Flagship iPhone prices have jumped 66% since 2009, but Tim Cook says people are happy to pay more for “the best”

In short: Even when adjusting for inflation, the costs of at the moment’s high-end iPhones are a lot larger than they have been over a decade in the past—by 66%, within the case of the costliest mannequin. However CEO Tim Cook dinner thinks that is okay as a result of individuals are prepared to pay extra to “get the very best.”

Insider notes that when the iPhone 3G and 3GS launched in 2009, the latter mannequin with its most storage and no contract price $699, or $962 when adjusting for inflation. That is loads lower than the top-specced iPhone 14 Professional Max, which, when purchased with 1TB of storage, prices $1,600, or 66% greater than the iPhone 3GS.

The publication writes that costs have been on the rise for years; Apple has typically been accused of accelerating the price of its merchandise at a better fee than inflation. The iPhone X’s $1,149 launch worth would make it round $1,376 at the moment, although one exception was the iPhone 12 Professional Max, which offered for $1,399—$100 lower than the iPhone 11 Professional Max.

Paying $1,000 or extra for a product is a big outlay, however Cook dinner believes customers are prepared to spend this a lot as a result of telephones have develop into “so integral into individuals’s lives.” When requested if handsets’ growing common gross sales worth over the previous couple of years is sustainable, the CEO stated, “I believe individuals are prepared to essentially stretch to get the very best they will afford in that class.”

Cook dinner was answering questions associated to Apple’s latest quarterly earnings report, one among its worst in years. iPhone income was all the way down to $65.8 billion in This autumn in comparison with $71.6 billion throughout the identical interval a yr earlier. Total, the three-month interval ending December 31, 2022, noticed the most important dip since 2016, and it was the primary year-to-year gross sales drop Apple skilled since 2019.

Apple is unlikely to be apprehensive about its newest monetary report. Cupertino remains to be the most important firm on the planet by way of market capitalization, which is presently $2.444 trillion after hitting $3 trillion final yr. And at a time when a lot of the tech trade is reducing employees numbers because the financial system falters, Apple is likely one of the few to have averted making layoffs—Tim Cook dinner even took a 40% pay cut at his personal request.

Masthead: Ryan Tir