Cost of iPhone X Sales to Increase Prices of other Smartphones when Apple rolled out the iPhone X at roughly $1,000 a pop, people\u00a0balked\u00a0at first. The smartphone market was entering maturity, are people really so enamored of their Apple devices that they\u2019ll shell out that much, even as competitors get better at making alternatives at lower price points? It seems that increasingly, the answer is yes.<\/p>\n
Indeed, by grooming consumers to spending upwards of $1,000 for a new phone, the iPhone X\u2019s pricing strategy may have cemented these kinds of prices into the wider smartphone industry, Apple analyst Philip Elmer-DeWitt tells\u00a0Inverse.<\/p>\n
Initially, Elmer-DeWitt said he thought these kinds of prices were outlandish, but paradoxically Apple\u2019s iPhone X strategy may have ended up doing its competitors a solid. Essentially, Apple raised the ceiling for what a luxury smartphone could cost, which allows companies like Samsung and Google to market their phones as somewhat oxymoronic \u201caffordable luxury\u201d devices.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy selling configurations for a lot more than $1,000 they\u2019ve done their competitors a favor,\u201d says Elmer-DeWitt. \u201cThey\u2019ve created a price umbrella under which their competitors can enter the high end of the market as a cheaper luxury device that\u2019s nearly as good as Apple\u2019s. Or so they\u2019ll say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of Apple\u2019s rivals in the smartphone market have raised their prices considerably in the last two years, according to a Monday report from\u00a0CNET, including Samsung, Huawei, and OnePlus. The biggest jump has been in the cost of the OnePlus, which has soared by almost a third.<\/p>\n
During Apple\u2019s second-quarter\u00a0earnings call, CEO Tim Cook stated that the iPhone X was the \u201ctop-selling iPhone since the launch,\u201d putting to rest\u00a0\u201cnotions that\u201d\u00a0the pricing strategy was too aggressive. The company\u2019s current flagship iPhone was released alongside the 8 and the 8 Plus, which were around $200 cheaper.<\/p>\n
For more evidence that Apple\u2019s smartphone strategy is sticking around, look no further than its rival Samsung.<\/p>\n
The 2016 Galaxy S7 Edge, for example, was initially released for $779.99, while both the Galaxy S8 Plus and S9 Plus have been upped to $850. Rumors regarding the company\u2019s upcoming Galaxy Note 9 allege that the company\u2019s next-generation phone-tablet hybrid could start as high as\u00a0$1,055.<\/p>\n
However, this doesn\u2019t mean that all Apple and Android phones will cost $1,000 in the future. The\u00a0majority of iPhone rumors\u00a0claim that Apple will release three new handsets priced at $699, $899, and $999. This would provide a top-of-the-line option while offering cost-conscious consumers an option that might be cheaper than the current iPhone 8.<\/p>\n
Which is to say that it\u2019s really access to the latest and the best smartphones that\u2019s getting more expensive, as opposed to the actual smartphones themselves. And if you\u2019re thinking of shelling out for a new Apple phone, here\u2019s our\u00a0guide\u00a0to the best times of the year to buy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cost of iPhone X Sales to Increase Prices of other Smartphones Cost of iPhone X Sales to Increase Prices of other Smartphones when Apple rolled out the iPhone X at roughly $1,000 a pop, people\u00a0balked\u00a0at first. The smartphone market was entering maturity, are people really so enamored of their Apple devices that they\u2019ll shell out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech-news"],"yoast_head":"\n