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Why are iPhone's so much more expensive than iPod Touches?

mrsir2009

mrsir2009

macrumors 604
Original poster
Sep 17, 2009
7,505
156
Melbourne, Australia
Here in New Zealand a base iPhone 4S goes for $1050, while a base iPod Touch goes for $260. Why is the price gap so much? The main difference seems to be that the iPhone has 3G, thus allowing it to be a phone. But does that warrant a $790 price difference?
 
They have the cellular radios, a higher quality screen, a bigger battery, more overall mass, another pane of glass, a compass, better camera, earpiece, proximity sensor, mute switch, another microphone, better speaker.
 
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What Intell said + I'd imagine that R&D + licensing adds to the cost.
 
Intell said:
They have the cellular radios, a higher quality screen, a bigger battery, more overall mass, another pane of glass, a compass, better camera, earpiece, proximity sensor, mute switch, another microphone, better speaker.
Click to expand...

IMO, none of this. It's because they can be.
 
Intell said:
They have the cellular radios, a higher quality screen, a bigger battery, more overall mass, another pane of glass, a compass, better camera, earpiece, proximity sensor, mute switch, another microphone, better speaker.
Click to expand...

But they both have retina displays now, don't they? Oh, and where is the other mic located? I thought the only one was the one adjacent to the loudspeaker :eek:
 
No, it does not warrant the extra price. An iPhone costs like 50% more to make compared to the iPod touch.

However, you have to realize that Apple doesn't want carriers to get pissed off, so they have to set iPhones at a absurdly high price so that carriers can get their margins. If they sold iPhones at the markup of other apple products...

will you buy any contracts, that costs $2000 over 2 years, if the phone was $499?
 
gladoscc said:
No, it does not warrant the extra price. An iPhone costs like 50% more to make compared to the iPod touch.

However, you have to realize that Apple doesn't want carriers to get pissed off, so they have to set iPhones at a absurdly high price so that carriers can get their margins. If they sold iPhones at the markup of other apple products...

will you buy any contracts, that costs $2000 over 2 years, if the phone was $499?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I reckon thats why :(
 
mrsir2009 said:
But they both have retina displays now, don't they? Oh, and where is the other mic located? I thought the only one was the one adjacent to the loudspeaker :eek:
Click to expand...

The iPhone's screen is an IPS screen. Where the iPod Touch's is TFT. Put the two next to each other and you'll see the difference. The iPhone has an secondary microphone near the headphone jack for backgound noise canceling.
 
iPhones cost 100$ to make then iPod touches, their price has nothing to do with the specs and materials. Apple knows that iPhones are profitable so why not place the price point at 600$, people will still buy so the iPhone is overpriced compared to the touch. The carrier assumes the large money difference so at the end it works out for Apple and the consumer.
 
Intell said:
The iPhone's screen is an IPS screen. Where the iPod Touch's is TFT. Put the two next to each other and you'll see the difference. The iPhone has an secondary microphone near the headphone jack for backgound noise canceling.
Click to expand...

Wow, your right, the iPhone's screen has an incredibly wide viewing angle!

----------
Apple OC said:
could be ... one is a phone ... the other is a music player
Click to expand...

The iPod is a LOT more than an iPod now. Its marketed by Apple themselves as a gaming device.
 
By the way, Apple purposefully crippled the iPod Touch. The iPod Touch has half as much RAM as the iPhone 4. Those amounts of RAM costs next to nothing to make, and it would have cost them more to start a separate production line for "A3.5s" than just put the full A4 on the iPT.
 
gladoscc said:
By the way, Apple purposefully crippled the iPod Touch. The iPod Touch has half as much RAM as the iPhone 4. Those amounts of RAM costs next to nothing to make, and it would have cost them more to start a separate production line for "A3.5s" than just put the full A4 on the iPT.
Click to expand...

It probably wouldn't cost a ton to give the iPod Touch a camera flash either...
 
mrsir2009 said:
The iPod is a LOT more than an iPod now. Its marketed by Apple themselves as a gaming device.
Click to expand...

I agree that an iPod is much more than a media player ... however until it becomes a phone ... it will not be priced like a smartphone

the answer as to price difference is still ... one is a smartphone the other is not
 
wrinkster22 said:
Your opinion is not correct. The things cost more for apple so they charge us more.

To the OP:
R&D is huge (siri), the IPH4S is dual core, and what everyone else said.
Click to expand...

It does cost more but not so much that it warrants 400$ more pricetag than iPhones. Unlocked iPhones are a rip off, it hurts the carriers only since most people go for the 2 year contracts, that why Apple prices the iPhone at a high pricetag.
 
mrsir2009 said:
Here in New Zealand a base iPhone 4S goes for $1050, while a base iPod Touch goes for $260. Why is the price gap so much? The main difference seems to be that the iPhone has 3G, thus allowing it to be a phone. But does that warrant a $790 price difference?
Click to expand...

Part of it is because of the extra hardware. an iPhone has cellular radios, GPS radio, second mic for noise cancellation, speaker, earpiece, etc.

However it's mostly because cellular carriers want you to sign contracts and buy subsidized phones, and if you could just buy an iPhone for the same price as an iPod touch no one would be signing contracts.
 
I think it's partly because Apple can charge a lot for the iPhone and still reach a broad audience because the carriers subsidize the phones. iPods are never subsidized and therefore must be sold at a lower margin, relying heavily on velocity.
 
The prices have actually increased here since launch; my 32 GB 4S was $849 at launch and is now $1049 for that model on a 24-month term! :eek: (note that I'm on a relatively cheap plan).
 
iPhone surely have much more compared to iPod. Screen is way better even though both claimed to have Retina Display.

When I look at my iPod Touch 4g again after tinkering a few weeks with iPhone, it was like .. Hmm my iPod does really this bad? Less contrast, black level is terrible. Slow and laggy compared to 4S (yeah of course). But I dont have a chance to compare with iPhone 4. My phone even have smooth and better home button. On paper, iPhone and iPod Touch may share some similar spec, but in reality they dont even come close. That explains the price difference.

And like Intell posted, it has gps, cellular radio, better build quality, compass and many other tidbits. For things it can do, iPhone is quite worth at retail unlocked price ($649-849) although still, $100 increments is too high for merely additional capacity.

But if you paid like > $1000 for unlocked iPhone, I'd be pissed off too, it's not really worth that much. But maybe that's what you get in your country, huh?
 
Nermal said:
The prices have actually increased here since launch; my 32 GB 4S was $849 at launch and is now $1049 for that model on a 24-month term! :eek: (note that I'm on a relatively cheap plan).
Click to expand...

WOW, what does and unlocked model cost over there?
 
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