There are a multitude of reasons as to why the iPhones might be seeing a weakening demand these days. However one of those reasons which is probably pretty obvious would be its pricing. With the flagship models priced starting at $1,000, this is a long way from the early days of the iPhone where the original model was priced at $500.Of course one could argue inflation, but at the same time with so many other handset makers charging half the price for their flagships, it is clear that Apple is aiming for higher profit margins. Recently during Apple’s earnings call, the company’s CEO Tim Cook conceded that price was a factor in the phone’s declining upgrades, in addition to his earlier comments about how the $29 battery replacement program could have played a role as well.
This was in response to analyst Steve Milunovich who asked if Apple might have “pushed the envelope a little bit too far” with regards to pricing, in which Cook said, “So yes, I do think the price is a factor. And so we are working through those and we’ve got a number of actions to address that, including the trade-in and the installment payments, which I had mentioned as well.”
Cook has defended Apple’s pricing choices in the past, like back in 2017 with the iPhone X where he suggested that the iPhone X on a monthly plan would be cheaper than “a coffee a day at one of those expensive coffee places”. He had also stated that the phone was “value for money”.
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