Michael Simon writes for Macworld:
It’s no secret that the iPhone’s average selling price has creeped up over the past several years. Since the launch of the thousand-dollar iPhone X, Apple has been covering up a slow decline in sales with much higher prices. The cheapest current X-model iPhone, the iPhone XR, starts at $749, and if you want the flagship XS model, you’re paying no less than $999. That’s not going to change.
It’s funny, but Apple was actually ahead of the mid-range curve. Back in 2016, it launched the iPhone SE between the iPhone 6s and iPhone 7. It had the body of an iPhone 5S with the guts of an iPhone 6s for nearly half the price. It was strictly a response to customers who wanted a smaller, cheaper phone… But Apple never paid it the attention it deserved. Rather than continue to update it — like Google will presumably do with the Pixel 3a — it was left to languish for years on end, only receiving the most obligatory of updates.
MacDailyNews Take: If the iPhone SE sold well enough, Apple would have paid more attention to it. Obviously, it did not sell well enough.
There’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to future iPhone releases—triple cameras and reverse wireless charging in September; 5G, and time-of-flight sensors in 2020 — but until Apple starts paying attention to the middle, more and more people are going to start banking their iPhones for something that doesn’t have an Apple logo on the back.
MacDailyNews Take: We do not see proof that people are dumping their iPhones for mid-range Android dreck. And, no, BankMyCell’s data isn’t proof. The sample size is small and consists only of BankMyCell users.
In January, CIRP found iOS loyalty at 91%, its highest ever, and rising.
As X-class iPhones continue to be released, older models (X, XS, XS Max) will remain on the market and drop in price, satisfying the mid-range iPhone buyer.
Again, Apple sells premium products at premium prices to premium customers. Android can have the rest. They’re more trouble than they’re worth as they generally only want things for “free” and they buy demonstrably fewer apps, accessories, and subscriptions.