iPhone 14 launch: Apple reins in prices despite inflation
Apple’s latest line-up of iPhones will boast better cameras, faster processors, and a longer lasting battery at the same prices as last years model, despite the inflationary pressure that has driven up the cost of many other everyday items.
That decision, revealed on Wednesday during Apple’s first in-person product event in three years, came as a mild surprise. Many analysts predicted Apple would ask its devout fans to pay as much as 15 per cent more to help offset rising costs for many components.
Meet iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14, Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch Ultra, and AirPods Pro. All that and more from the #AppleEvent
— Apple (@Apple) September 7, 2022
The hoopla surrounding the new iPhone 14 models is part of a post-Labour Day ritual the company has staged annually for more than a decade. Wednesday’s event was held on the company’s Cupertino, California, campus at a theater named after company co-founder Steve Jobs.
Incremental upgrades
For several years, Apple’s new iPhones have mostly featured incremental upgrades to cameras and battery life, and this year’s models were no exception. Pricing for the standard iPhone 14 will start at $799; the deluxe iPhone 14 Pro Max will start at $1,099.
Among the latest improvements is a 48-megapixel camera in the Pro and Pro Max models that the company said will produce especially crisp pictures.
The iPhone 13 versions of the Pro and Pro Max have 12-megapixel cameras. This year’s high-end models will also have always-on displays that stay lit even when the device is locked, a feature that has long been available on many smartphones powered by Googles Android software.
Beginning in November, the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max will be able to send SOS messages via a new satellite feature a safety measure intended to let users request help when in remote areas without a wireless connection.
All the iPhone 14 models will include a motion senor capable of detecting serious car crashes and automatically connecting to emergency services.
With inflation still hovering at its highest level in 40 years, consumers have curbed their spending on many discretionary items. Thats likely contributing to a recent decline in smartphone sales, although the iPhone has fared far better than competing Android devices.
Smartphone prices
The dimming sales outlook prompted the research firm International Data Corp. to predict a worldwide decline in 2022 smartphone shipments of 6.5 per cent, almost double the 3.5 per cent decline it had estimated a few months ago.
Despite that anticipated drop in sales, the average price for new smartphones is expected to finish this year about 6 per cent higher than last year, IDC estimated.
Consumers have still been snapping up iPhones this year, even though Apple already charges among the industrys highest prices. Apple sold an estimated 106 million iPhones through the first half of this year, an 8 per cent increase from the same time last year, according to Canalys, another research firm.
With agency inputs
