Lost in the Keynote, Apple Raises Prices on iPhone and Watch
As expected, Apple announced several new products today including a new Watch that packs a lot of technology inside and also three new iPhones, Xs, Xs Max, and Xr. Terrible naming aside, the company is also going to make it hurt a little bit more to buy the latest goods.
Every quarter when Apple reveals its earnings, one of the key metrics analysts look for is the Average Selling Price or ASP. The point of this metric is to make it easier to digest how much the average consumer spends when buying hardware, the higher the number the better.
Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox
Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!
"*" indicates required fields
Being that it is Wall St, if this number is trending upward, your stock price will go up, if it flatlines or goes down, your stock will go down with it. And if you weren’t paying attention closely today, Apple is raising the prices on its mass market iPhone and Watch which will push its ASP higher.
When Apple announced the iPhone Xr, which is widely expected to be the volume leader for Apple as it replaces the iPhone 8, the company said it costs less than an iPhone 8 Plus. What they didn’t say is that it is more expensive than the iPhone 8 and everyone buying the ‘baseline’ iPhone will now be spending at least $50 more per device.
The company is also shipping its less expensive Xr phone a few weeks after the Xs and X Max go on sale; likely trying to temp those who don’t want to wait into buying a phone this month.
The Watch is getting a large price increase as well, the last generation device started at $329 and the new series 4 starts at $399.
Both of these price increases will help Apple push its ASP significantly higher and if these devices sell in volume, history has indicated that this is a strong possibility, then the company should continue to justify its current high valuation as well.
But there is an upper bound on what consumers will pay for an iPhone and as Apple continues to up the price with each generation, there will be a ceiling on how high they can push the limits. The top of the line Xs Max with 512 GB of storage runs $1449.99, a price few will pay but continues to fill Apple’s desire to push its ASP higher.
Conversation 90 comments
-
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#321762">In reply to Rob_Wade:</a></em></blockquote><p>Mr Wade, you are just sooooo cool!</p>
-
dontbe evil
<p>what a surprise /s</p>
-
dontbe evil
<blockquote><em><a href="#321770">In reply to dontbe_evil:</a></em></blockquote><p>apple fans butthurt? </p>
-
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#321909">In reply to bbold:</a></em></blockquote><p>"get an iPhone 8"</p><p><br></p><p>If someone is sitting on a 6/6s or older I would recommend the XR and it would be a huge upgrade to those gen phones in so many ways. A 8 to them, with a case on it, looks no different than a 6/6s/7.</p><p><br></p><p>The XR is not priced as bad, has a big screen, but not to big (bigger than 6/6s/7/8 plus screens but with smaller body) same CPU/mains camera/Face ID/gestures as the X/XS line, comes in lots of colors and starts at $749. Apple wont be able to make enough for the holiday season.</p>
-
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#321988">In reply to RobertJasiek:</a></em></blockquote><p>Actually $749 gets you into the iPhone notch club with the XR. It is 6.1 inches and has the best battery life of any iPhone. </p>
-
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#322142">In reply to RobertJasiek:</a></em></blockquote><p>Then don't buy it because of all of that hangups you have. </p><p><br></p><p>In fact why come here and tell us, get out there get some Android phone that you probably wont be able to update after 1-2 years. </p>
-
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#322058">In reply to FalseAgent:</a></em></blockquote><p>$449 for the iPhone 7. The top of the line iPhone 2 years ago. </p><p><br></p><p>I doubt that pocophone can even compare. </p><p><br></p><p>Love be the fake outrage!!!!!!! </p>
-
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#322129">In reply to Stooks:</a></em></blockquote><p>And 2 years before the iPhone, BlackBerry phones were top of the line. There may be a good reasons to buy an iPhone 7, but the fact that they may have been "leading-edge" two years ago isn't one of them.</p>
-
PeterC
<p>Well – you can all say what you want about £price/affordability of these products – BUT with that A12 Bionic chip and its ability, let alone what the next gen does, these "phones" are gearing up to be the centre of what apple sees as "personal computing" for the masses.</p><p><br></p><p>Come on people, get with it, REPLACE old MS Surface phone concepts ….with one of these……… The Xr will continue to cater for the traditional iPhone user, the new iphone X series is heading straight for the pocket computing arena. I'd wager apple have something waiting in the wings that you connect these X series phones to that give you mouse/keyboard/screen. I still see the same A12 (A13?) turned into an ipad pro with a surface style keyboard/mouse. </p><p><br></p><p><strong>Its just my opinion,</strong> but the A12 capability and price point direction is delivering what a Surface Phone was going to be for MS. Same old story people – apple perfects what MS starts. History is repeating itself.</p><p><br></p><p>>>EDIT: I'll even wager if apple has a device that turns their phone into a "laptop-ish thing" – MS will deliver a full version of office for it on launch day. </p>
-
Stooks
<blockquote><em><a href="#322164">In reply to SupaPete:</a></em></blockquote><p>When is the book being published?</p><p><br></p><p>Don't buy one if you don't like it. </p><p><br></p><p>I have no doubt Apple will sell more iPhones this holiday season that ever before. The XR is going to be a HUGE hit because of its price ($749) and features. The iPhone 7/8 will still sell 10's of millions because of their price and no one will care about their bezels.</p><p><br></p><p>The iPhone 5S will get iOS 12 next week. You can get a new battery put in it for $29. What Android phone offers that kind of a value?????</p>
-
wocowboy
Premium Member<p>We already knew this because Tim Cook warned the other day that prices would be going up because of Trump's tariffs. Apple was the first manufacturer to publicly acknowledge that fact and warn consumers that the tariffs would be affecting the price of tech devices. This is probably the first round because every week Trump announces more tariffs on more and more types of goods and components, and the same will be happening to other devices from other manufacturers. I wonder if they will receive the same amount of scorn from Paul? We will see. </p>
-
skane2600
<blockquote><em><a href="#322282">In reply to locust infested orchard inc:</a></em></blockquote><p>$499 is well beyond the ceiling of the "low end market" which, IMO, is about $199. The iPhone 7 can be thought of as either the lower-end of the high-end market, or the ceiling of the medium market. </p>