4 ms·

The iPhone Xr is £749, which is little changed from previous iPhone generations.

kennyadam 8y ago
The price of their flagship is ever increasing though. Pointing out that their 'budget' model is now at the same price as their old flagships isn't really making a good case for the affordability of iPhones.
- Retric 8y ago
  Increasing the highest possible price is kind of meaningless. You can look at the most expensive iPhone and max out the memory on that to reach an even higher price. For a better comparison US inflation has been ~25% since the iPhone's so: The cheapest new iPhone is $449.99 which works out to 360$ in 2007 dollars. The cheapest original iPhone was $599 in 2007 dollars or the equivalent to ~750$ today, making them far more affordable. What really changed is cellphone companies stopped baking in heavy phones subsidies. Now you can still pay next to nothing at purchase, you just see a separate monthly fee on every cellphone bill.
bunderbunder 8y ago
Geez, is that seriously the bottom end? I paid US$500 for my current iPhone, which is about half that price, and just about the top of what I'd be willing to pay for a device with a useful life as short as that of your average smartphone. Should I seriously expect to be coughing up 100% more to replace my current phone if it craps out? No thanks. Those sorts of hijinks make Nokia's bananaphone look more and more attractive.
- JackC 8y ago
  > is that seriously the bottom end? It's the middle end by average sales price -- about half of people pay less than that, about half pay more. Check out https://twitter.com/asymco/status/1040240778860146688 https://twitter.com/asymco/status/1040240778860146688 for the whole picture.
- tonyedgecombe 8y ago
  No, the budget option is £449.
- gambiting 8y ago
  No, the bottom end for Apple is the iPhone 7 - Apple is still selling it, for £449.
- copperx 8y ago
  That's why I switched to Android. iOS is great and had no complaints about the platform. It was lovely. But the price hikes became ridiculous and as a symbolic protest I am now an Android user. I can't accept the prices anymore. Android isn't an equivalent replacement, but I can adapt.
Nursie 8y ago
Still significantly more expensive than a lot of other pretty high-end devices. Though I guess it does hit Samsung in their sweet-spot.
TwoNineA 8y ago
To put the price into perspective, adjusted to inflation, the 3GS was 50$ cheaper, the 4S was 35$ cheaper. https://i.redd.it/jclu70hbjzw11.png https://i.redd.it/jclu70hbjzw11.png
- ulfw 8y ago
  That's a fantastic list and reflects my sentiment about Apple's price hikes very well. iPhones to me always started at around $700ish. Only with the larger plus sized models people started accepting $800+. Then boom - suddenly the jump to $1000+ with the X (which was deemed a 'special' device based on it's 'advanced' features), so I think many expected prices to come down again. But instead we now have an XS Max with starts at $1100. Compared to the $700 usual starting price we are up 58% and innovation has decreased not increased since.
- snowwrestler 8y ago
  That's amazing to me, actually. Compare what 3Gs can do vs an Xr, and that's only $50 more in real dollars? Incredible. Shows the rapid rate of progress in mobile technologies.
- ksec 8y ago
  That is assuming your wages / salary increases with inflation. Which is not true for majority of people, hence it felt expensive. Not to mention consumers got used to Tech being cheaper with Moores Law, which is no longer true.

The price of their flagship is ever increasing though. Pointing out that their 'budget' model is now at the same price as their old flagships isn't really making a good case for the affordability of iPhones.

Retric 8y ago
Increasing the highest possible price is kind of meaningless. You can look at the most expensive iPhone and max out the memory on that to reach an even higher price. For a better comparison US inflation has been ~25% since the iPhone's so: The cheapest new iPhone is $449.99 which works out to 360$ in 2007 dollars. The cheapest original iPhone was $599 in 2007 dollars or the equivalent to ~750$ today, making them far more affordable. What really changed is cellphone companies stopped baking in heavy phones subsidies. Now you can still pay next to nothing at purchase, you just see a separate monthly fee on every cellphone bill.

bunderbunder 8y ago

Geez, is that seriously the bottom end? I paid US$500 for my current iPhone, which is about half that price, and just about the top of what I'd be willing to pay for a device with a useful life as short as that of your average smartphone. Should I seriously expect to be coughing up 100% more to replace my current phone if it craps out? No thanks. Those sorts of hijinks make Nokia's bananaphone look more and more attractive.

JackC 8y ago
> is that seriously the bottom end? It's the middle end by average sales price -- about half of people pay less than that, about half pay more. Check out https://twitter.com/asymco/status/1040240778860146688 https://twitter.com/asymco/status/1040240778860146688 for the whole picture.
tonyedgecombe 8y ago
No, the budget option is £449.
gambiting 8y ago
No, the bottom end for Apple is the iPhone 7 - Apple is still selling it, for £449.
copperx 8y ago
That's why I switched to Android. iOS is great and had no complaints about the platform. It was lovely. But the price hikes became ridiculous and as a symbolic protest I am now an Android user. I can't accept the prices anymore. Android isn't an equivalent replacement, but I can adapt.

Nursie 8y ago

Still significantly more expensive than a lot of other pretty high-end devices. Though I guess it does hit Samsung in their sweet-spot.

TwoNineA 8y ago

To put the price into perspective, adjusted to inflation, the 3GS was 50$ cheaper, the 4S was 35$ cheaper. https://i.redd.it/jclu70hbjzw11.png https://i.redd.it/jclu70hbjzw11.png

ulfw 8y ago
That's a fantastic list and reflects my sentiment about Apple's price hikes very well. iPhones to me always started at around $700ish. Only with the larger plus sized models people started accepting $800+. Then boom - suddenly the jump to $1000+ with the X (which was deemed a 'special' device based on it's 'advanced' features), so I think many expected prices to come down again. But instead we now have an XS Max with starts at $1100. Compared to the $700 usual starting price we are up 58% and innovation has decreased not increased since.
snowwrestler 8y ago
That's amazing to me, actually. Compare what 3Gs can do vs an Xr, and that's only $50 more in real dollars? Incredible. Shows the rapid rate of progress in mobile technologies.
ksec 8y ago
That is assuming your wages / salary increases with inflation. Which is not true for majority of people, hence it felt expensive. Not to mention consumers got used to Tech being cheaper with Moores Law, which is no longer true.