iPhone X starting price: $999 USD - thoughts?

[TripleOne]

It’s too expensive.
The 256GB is around $1,800 AUD.

 

[MooMooPrincess]

I'm getting it for the smaller form factor since my hands are tiny and I can't do 4.7" since it's too small and I strain seeing it. I plan on keeping this for 2-3 years.

 

[Garz]

My thought is just take my money now.

 

[TripleOne]

I'm getting it for the smaller form factor since my hands are tiny and I can't do 4.7" since it's too small and I strain seeing it. I plan on keeping this for 2-3 years.

The 5.8” in a form factor that is slightly larger than the iPhone 7/8 is exactly why I want the X.

 

[Superjudge]

To put it in perspective, the Galaxy Note 8 is $930 to start so $999 seems to be in that ballpark.

 

[Spencerdl]

In my opinion the starting price of $999 is to high as with all Apple products. That doesn't mean I'm not getting the most expensive one though...LOL

 

[dejanh]

To put it in perspective, the Galaxy Note 8 is $930 to start so $999 seems to be in that ballpark.

In Canada the 64GB Note 8 is $1,299. With it you get a 128GB SD card and a wireless charger for free. This makes things equivalent to or better than the 256GB iPhone X, except the iPhone X of that capacity is $1,529 which is $230 more, before tax. After tax it is $257.60 more. So, you pay 20% more for less features. The Note 8 offers everything the iPhone X offers minus the portrait lighting gimmick and the ARKit stuff that most nobody will use for now anyway. The Note 8 also offers a better screen, 0.5” larger screen, a stylus (remember no Pencil compatibility with the iPhone), and 6GB of memory. Let’s also not forget to mention that the full 6.3” of Note 8 screen are usable, where as only about 5.3”-5.5” of the iPhone X screen is usable because of the sensor notch at the top.

I don’t think it’s at all in the ballpark. Apple has priced the iPhone X out to lunch, exactly as expected. Even in the US you should compare the 256GB version to the Note 8, so the difference is more like $220 USD, which is 24% more.

I have been buying iPhones and Apple products for a number of years and always felt that they were expensive but worth it. For the first time now I really feel like we’re being asked to pay an Apple tax, and for what?

Let’s also be clear on one more thing. This is not an edge-to-edge display. With the sensor cutout at the top, the massive resulting software bezel, and the frame that is without screen all-around, this is not a bezel-less display. Everyone harped on Xiaomi when they put out the Mi Mix how they called the phone bezel-less yet it had a tiny bezel going around all edges of the screen still. Apple is nearly twice as thick and people are calling it bezel-less?! Please.

 

[Superjudge]

In Canada the 64GB Note 8 is $1,299. With it you get a 128GB SD card and a wireless charger for free. This makes things equivalent to or better than the 256GB iPhone X, except the iPhone X of that capacity is $1,529 which is $230 more, before tax. After tax it is $257.60 more. So, you pay 20% more for less features. The Note 8 offers everything the iPhone X offers minus the portrait lighting gimmick and the ARKit stuff that most nobody will use for now anyway. The Note 8 also offers a better screen, 0.5” larger screen, a stylus (remember no Pencil compatibility with the iPhone), and 6GB of memory. Let’s also not forget to mention that the full 6.3” of Note 8 screen are usable, where as only about 5.3”-5.5” of the iPhone X screen is usable because of the sensor notch at the top.

I don’t think it’s at all in the ballpark. Apple has priced the iPhone X out to lunch, exactly as expected. Even in the US you should compare the 256GB version to the Note 8, so the difference is more like $220 USD, which is 24% more.

I have been buying iPhones and Apple products for a number of years and always felt that they were expensive but worth it. For the first time now I really feel like we’re being asked to pay an Apple tax, and for what?

Let’s also be clear on one more thing. This is not an edge-to-edge display. With the sensor cutout at the top, the massive resulting software bezel, and the frame that is without screen all-around, this is not a bezel-less display. Everyone harped on Xiaomi when they put out the Mi Mix how they called the phone bezel-less yet it had a tiny bezel going around all edges of the screen still. Apple is nearly twice as thick and people are calling it bezel-less?! Please.

I think doing a feature to feature comparison to justify price is worthless. Android is Android and iOS is iOS and your choice is about what ecosystem you prefer to be a part of. Yes it's a bigger screen and yes it has a stylus but then you can argue that someone is paying a lot of extra money just for some extra stylus functionality which seems like a silly argument to me. They are different phones with different capabilities and the value of those capabilities is up to the consumer.

My point was that the retail cost of the Note received little to no blowback and it's just $70 less expensive than the iPhone X which to me puts it in the ballpark. Now Apple won't participate in the buy our phone and get this and that for free game but maybe carriers will. Those types of promotions are usually just a way to obscure the cost of the phone anyways. Since most people, at least in the US, are on plans where you pay a monthly fee to lease or buy the phone then this will amount to maybe $8-10 more per month which might make the sticker shock easier to manage. Yes it's expensive but flagship phones have been steadily climbing in price and Apple is just the first to release a phone with a starting cost of $1k but they won't be the last.

 

[dejanh]

I think doing a feature to feature comparison to justify price is worthless. Android is Android and iOS is iOS and your choice is about what ecosystem you prefer to be a part of. Yes it's a bigger screen and yes it has a stylus but then you can argue that someone is paying a lot of extra money just for some extra stylus functionality which seems like a silly argument to me. They are different phones with different capabilities and the value of those capabilities is up to the consumer.

My point was that the retail cost of the Note received little to no blowback and it's just $70 less expensive than the iPhone X which to me puts it in the ballpark. Now Apple won't participate in the buy our phone and get this and that for free game but maybe carriers will. Those types of promotions are usually just a way to obscure the cost of the phone anyways. Since most people, at least in the US, are on plans where you pay a monthly fee to lease or buy the phone then this will amount to maybe $8-10 more per month which might make the sticker shock easier to manage. Yes it's expensive but flagship phones have been steadily climbing in price and Apple is just the first to release a phone with a starting cost of $1k but they won't be the last.

They are not different phones with different capabilities. That's a lousy cop-out. You can't compare the processors, but everything else you can. Even functionally they are nearly identical, except for the stylus. Note 8 is just a more capable phone with a better design and a lower price point. Apple overpriced the iPhone X. There is no way to go around it, but you can try to justify it. I'm not saying it won't sell. I'm even thinking to get one myself, but it is not worth the money. Decision to purchase it is a purely subjective one because objectively it's just not where it needs to be relative to its cost.

 

[Superjudge]

They are not different phones with different capabilities. That's a lousy cop-out. You can't compare the processors, but everything else you can. Even functionally they are nearly identical, except for the stylus. Note 8 is just a more capable phone with a better design and a lower price point. Apple overpriced the iPhone X. There is no way to go around it, but you can try to justify it. I'm not saying it won't sell. I'm even thinking to get one myself, but it is not worth the money. Decision to purchase it is a purely subjective one because objectively it's just not where it needs to be relative to its cost.

It's not a cop out when it's true. Whether the Note 8 is a more capable phone and a better design is purely subjective too. What's not subjective is the price points of each phone which is my one and only point. They are similar. I'm not saying they are justified or not justified. Just that for all the hoopla around the iPhone price, just a few weeks ago Samsung released their flagship phone for a similar cost. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[tcuprof]

Re: Starting price $999

1149 for a phone?!?!

Apple last lost their damn minds...

When can I preorder?!

LOL. That pretty much sums it up for me.

 

[Aquila]

I'm not surprised or upset about it. That's the price we were expecting and, as we've seen with both Apple and Android for the past year... prices are going up. We're putting more tech into the devices, much higher quality in some cases and the prices of components have gone up. I'm not excited to go throw a grand at a phone... but I'm not going to pretend I know better than Apple and Samsung and Google and whoeverelse that I know more about them about what the proper market price of their devices are. They didn't just pick a number out of the sky.

 

[anon(1733)]

But actually almost every reviewer talked about high high the cost of the Note 8 was. Something is worth what someone is willing to pay. I'm sure the iPhone x will sell a ton. No doubt about it. For me I won't get it. Maybe next year after face id is prove and the bugs of a fresh design are worked out. For 1149 U.S. I'll wait. I'm also hoping ios 12 actually changes things software wise. Really getting tired of the same software.

 

[dejanh]

It's not a cop out when it's true. Whether the Note 8 is a more capable phone and a better design is purely subjective too. What's not subjective is the price points of each phone which is my one and only point. They are similar. I'm not saying they are justified or not justified. Just that for all the hoopla around the iPhone price, just a few weeks ago Samsung released their flagship phone for a similar cost. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'll give you that design is subjective. Capability is not. They are running different operating systems, but they have access to the exact same features and applications and are suited to a different purpose. It's not even like MacOS vs. Windows. Not even close. In almost every single way they are exactly the same. You are absolutely right that the price point is not subjective, and Samsung did not release a flagship at a similar cost. It released one that is roughly 20%-25% cheaper than the iPhone X, and it too is actually too expensive to start. Again, base iPhone X - the 64GB variant - is extremely limited. I think you fail to understand just how little storage 64GB actually is in a 4K world. It is so minuscule that it is probably worse than the 16GB variant of days old. Samsung completely mitigates this though the use of SD cards.

I'm not surprised or upset about it. That's the price we were expecting and, as we've seen with both Apple and Android for the past year... prices are going up. We're putting more tech into the devices, much higher quality in some cases and the prices of components have gone up. I'm not excited to go throw a grand at a phone... but I'm not going to pretend I know better than Apple and Samsung and Google and whoeverelse that I know more about them about what the proper market price of their devices are. They didn't just pick a number out of the sky.

This has nothing to do with pretending to know better than Apple or Samsung. They are not pricing their products based on the BOM with a fixed margin, and are instead pricing for margins that compensate for a decline in flagship sales. Shareholders want higher returns, and the only way to produce those is to push the price higher and higher. The price is not increasing proportional to the BOM cost.

But actually almost every reviewer talked about high high the cost of the Note 8 was. Something is worth what someone is willing to pay. I'm sure the iPhone x will sell a ton. No doubt about it. For me I won't get it. Maybe next year after face id is prove and the bugs of a fresh design are worked out. For 1149 U.S. I'll wait. I'm also hoping ios 12 actually changes things software wise. Really getting tired of the same software.

I have no doubts that Apple will sell a ton. But it will be less than they sold before in every category. It will be further exacerbated by low yields of the iPhone X. For now you can easily argue that this is all speculation, but it is more than that. Flagship sales are on a decline, and Apple has pretty consistently been posting declining sales as well as of late. They will decline again. The market is saturated and the increased price point will price out more individuals. It's a losing game and this is just the start.

 

[Aquila]

This has nothing to do with pretending to know better than Apple or Samsung. They are not pricing their products based on the BOM with a fixed margin, and are instead pricing for margins that compensate for a decline in flagship sales. Shareholders want higher returns, and the only way to produce those is to push the price higher and higher. The price is not increasing proportional to the BOM cost.

That's basically what I'm saying though - the price is appropriate for what they need to get out of it above their expenses. My point was the price isn't arbitrary or greed, it's a calculated cost that, if sales are x then they net y.

 

[sting7k]

When I am in the market for a new iPhone next year it might be the first time I don't get the latest greatest because of price. Hopefully Apple keeps the X around next year with a lower price. That $999 is only $250 less than what I paid for my Macbook Pro and 3x what I paid for my iPad Mini 4. Kind of hard to swallow for me.

 

[dejanh]

That's basically what I'm saying though - the price is appropriate for what they need to get out of it above their expenses. My point was the price isn't arbitrary or greed, it's a calculated cost that, if sales are x then they net y.

Agree on that 100% I would only go so far as to say that greed does somewhat factor into the pricing. The shareholders don't objectively need ever-growing returns, but that is what the system expects, hence we are where we are. Greed is kind of at the root of NA capitalism. Anyway, off topic and I don't want to go too political or get too deep into economics.

When I am in the market for a new iPhone next year it might be the first time I don't get the latest greatest because of price. Hopefully Apple keeps the X around next year with a lower price. That $999 is only $250 less than what I paid for my Macbook Pro and 3x what I paid for my iPad Mini 4. Kind of hard to swallow for me.

Yes but, what other device can animate a piece of poo. Tell me, who?

 

[Abu Khadija]

Now quietly they raised the prices of the top tier levels on the iPad Pros by $50. I had the 10.5" in my hands with Att Next over the weekend and said no because I didn't think I needed it. My point is whether it's the iPhone X or the Note 8, their both expensive and their both good. I've had Apple and Samsung phones before. I've come back to Apple because I like it more than Android. But that's me and a lot of others too. You buy what you want and others buy what they want

I left iPhones after the 5 because the screen was too small for me. I got the S3, than S4, and than the Note 3, all in a matter of a years time because of the size of the screen. All this time I had either an iPad or now a MacBook Pro. I came back to iPhones because of the 6 plus. Now again everything I have syncs together. I love what I have.

Buy what you want. Everybody does. Don't let others complain that your wrong or you don't have their ego system. You get want you need or in my cause, what you want and don't necessarily need. Be happy with what you got. It's almost like gas prices, it'll always go up. But gas prices do come down, our phones probably won't if you want new every year.

 

[Craig]

People who use a lot of media (photos, video, tv, gaming, etc) will never get the $999 version, they will get the $1149 version. Let's round up for ease of use.

$1150 Phone
$200 Apple Care
$100 Apple's Leather Case = huge price increase to $99 Why?
$150 Tax
$75 Wireless Basic Doc / Belkin?
$25 Glass Screen Protector
= $1700.00 plus your wireless bill

So $1700 for an iPhone ???

 

[sting7k]

Yes but, what other device can animate a piece of poo. Tell me, who?

Lol, the animoji are cute but I don't really see me using those; ever.