The smartphone boom of the last decade has created massive economies of scale, and companies are producing very good smartphones for less than half that price. So charging – and paying – a grand for a mobile phone might seem like madness. But indulge me in disagreeing. I propose that £999 makes perfect sense for a top-of-the-line phone. In fact, we’ve really been underpaying for phones for years
A couple of years ago, I signed up for Apple's iPhone Upgrade plan when I bought a shiny new iPhone 6S. I went with this payment program because I simply couldn't justify the out-of-pocket cost of a top-of-the-line 128 GB iPhone 6S, which would have been $849 (plus you get AppleCare+ for the duration of the two-year loan period). With the Upgrade Program, I was able to get this phone for only around $40 a month. Save for one other model (the 128 GB iPhone 6S Plus), this was the most expensive iPhone on sale in late 2015 when I bought it.
Today’s iPhone launch, coming a full decade after the release of the original iPhone, will feature a device quite similar to Apple’s first ever smartphone. The newest iPhone, whose name has already leaked out as iPhone X, will be like the original in that it will be higher in price than most people are used to paying for phones, it will be constrained in availability due to the difficulty of its manufacture, and it will serve as a status symbol for its owners. Some will purchase it to signal their wealth, many will acquire it as a totem of their Apple fandom, and almost all will desire it simply by virtue of its limited availability and exclusivity.
