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Would you buy an iPhone 8 / Edition at a minimum price of $999

  • No

    Votes: 35 36.5%
  • Yes

    Votes: 61 63.5%

  • Total voters
    96
That's the interesting thing here. $6 coffee every weekday for 52 weeks is $1560. $2 coffee every weekday for 52 weeks is $520. I reckon a lot of folks hold on to their phones for 2 years (they've been conditioned by 2-year contracts) so the iPhone might even be less expensive on an annual basis.
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This is entirely subjective. Your cut off point is going to be different from mine as will the pros/cons list.
I don't buy anything on a daily basis to really get the concept of that but appreciate many do.

I do upgrade every 2 years though and even the price increase does not compute. In the UK you don't really get the privilege to spread out the cost. It's added to your monthly contract. My contract went from £30 p/m to £40 p/m pretty much overnight when the iPhone 7 was released. A fee was also added to the handset price too but I can't remember how much that was. I could afford £10 a month more sure as it's less than £1 a day, but I didn't really get why it had happened? Anyway, I didn't lose sleep over it and Apple got a few hundred quid less from me this time around.

My cut off point is perhaps more logical than most and largely based on principle rather than cost. As I've said I could afford it if I really wanted it but just wasn't convinced. Nobody likes being mac'd off like a two bob.
 
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Haha! That summarizes what will end up happening with me in the end once the new iPhone 8 (or whatever it will be called) comes out. I just know I'm going to be out the door at probably $1300 with 256 gb ssd and case. That is the cost of a Macbook Pro. :( Oh well.. The cost/benefit analysis is so razor thin on this one it's crazy. Never thought I would pay that much for a smart device.
 
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I don't buy anything on a daily basis to really get the concept of that but appreciate many do.

I do upgrade every 2 years though and even the price increase does not compute. In the UK you don't really get the privilege to spread out the cost. It's added to your monthly contract.

Not really true, the Apple Upgrade Program is available in the UK.

https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrade-program

You could then have a sim only contract for better value.
 
Even with the high price tag I still think the 8 (or whatever it’s called) will be a huge seller. If the US carriers do the trade in deals like last year I think people take advantage of those together the monthly payments down.
 
I do upgrade every 2 years though and even the price increase does not compute. In the UK you don't really get the privilege to spread out the cost. It's added to your monthly contract. My contract went from £30 p/m to £40 p/m pretty much overnight when the iPhone 7 was released. A fee was also added to the handset price too but I can't remember how much that was. I could afford £10 a month more sure as it's less than £1 a day, but I didn't really get why it had happened? Anyway, I didn't lose sleep over it and Apple got a few hundred quid less from me this time around.

My cut off point is perhaps more logical than most and largely based on principle rather than cost. As I've said I could afford it if I really wanted it but just wasn't convinced. Nobody likes being mac'd off like a two bob.

I have to pay £59 a month, luckily I am a student, so I get 10% discount, so I pay £53.1 per month. I got a 7 128GB, on a 20GB month plan and £60 upfront. I did an early upgrade, so I had to get this plan as a minimum otherwise Vodafone wouldn't do the upgrade. Previously, I was paying £52 a month (after discount), so the small increase of £1.1 didn't make any difference, but I don't want to pay more than £55 a month, it's too much. I wish I was with O2, they're so much cheaper, although coverage isn't as good as Vodafone.

Anyway, I am pretty sure the OLED iPhone would cost £65-70 a month, at least on Vodafone, or at least if you don't pay a good amount of money upfront. I am planning to get it unlocked upfront, but I might cancel my contract with Vodafone and go with O2 if it's too expensive.
 
I don't buy anything on a daily basis to really get the concept of that but appreciate many do.

I do upgrade every 2 years though and even the price increase does not compute. In the UK you don't really get the privilege to spread out the cost. It's added to your monthly contract. My contract went from £30 p/m to £40 p/m pretty much overnight when the iPhone 7 was released. A fee was also added to the handset price too but I can't remember how much that was. I could afford £10 a month more sure as it's less than £1 a day, but I didn't really get why it had happened? Anyway, I didn't lose sleep over it and Apple got a few hundred quid less from me this time around.

My cut off point is perhaps more logical than most and largely based on principle rather than cost. As I've said I could afford it if I really wanted it but just wasn't convinced. Nobody likes being mac'd off like a two bob.
We got some really good deals here in the US last year when the iPhone 7 was released. If you had an iPhone 6, you can pretty much just pay sales tax and trade in the 6 to get the 32GB iPhone 7 at no extra cost. Wasn't planning on it but hey, almost free upgrade. :D

As for why yours had such a high price increase (33%), possibly Brexit is to blame? Meanwhile, those in the US were not affected by fluctuations in currency exchange rates.

Granted, now that we don't have two year contracts anymore and tech has progressed enough that an iOS upgrade wouldn't instantly cripple your phone, we're keeping our iPhones longer.
 
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Not really true, the Apple Upgrade Program is available in the UK.

https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrade-program

You could then have a sim only contract for better value.
I looked into the upgrade program last year and it was significantly more expensive than a 24 month contract at £30p/m. It was at least £40p/m before a sim contract was even added to the equation. I don't need to spend £50-£55 a month, nor do I need to upgrade every 12 months. I think it's overpriced and as you'd expect.
I have to pay £59 a month, luckily I am a student, so I get 10% discount, so I pay £53.1 per month. I got a 7 128GB, on a 20GB month plan and £60 upfront. I did an early upgrade, so I had to get this plan as a minimum otherwise Vodafone wouldn't do the upgrade. Previously, I was paying £52 a month (after discount), so the small increase of £1.1 didn't make any difference, but I don't want to pay more than £55 a month, it's too much. I wish I was with O2, they're so much cheaper, although coverage isn't as good as Vodafone.

Anyway, I am pretty sure the OLED iPhone would cost £65-70 a month, at least on Vodafone, or at least if you don't pay a good amount of money upfront. I am planning to get it unlocked upfront, but I might cancel my contract with Vodafone and go with O2 if it's too expensive.
Christ, you must be a wealthy student! Not like some of my colleagues who have left uni after paying £9k a year tuition fees and slugging through over £40k worth of debt now they've finished their degrees! lol.

I'm on O2 and can confirm coverage is patchy.
We got some really good deals here in the US last year when the iPhone 7 was released. If you had an iPhone 6, you can pretty much just pay sales tax and trade in the 6 to get the 32GB iPhone 7 at no extra cost. Wasn't planning on it but hey, almost free upgrade. :D

As for why yours had such a high price increase (33%), possibly Brexit is to blame? Meanwhile, those in the US were not affected by fluctuations in currency exchange rates.

Granted, now that we don't have two year contracts anymore and tech has progressed enough that an iOS upgrade wouldn't instantly cripple your phone, we're keeping our iPhones longer.
I did discuss the Brexit thing last year with various sources. My carrier did suggest Brexit was a likely reason why the iPhone had jumped in price and that despite Apples claims, they do fix the handset pricing for UK carriers and retailers. They also confirmed no other manufacturer had implemented a price hike based on Brexit. I think Apple saw an opportunity which makes me even more miffed.
 
Most people buy coffee at $2, but some buy them at $5-6. It's 3 times the price, but people still buy them.

Same with the iPhone, it's might be 1.5 times the price of the cheaper version, but we're still talking about 1 - 1.5 grand. Most people can afford it, if not, they will pay it month by month by getting a carrier plan and pay $80/month.
The problem is:

- Thee cheap $2 coffee you're talking about are the cheap Android devices
- The $5/$6 coffee are the premium Android smartphones and iPhone 7s/7s Plus

According to the rumours, Apple is planning to introduce a new $10 coffee iPhone 8... that's significant.

I think $1000-$1500, as you mention, is something many people cannot afford to spend at once.
 
I don't think the general public will go for the $1000+ model as much as they think they will. There was a time 2 or 3 models ago at the height of iPhone popularity here in the US that they might have been able to get away with it. But now most people don't care enough to spend that much. It would have to be some new really big upgrade feature that nobody else has, not just a new type of face recognition.
 
I did discuss the Brexit thing last year with various sources. My carrier did suggest Brexit was a likely reason why the iPhone had jumped in price and that despite Apples claims, they do fix the handset pricing for UK carriers and retailers. They also confirmed no other manufacturer had implemented a price hike based on Brexit. I think Apple saw an opportunity which makes me even more miffed.
Probably just Apple being stricter with their profit margins compared to other manufacturers. One thing I never hear is Apple doing mass layoffs while that has been pretty common with other tech companies.
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I don't think the general public will go for the $1000+ model as much as they think they will. There was a time 2 or 3 models ago at the height of iPhone popularity here in the US that they might have been able to get away with it. But now most people don't care enough to spend that much. It would have to be some new really big upgrade feature that nobody else has, not just a new type of face recognition.
I don't think Apple expects a large portion of the general public will go for a $1000+ model, either.

That said, it's actually probably easier for them to get away with that pricing now considering installment plans would bring the cost to upfront sales tax plus ~$50/mo installment. On the old style 2-year contracts, upfront cost would've been $549 after subsidy. A lot more folks will balk at going from $199 to $549 upfront cost than on going from $30/mo to $50/mo on installment for 24 months.
 
Let's not forget this isn't the first product catagory to have this kind of pricing, look at the Apple Watch there is a series 2 that starts at a lower price and then goes up to the Edition that starts at over £1000, I'm thinking it will be the same kind of strategy for Apple (maybe not the same name tho).

Also if rumours are true then Apple are not the first ones that are going to do this, Samsung will be charging over $1000 for the Note 8.
 
Let's not forget this isn't the first product catagory to have this kind of pricing, look at the Apple Watch there is a series 2 that starts at a lower price and then goes up to the Edition that starts at over £1000, I'm thinking it will be the same kind of strategy for Apple (maybe not the same name tho).

Also if rumours are true then Apple are not the first ones that are going to do this, Samsung will be charging over $1000 for the Note 8.

It's nothing like the Apple Watch. Literally nothing. The Apple Watch is identical in every way bar the materials it's made out of. Get the most expensive and the cheapest and they are the same internally and screen wise.

The new iphone 8 is not. Better cameras, much better screen, different tech inside. The Watch is a sideshow to the iPhone as well. The iPhone is apples main focus and pricing their best phone outside the reach of most of their consumers is a stupid move. I don't think it's going to be nearly as expensive as $1000 for the base model.
 
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It's nothing like the Apple Watch. Literally nothing. The Apple Watch is identical in every way bar the materials it's made out of. Get the most expensive and the cheapest and they are the same internally and screen wise.

The new iphone 8 is not. Better cameras, much better screen, different tech inside. The Watch is a sideshow to the iPhone as well. The iPhone is apples main focus and pricing their best phone outside the reach of most of their consumers is a stupid move. I don't think it's going to be nearly as expensive as $1000 for the base model.

The iPhone 7s is rumoured to have a glass back and wireless charging which is the same as the iPhone 8! the difference will be in the camera, OLED screen and the all bezel front/design. The Apple Watch is the same in design yes BUT I'm talking about the adding of the Edition which pushes the price point to over £1000, now the iPhone 8 will have things that differ it from the 7s and 7s Plus yes and it's those that are going to push up the cost. The iPhone 8 will start at around $1000 and probably top out at around $1,200 - $1,300.
 
It's nothing like the Apple Watch. Literally nothing. The Apple Watch is identical in every way bar the materials it's made out of. Get the most expensive and the cheapest and they are the same internally and screen wise.

The new iphone 8 is not. Better cameras, much better screen, different tech inside. The Watch is a sideshow to the iPhone as well. The iPhone is apples main focus and pricing their best phone outside the reach of most of their consumers is a stupid move. I don't think it's going to be nearly as expensive as $1000 for the base model.
After the rumors, I do wonder if come keynote time, the base iPhone 8 (or whatever the heck it will be called) will be priced at $869-899 so people would go, "Oh, that's not that bad. It's just a little more than the Plus."
 
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The iPhone 7s is rumoured to have a glass back and wireless charging which is the same as the iPhone 8! the difference will be in the camera, OLED screen and the all bezel front/design. The Apple Watch is the same in design yes BUT I'm talking about the adding of the Edition which pushes the price point to over £1000, now the iPhone 8 will have things that differ it from the 7s and 7s Plus yes and it's those that are going to push up the cost. The iPhone 8 will start at around $1000 and probably top out at around $1,200 - $1,300.

My point is that you could put any of the Apple Watch models next to each other and literally say these are the same apart from the material the case is made from.

Do that with the new iPhones and you will instantly see that one model is considerably better in numerous ways before you even get to the internals. Then when the customer can't afford the 8 they will look at the 7s and see their old phone(s) from the past 3 years.
 
I was going to go for the Note 8 but after watching 15 min of their keynote I was reminded of just how cheesy and flakey Samsung is as a company. LOL Samsung LOL Note 8. I’ll buy the top tier iPhone 8 on release day and idc how much it costs.
 
If storage rumours are to be believed, I will opt for the 256GB model and pay whatever that costs.
 
Probably just Apple being stricter with their profit margins compared to other manufacturers. One thing I never hear is Apple doing mass layoffs while that has been pretty common with other tech companies.
I'm not going down the route of applauding Apple for their employment practices. After watching the BBC Panorama documentary on their assembly plants in China, they're as bad as anybody else. Abuse, poor wages and long hours are rife with pretty much all tech companies. Whether they get rid of people regularly is by the by.

That side of it plays no part in my decision to buy their products however.
 
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I looked into the upgrade program last year and it was significantly more expensive than a 24 month contract at £30p/m. It was at least £40p/m before a sim contract was even added to the equation. I don't need to spend £50-£55 a month, nor do I need to upgrade every 12 months. I think it's overpriced and as you'd expect.

Christ, you must be a wealthy student! Not like some of my colleagues who have left uni after paying £9k a year tuition fees and slugging through over £40k worth of debt now they've finished their degrees! lol.

I'm on O2 and can confirm coverage is patchy.

Haha I am definitely not wealthy. I am a mobile developer, so paying £55 a month is definitely worth it.

I will be graduating next year with well over £100k in education debt since I am an international student on a 4 year Bachelors degree and thus have to pay higher tuition fees and obviously don't receive any maintenance loans from the UK government so everything has been paid for through an education loan in my country. I am not too worried about paying it back after graduating as the jobs in my area pay a lot of money, but it will still take some time to pay it all back. I do wish I was wealthy though or born in the UK!

I know O2's coverage is pretty average, at least here in Oxford. I might still go with them if I don't have a choice!
 
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I was upgrading my phone every year (at least) there for awhile between both Android and then iPhones - but if this phone costs over $1,000 then I'm out. I still have my 6s Plus and the only REAL reason I am definitely upgrading this year is because I was an idiot and only got 16GB.

Now whether my next phone is the iPhone 8, iPhone 7s Plus, or Pixel XL 2 remains to be seen... (edit: hell... maybe even the iPhone 7 Plus on the cheaper side if the 7s isn't all that much of an improvement)
 
I'll have to wait to see exactly what the top end phone brings to the table, but currently leaning towards a 7s+ - predominantly because I don't actually like oled that much. I'm sure they will use a high quality panel, but it's still probably going to be pentile, and I find that does make a difference vs an excellent rgb LCD as is in the plus iPhones currently.
 
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Well that settles it once and for all. The iPhone 8 is starting with a paltry 64GB storage for 1K. I just bought an 2017 iPad Pro for 1K and that's got 512GB storage. I can get a Surface Pro at that price not to mention a NVIDIA Titan XP graphics card. This is literally a ripoff. Theres no way I am ever spending 1k on 64GB of storage
 
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