On Tuesday, Apple unveiled the iPhone X, and fans went bananas over the much anticipated launch. The tech company always has to outdo itself (and everyone else), and while the new iPhone comes with some jaw-dropping new technology, it also comes with a jaw-dropping price. So how much is the iPhone X? In anticipation of the launch, rumors flew fast and furious that the device would retail for a shocking $999 — and it turns out that the rumors were indeed true.
Needless to say, that's a whole lot of money for a phone, especially when compared to a lot of other models on the market. And the price for the tenth year anniversary device is definitely a big jump from the first ever iPhone, which Steve Jobs unveiled for $599 in 2007. Back in those days of good old flip phones, the $599 price tag was so unexpected that the company eventually cut it down to $399 after customer backlash, as Lifewire reported.
But once again, it seems, Apple is pricing the new tech at a higher price than usual, trusting that enough customers will be interested to make the phone fly off the shelves. So what exactly makes this new phone worth shelling out $999? Well, it does come with an interesting re-design and the latest technology out there, so the price is not for nothing.
In the days before Tuesday's annual launch event at the Steve Jobs Theatre on Apple's Cupertino campus, information leaks about the new iPhone teased features like an edge-to-edge screen, a lack of a home button, and facial recognition technology that would mean users could unlock their phones without having to swipe and enter a passcode or use their fingerprints.
So perhaps users willing to fork over the $999 are paying the right price for the technology they're going to get. Or maybe the hefty price tag represents something else. Maybe part of the point of paying so much is to show that you can. As Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told CNNMoney, the company seems to know that the iPhone X is not exactly designed for mass market consumption, or the casual consumer. It's all about prestige.
According to CNN, Wozniak said:
Apple has cultivated a class of buyers who pay more and expect to pay more for a type of brand prestige. Even techies want to show off that they have the very latest iPhone.
Will enough consumers want to pay up? From the reaction on Tuesday, it seems that Apple is going to be just fine.
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