Tim Cook on iPhone Prices: 'We Want to Serve Everyone'

[sw1tcher]

Harder for Tim Cook to get another $120 million bonus if Apple were to continue selling low priced iPhones like the iPhone SE which had features similar to the at-the-time flagship iPhone 6s or by including a Lightning to 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter with the new iPhones.

 

[w5jck]

Wow, such misguided fanboy crap. I've never understood the whole fanboy and hateboy mentality. It makes no sense to be loyal to any company since they will never be loyal to you. Apple is a company, it is all about making money, as much money as it can, and any loyalties Apple has will be toward its stock owners, not towards its fanboys. No company is ever loyal to their fans. If they are, they won't last long. If you like a company's products then buy them, but don't run up to them like a little puppy in love wagging your tail in a shameless, obedient, compliant manner. Buy the products you like, don't buy the ones you don't like, and complain when prices are too high or the products or not advanced enough. But seriously, don't be a fanboy and then get upset when they treat you like a common customer. Customers are no more than people with money when it comes to how companies think of them. If you are really upset with the new lineup of iThingies then show it by not buying them. That is what drives a company's marketing decisions. They are driven by which products sell well and make the most profit. They are not driven by your misguided loyalty to them.

For me it is less about loyalty and more about which company is less repulsive and treats me a little less terribly than the others. Apple seems to be better in the protecting my security area than Microsoft, Google, and the others, so I go with their products more often than not. I'm not loyal, I'm not a fan, I'm just selecting the least evil of the evil companies to deal with. You don't become a trillion dollar company by being loyal to fanboys. You become a trillion dollar company by putting profits first and foremost.

 

[macduke]

In this day and age 64GB should not be an option. This pricing model is nothing but self serving.

Hasn't it only been a couple years since they started the iPad at 16GB?

 

[kis]

Serve everyone in the US maybe , the "budget" Xr costs $1000 USD in Europe and dont get me started with the Xs Max

Let's face it: Steve Jobs openly hated Europe and Mr Cook is apparently following in his footsteps. Part of it has to do with the very high sales tax in most of the EU. But I live in Switzerland and even though we have the highest salary average anywhere in the known galaxy, these things have become unaffordable to most here. I guess Apple is pulling a Rolex here - they just shouldn't expect to maintain past sales figures. If I have to choose between an iPhone and a week of vacation in Greece with my family, I'll choose the latter.

 

[Lilydgg]

I used to buy launch day iPhones up till the 6, hung onto the 6 until the 8 and X came out then picked up an SE instead. I simply don't use an iPhone as much as I would need to, to make these prices worthwhile. Now every time there is an update, the price jumps up even higher for minor changes and becomes the new baseline and 3 year old phones are still being sold as the "cheap" option.

 

[Mydel]

Hoping to get a preorder in for a Gold 256GB i phone Xs Max to replace my X.

We all are in shock and awe....

 

[chooyoshi]

Total nonsense. If Tim Cook was truthful he would have given us an iphone se2, kept the iphone 6s and maybe introduce a special iphone for emerging markets like India.
In other words, go for a wider and broader base of customers like samsung and huawei

 

[duervo]

Discussing the iPhone in general, Cook says that, "The role of the iPhone has become much larger in people's lives," and that will justify the price of the device for many customers.

Sounds like a drug dealer, or the CEO of a big pharma company.

“Discussing Oxy in general, Cook says that, "The role of the product has become much larger in people's lives," and that will justify the price of the drug for many customers.”

 

[steven3130]

What Cook meant to say, “I like receiving my RSU’s with a high market stock price so I can make millions when I execute them.”

The audacity to say to make “reasonable business” is absurd. For a wealthy business mogul to think $1449 for a phone, he’s absolutely lost his sense of reality.

 

[Lioness~]

Discontinuing SE, without a word even.
He's a straight up liar. Apple clearly don't serve everyone.

 

[brofkand]

Why not sell iPhone X for 899?

Nobody would buy the XS then because there's been basically no improvement. The CPU is faster, but is it really a big deal? Nobody complains about the A11's performance - it's still not been beat by the chips Samsung uses in their phones.

 

[Bacillus]

Hundreds of billions of dollars in the bank betray his comment.

You've never seen this much complaining and you wonder why?

That guy will say anything.

Apple is greedy. The kind of person that never buys a round....

Did he say this with a straight face?

Quite a few of you are missing the point. Tim said people use their device many times every day, which is in sharp contrast to for instance your house.
Therefore, Apple deserves to price the device equal or even higher than your house.
I (with Tim) won’t go into price elasticity too much but I think a reasonable market price would be around $ 250.000

 

[t76turbo]

I am getting the Xs MAx this year in 256 gig (because I want the larger screen) and passing my X to my wife. But this is the first time I have had the thought to maybe skip. The prices are ridiculous. Luckily I have no problem with spending this kind of money but in my eyes, the cost to value of the product is starting to be unbalanced.

Next year if they continue this trend I may start skipping an upgrade or two.

 

[78Bandit]

Tim is going to serve the shareholders first and then the customer. Don't let anyone fool you, every decision is about profit maximization. Their iPhone device mix is designed around maintaining that magical 66% gross profit margin.

Look at the XR for example, there isn't much they could cut out of it without significantly affecting its performance. Drop to an A11 chip? Save maybe $5. Go with touch ID instead of Face ID, save $10. Changing to a plastic back would likely yield the most savings, but there just isn't much left that would allow them to sell the device cheaper while still maintaining the margins. From any other manufacturer the XR would be a $600 device. Apple charges $750 because it can.

That's certainly Apple's prerogative, but don't blow smoke up everyone's backside by claiming the customer figures anywhere in the process outside of offering them a good product at the highest price possible.

 

[Deepshade]

£750-£1500 for a phone!!

 

[shinkansenwarrior]

Only approx 100 dollars difference between XS and XSMax modals in Japan. No brainer if you can cough up the mountain of loot required.
The XR is almost 400 dollars less than the XS if you don't mind 128MB over 256MB. Me? Thinking about TC's comment "we want to serve everyone".... I hope that extends to the long overdue Mac upgrades me and a lot of people are still wishing for. Until he delivers on that, Ebenezer Tim will be getting a nice upgrade from me soon.......a battery replacement for my 6S to the sum of 40 dollars to cover me until I look over the next gen modals.

 

[iScone]

And it seems he is right, many people apparently are

Well that is almost certainly true, but the fact that fools exist doesn't justify taking advantage of them, and it certainly doesn't justify sanctimony.

 

[jonnyb098]

I haven’t read all the comments, so I’m sure that this has been said already. When has Apple ever cared about cost? Apple doesn’t care that you don’t want to spend $1500 for an iPhone. I’m not trying to be mean, but if you don’t want to spend that much on a phone then don’t. Apple is offering cheaper alternatives that still work amazingly well and will continue to get software updates well beyond any Android phone on the market.

I think the point you are missing is that before last year Apple used to offer their latest and great phones/tech for prices that were 2-300 less ($599/699). Yesterday they just put 10-20 percent markups on their newest...just because.....because growth for smartphones is stagnant and they have to make up the revenue. Yesterday Apple proved so blatantly that the shareholders are their biggest responsibility. Why not just come out and say it. Yes we always knew that, but they dressed it up very well to make people be ok will spending a little more. The keynote overall was dreadful yesterday. If you're gonna screw people with pricing at least romance us a little first. Instead Phil came out as the proverbial nerd trying to land a first kiss and failed miserably. Loads of techo-babble doesn't entice people to buy smartphones anymore, it never really did. Its about features. This isn't 1995. Speeds and feeds. No one cares, Steve Jobs said that himself. I thought he engrained that into the DNA of Apple, but sadly Apple has become a very very different, unrecognizable beast. Hopefully the market slaps them around a little out of whatever trance they're in.

 

[joueboy]

I feel the frustration around here but this is not the kind of people that they used to care anymore. Other than those who has the financial interest of Apple that still come here, sorry but you're now irrelevant to Apple. You're not the market for their products anymore there are 10 times more people out there that love Apple products and pay top dollar whatever pricing Cook wants. You were the stepping stone for their success but that's about it, you can switch to Android and Apple would care less. Apple knows you'll get them anyway, unless there's a drastic change the way we consume their product they'll be enjoying their money making machine and that's the truth!

 

[RickInHouston]

It's not only the price of the phone, but what you usually add to that when you purchase it. Apple Care, taxes, screen protector, case, ...

 

[cyb3rdud3]

I moved this post to here as it’s more appropriate article.

Living in Ireland I have been priced out of the new XS (the max is just too big for me). The XS starts at $999 in America yet it costs €1,179 in Ireland despite the Euro being stronger than the USD. It would only make sense to get someone heading to the states to pick one up for me. It's such a shame because I have picked up every flagship iPhone from the 3GS to the iPhone 7 and always made an excuse to justify the cost. I simply can't anymore and I refuse to enter contracts either.

€1,179 includes 23% VAT doesn't it? Thus the comparable cost is €958.54, or $1,056.79. As such someone getting in the US for you would save you $57.79. Sure a small saving, to me it isn't a big enough saving to worry about. But appreciate for some it may be $57.79 too much

 

[MoreRumors?]

Wow, such misguided fanboy crap. I've never understood the whole fanboy and hateboy mentality. It makes no sense to be loyal to any company since they will never be loyal to you. Apple is a company, it is all about making money, as much money as it can, and any loyalties Apple has will be toward its stock owners, not towards its fanboys. No company is ever loyal to their fans. If they are, they won't last long. If you like a company's products then buy them, but don't run up to them like a little puppy in love wagging your tail in a shameless, obedient, compliant manner. Buy the products you like, don't buy the ones you don't like, and complain when prices are too high or the products or not advanced enough. But seriously, don't be a fanboy and then get upset when they treat you like a common customer. Customers are no more than people with money when it comes to how companies think of them. If you are really upset with the new lineup of iThingies then show it by not buying them. That is what drives a company's marketing decisions. They are driven by which products sell well and make the most profit. They are not driven by your misguided loyalty to them.

For me it is less about loyalty and more about which company is less repulsive and treats me a little less terribly than the others. Apple seems to be better in the protecting my security area than Microsoft, Google, and the others, so I go with their products more often than not. I'm not loyal, I'm not a fan, I'm just selecting the least evil of the evil companies to deal with. You don't become a trillion dollar company by being loyal to fanboys. You become a trillion dollar company by putting profits first and foremost.

This is by far the best comment.

 

[definitive]

i find a bit of irony in what tim says versus what their keynote actually portrays. $750+ is a lot to an average person, and a lot of the people in the ads looked like teens/early twenties crowd who's just starting out in the workforce.

it just goes to show that money & greed > everything else, and how little the rich and elite care about anyone but themselves.

add to that, apple hasn't been releasing any new revolutionary innovations as of late when it comes to their iphone, and have been making their keynotes based around hardware upgrades. they've become very comfortable with the "dedicated fans" blowing close to a thousand dollars every years, while selling the same thing under a new name.

 

[chabig]

In this day and age 64GB should not be an option. This pricing model is nothing but self serving.

I have a 64GB iPhone X and it has plenty of capacity for how I use it.

 

[brentsg]

The guy was quoting his wife needs, and by that you can picture that they buy the phone for the phone funcion only (and the luxury of showing off an iPhone) cause otherwise if they were using the phone at full potential, 64 gb would not be sufficent.

Music, Photos and 4k video, would mek a 256 needed nowadays. Of course if you use just the phone part, heck even 16 is enough!

I'm not even sure which part to tackle. First off, you can do plenty with a phone without needing more than 64GB. When our phones charge, all the video and music is sync'd to the cloud. We're not carrying around our digital lives on physical devices that can be lost or similar. In the end the base need is down to apps and whatever photos/videos are embedded in text messages.

From there, it varies by user.. I have a bunch of digital comics eating space so I have a 512GB iPad. If we are going on a trip then it might be nice to download some music or movies, but these are hardly pieces of data that need to permanently reside on the device.

TLDR: You can do plenty with a 64GB iPhone than simply use it as a dumb phone.

Also, thanks for the condescending response. It's one of the reasons I don't participate much here.. too many ... hmm can't say it without moderation. Regardless, there's no "luxury of showing off"... we're well into the ease of use and well beyond such insecurities at this point. Heck I'm still driving a 15 year old car and my wife just replaced her 1997 model... if I wanted to show luxury I'd be tackling those issues first.

I pay for my phones outright. But I totally miss the days you paid 199.99 for a new iPhone with a two year contract.

I especially miss this because work was paying for my phone bill, so it was just all rolled in there. Then suddenly I was buying the phones and work was just paying for the service.

I'll just keep using my 6+, get a new battery or whatever.