Despite the fact that we knew the whole lot that Apple was going to announce at its Far Out occasion, there have been nonetheless loads of surprises throughout Wednesday’s keynote. The iPhone 14 Professional’s Dynamic Island is without doubt one of the finest interfaces Apple has ever launched. The Apple Watch Extremely is filled with far more professional options than we thought. And the AirPods Professional have tiny trackpads for adjusting the amount.
However the greatest shock of all might need been the pricing. For months, we’ve been ready for terribly excessive costs as a result of quite a lot of elements: inflation, provide chain and manufacturing points, and a larger emphasis on high-end merchandise. However regardless of all that, this yr’s new merchandise received’t value any greater than they did yesterday. And in some circumstances, they’ll truly value rather a lot much less.
The merchandise that had been up to date—the iPhone 14, AirPods Professional, Apple Watch Sequence 8—all value the identical, and the Apple Watch SE 2 prices $30 much less at $249. And the iPhone 14 Plus, which was rumored to begin at $949 or $999, prices simply $100 greater than the iPhone 14 at $899. And the Professional fashions nonetheless prices $999 and $1,099.
The iPhone 14 Professional and its Dynamic Island doesn’t value any greater than the notched iPhone 13 Professional.
Jason Snell/Foundry
Granted, the lack of the mini mannequin means that is the very best ever beginning value for a brand new set of iPhones—and in some international locations all over the world costs have risen considerably as a result of forex fluctuations—however we had been ready for important value will increase within the U.S. as properly. The Professional fashions had been purported to rise by $100 as a result of new show, digicam, and satellite tv for pc options. They received all these issues, however costs remained the identical. Apple isn’t even charging for satellite tv for pc connectivity by way of Globalstar for no less than two years.
And in case you don’t need to hand over $800 or $1,000 on a brand new iPhone, Apple continues to be promoting the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini for $699 and $599 respectively. Whereas that’s Apple’s commonplace apply for older telephones, it’s a bit of stunning this yr, for the reason that iPhone 14 isn’t all that completely different, apart from a barely higher digicam and chip.
The largest pricing shock, nonetheless, is with the Apple Watch Extremely. It’s completely loaded with options—precision dual-frequency GPS, depth gauge with water temperature sensor, EN13319 certification, 100m water resistance, 86-decibel siren, mobile connectivity, and 36-hour battery life with a 49mm sapphire crystal show wrapped in a titanium case with three specialised bands—however doesn’t have the $899 or $999 price ticket that we had been anticipating. The Apple Watch Extremely prices $799, which is $100 lower than the 45mm titanium Apple Watch Version.
That’s a powerful price ticket for lots of Apple Watch. Apple may have simply charged $999 for the Apple Watch Extremely and tacked on $100 for mobile and nobody would have questioned it. However Apple went as aggressively low because it may to compete with comparable watches from Garmin. For instance, the Enduro 2, which is geared toward comparable customers, prices $1,100.
Apple isn’t going to shake its popularity as a high-priced luxurious model by not pricing a number of units into the stratosphere. However at a time when everybody anticipated Apple to up its costs, we received a refreshing shock that made a thousand-dollar cellphone and $800 watch appear downright reasonably priced.
