Apple CEO Tim Cook has said Apple’s new iPhone line-up is designed to cater for all segments of the market. However, this week, the trillion dollar company made it more decidedly more difficult for some fans to afford an iPhone.
In an interview with Nikkei, tech’s most powerful man said he understands there are a wide-range of customers seeking different price points.
“We want to serve everyone,” Cook said. “We understand that there is a wide range of what customers are looking for and a wide range of prices that people will pay.”
However, what Cook failed to mention is that the cost of the cheapest available iPhone on September 11 was £100 less than the cheapest available iPhone on September 12.
The iPhone SE, which was available for as little as £349 directly from Apple was finally discontinued yesterday. The new entry-level model is the iPhone 7, which starts at £449. That’s a 22.3% increase in price for users seeking to enter the market at the lowest-available point.
Related: What Apple killed at the iPhone XS launch
Meanwhile, at the top end of the market, the price of the best available iPhone has also increased significantly over the last couple of years. Just two years ago, the iPhone 7 Plus went on sale from £719. The iPhone XS Max starts at £1,099. That’s a staggering increase of £380 since 2016.
Cook added in the interview: “We always thought … that if you provide a lot of innovation and a lot of value, there is a segment of people who are willing to pay for it. For us, it’s a large enough group of people that we can make a reasonable business out of it.”
Of course, the iPhone XS Max features a more expensive design, with a larger, more expensive OLED display (compared to LCD on the iPhone 7 Plus), a Face ID sensor, and more built-in storage, but a 35% price increase for the best iPhone in two years? That’s enough to give many Apple fans pause for thought.
Do you think Apple is taking advantage of consumers with its iPhone pricing? Or is £449 perfectly fair for an iPhone 7? Let us know @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
