is represented by the Pro models, which are quite a bit pricier than $699. The regular 13's are watered down. That said, I don't think iPhone prices are all that crazy or anything.
Yeah, but if you compare the laptops of 1995 to those of today, you'll see the general rule of thumb is that technology improves and becomes less expensive. This isn't the case with iPhones or smartphones in general. They've improved (as you would expect), but they've actually become MORE expensive.
Not really. You can buy a smartphone or iPhone today that has improved a lot and is still much cheaper.
Highend laptops are still very expensive too.
There are some questions that I have from this report.
1) Did they compare the "PRE-TAX" Retail pricing of the phones? in the United States Sales Taxes are applied at transactions and are not part of the advertised prices. However in some countries their Sales, GST or VAT taxes are incorporated into the advertised price, so if the country/municipality raises the tax rate, the phone's advertised price goes up.
2) When announced, the iPhone's low advertised price was due to a two-year carrier contract and carrier subsidy. Phones are no-longer subsidized in that sense in the modern era. Did they use the Non-Carrier price in the comparison of the iPhone?
For example as noted in
by Apple Insider.
The iPhone Upfront Cost was $500, then you had the Carrier's Subsidy Recoupment fee of $20 a month for the 24 month contract (total $480), so you actually ended up paying $980 for the phone. The $500 was just the downpayment.
1) Did they compare the "PRE-TAX" Retail pricing of the phones? in the United States Sales Taxes are applied at transactions and are not part of the advertised prices. However in some countries their Sales, GST or VAT taxes are incorporated into the advertised price, so if the country/municipality raises the tax rate, the phone's advertised price goes up.
2) When announced, the iPhone's low advertised price was due to a two-year carrier contract and carrier subsidy. Phones are no-longer subsidized in that sense in the modern era. Did they use the Non-Carrier price in the comparison of the iPhone?
For example as noted in
The iPhone Upfront Cost was $500, then you had the Carrier's Subsidy Recoupment fee of $20 a month for the 24 month contract (total $480), so you actually ended up paying $980 for the phone. The $500 was just the downpayment.
You should look at the prices of average and high-end laptops in 1995. The higher end ones ran up to 4 or 5 thousand dollars.
Edit: and the cheaper laptops at the time were 2k.
That's a bingo.
Carrier subsidies went away, and then Tim Cook also drove up the prices.
And remember last year when they raised the price, removed the charger and cable, then claimed it was because they were out to save the environment? No more headphones included either, cheaper (more eco simping) packaging too. Apple has removed every last accessory out of the iPhone box, and monetized every little bundled nicety to death.
Combined with Apple's vastly increased volume manufacturing margins, the actual consumer value of iPhone gets worse. Also if considering the massive and reprehensible eco scam Apple is running both with renewable energy charades, and supposed eco friendly material suppliers, Apple is extracting increasingly more value away from the iPhone to customer transaction.
I think the 256GB XS for my wife cost me... $1700 CAD after tax.
My wife got me a 128GB iPhone 7 three months prior for I think about the $1300 CAD mark.
I think the 13 Pro, 256GB is around $1700CAD after tax still, so with inflation and FX changes, likely still fairly close, but for something its size... yeah, its a lot of money.
My wife got me a 128GB iPhone 7 three months prior for I think about the $1300 CAD mark.
I think the 13 Pro, 256GB is around $1700CAD after tax still, so with inflation and FX changes, likely still fairly close, but for something its size... yeah, its a lot of money.
OMG, you made me think of laptops in 1995. They were rubbish. I had one..
In 2007, it was embarrassing to pay for a phone - let alone $600 for the original iPhone - when every carrier offered "free" phones bundled with their 2-yr plans. I remember getting my launch-day device, setting it up at home (which was also a completely new user experience), and then heading over to a friend's "going away" party. He had family there ranging from infants to seniors. Sensitive to the stigma associated with the price tag, being a young(er) professional, fairly broke (but knew the device was coming and saved for a while) and not one for attention (at all), I was a bit shy about pulling the phone out. Had no plans to do so. The host of the party, a tech-forward friend, enthusiastically asked me "so, did you get the phone?!?" I said "yeah." He asked me "well let me see it!!" I reluctantly pulled out the phone and in what seemed like seconds, a small crowd had gathered around (again, not my comfort zone). But what struck me that night, was how intuitive the device and UI was. That anyone from small children to grandmas could actually use and navigate the device with zero instruction. It was at that moment, I confirmed: things had changed. Forever. [QUICK SIDE STEP] And its one of the reasons I struggle a bit with the evolution of iOS. Sure, I understand the necessary role that skeuomorphism played in training an audience to a new paradigm - just like training wheels. But I always felt it had to evolve at some point. I mean, what it meant to "take notes" was no longer bound to a pen/pencil and a legal pad of paper. The platform opened things up to new ways of thinking. And while there are instances where that interpretation has been effective and exciting, there are many instances where it has led to a less intuitive user experience. For the most part, I think Apple has done a good job evolving things, especially at the scale they are thinking/working/delivering - that fact alone is nearly impossible to wrap my little brain around. Any tweak you make has to work for new-to-the-ecosystem users as well as vets. That is practicality a mission impossible scenario. That said, today, there are too many hidden actions, swipes, UI inconsistencies that have made for a steeper learning curve that at any point in the experience. Again, not sure there is, or has been, any way around that - all things considered.
Anyway... Fast-forward to 2021, and $1,000 seems on par with the $600 of 14 years ago. Not that I like that, but seems on par.
Anyway... Fast-forward to 2021, and $1,000 seems on par with the $600 of 14 years ago. Not that I like that, but seems on par.
compare the tech of the original iPhone and what's IN a current one. added expense? Yes. Now compare a car from 2007, the tech in the car and the price now. This research is obtuse with a purpose I'm afraid.