I am in constant fear of losing my relatively new iPhone 8, which, at this point, is the second most expensive thing I own (my laptop is the first) and also is home to a lot of un-backed up photos of my friends' cats. But it appears at least one iPhone iteration may even get more costly in the next few years, with new sales data suggesting Apple may raise the iPhone X price when they release a new version later this year, Business Insider reported. But there is some potential good news — according to the same analysis, the cheapest iPhone model might be getting even cheaper. Bustle has reached out to Apple for comment, and we will update this post when we hear back.
The iPhone X was released late last year after much anticipation, with Apple marketing the new phone as the biggest, fastest, and best in its smartphone family. Upgrades include a curved screen with an OLED display, an enhanced six-core processor, a clearer and better camera lens, a front camera that can be used for augmented reality programs, and "Animoji," for folks who want to stick a talking unicorn on everything. The iPhone X also comes with Portrait Mode, which I very much wish my own phone had, because it makes you look like a model in every photo.
Of course, all of the iPhone X's technical advancements came at a not-insignificant cost, with Apple pairing the phone with a $999 price tag. And unfortunately, it appears that consumers haven't responded to the phone as planned, with CEO Tim Cook claiming on Apple's last earnings call that iPhone sales fell by about 1 percent, as reported by Business Insider. For many folks, even a super retina display just can't justify dropping a grand.
Now, Wall Street analysts are suggesting that iPhones will likely sell slower than previously anticipated in the coming months. But this doesn't mean Apple will be slashing the iPhone X's price tag to encourage — in fact, according to Business Insider, they might increase the price to $1,100 when a newer version of the iPhone X comes out later this year. Though Apple has not revealed its official plans to make these changes, the people behind the analysis say it's consistent with tech giant's strategy of previous years.
Analysts say it's all a matter of reverse psychology. There will always be some people willing to drop $1,100 or so on the newest iPhone. But for those of us with fewer bucks in the bank, the $1,100 phone makes, say, a $699 iPhone 8 seem like a much better deal in comparison, even though we might have balked at buying a phone that expensive back when cell phones couldn't connect to the Internet, let alone do our banking, emailing, and navigating for us. People tend to gravitate to the middle option: When there's a $50 steak, a $30 steak, and a $15 steak on the menu, there's a good chance someone looking for a bargain (but who still values quality) will go for the $30 option — the $50 has too many unnecessary frills, but the $15's just a tad too stripped down for some folks.
So that's the analysts' thinking — that Apple would be able to move more newer phones that cost less than the iPhone X, mitigating the drop in sales. To that point, Apple is also considering making the cheaper iPhone models, like the entry-level iPhone SE, even less costly, to even out the increase in the iPhone X's price. Currently, the four-inch iPhone SE starts at $359, per Apple's website, but the new pricing model might knock that down to a slightly more wallet-friendly $300.
Basically, the new pricing model would offer something for everyone. Now, if they could only stop my GPS from thinking I'm always four blocks away from where I am, I'd be a truly happy customer.
