We know
Looking at the good news first, credit goes to Macotakara and 9to5Mac for attaining the official name of the iPhone 9 via a leaked Chinese carrier marketing presentation. The iPhone 9 is actually called the ‘iPhone XC’ and this harks back to the iPhone 5C naming convention Apple previously used for the budget edition of the iPhone 5. This is an interesting decision, but the rest of the news is less encouraging…
While the same carrier lists Chinese pricing for the new iPhones, which is in-line with reports of significant price cuts, a highly credible source has come forward at the 11th hour saying the iPhone XC will actually be a lot more expensive than we expect.
CNBC reports investment bank Goldman Sachs believes the price of the iPhone XC will be $849. This is considerably higher than the $699 others have said and has the knock-on effect of pushing the iPhone XS towards the $999 price point of the iPhone X, and the new iPhone XS Max even higher than that.
Goldman analyst Rod Hall also admitted their previously conservative price estimates for Apple were wrong saying we “take this opportunity to eat our hat”.
If Goldman Sachs is right (and the language certainly suggests the bank is confident), this would be a major blow to customers who have long been led to believe the iPhone XC will be a bargain. Something which made sense given the model does have notable compromises compared to the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.
The iPhone XC is also expected to be late to market.
Despite this, I suspect Apple’s three new iPhones will still deliver the company’s biggest sales numbers for several years as they represent the most extensive overall of the entire iPhone range in generations. Now if only that innovation would carry over to the less promising 2019 models…
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