Most expensive iPhone ever - Apple is walking on black ice

The most expensive phone in the world is pushing this week to the top: The iPhone X, which is presented on Tuesday, will cost around 1000 dollars, becoming the most expensive iPhone ever.

On Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook will enter for the first time the stage at the Steve Jobs Theater on the new campus in Cupertino. For the first time since the introduction of the first iPhones in 2007, he will present three new models and present the "iPhone X" a model of the extra class, which with a price of at least 1000 dollars.

2007 to 2017: iPhones have changed
This could be a tough test for Apple customers. They already guess what they are expecting, since weeks of different parts of the information are circulating in the net. The iPhone is supposed to have a higher-quality display than its predecessor and recognize faces when unlocking the device. At the same time, there are high expectations, as the device should bring the weakening business back on track.
For two years, the smartphone giant has had problems with its growth. According to the annual report, Apple's stock market chart in the fiscal year 2016 sales of about 215 billion US dollars, thus nearly 15 billion dollars less than the year before. Customers do not make it easy for them: on the markets in Europe and the USA, most people already have a smartphone and many stick to their products long before they get a new one. Instead of flooding the market with more products, Apple is increasing the price.

The iPhone as a moneymaker

The iPhone still stands for over 70 percent of Apple's business and remains the most important revenue and profit machine of the American company. Since the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in October 2011, investors are waiting for "the next big thing", which could reduce Apple's dependence on the iPhone. But this is a long way off. Instead, the company is relying on many innovations that have been featured in Samsung's stock exchange charts & Co. for two years.

To achieve this goal, the company is expected to spend about $ 100 more in production costs than for the iPhone 7. Those were an estimated value of 387 dollars. Half of these additional costs are generated by the new OLED display, according to Citi Research analysts.

But the more advanced components, which are installed in the new iPhone, are scarce. Many customers are expected to wait a long time to get the new device. For competitors such as Samsung, the Androidphone maker of Android co-founder Andy Rubin, this offers an ideal opportunity to target with their devices on the premium customers of Apple.

Beautiful expensive world: Apple hopes for the loyalty of its customers

As part of this new competition for high class smartphones, Apple is relying on the old-established loyalty of its customers. However, according to the opinion of some analysts, a price of $ 1000 upwards is indispensable to maintain the industry's profit margins.
No single competitor has yet been able to realize such profit margins with their mobile phones. By comparison, the entire industry generated $ 53.7 billion in profits last year, with iPhone manufacturers alone accounting for 44.9 billion dollars. Apple was able to earn an operating profit margin of 32.4 percent on average with its iPhones.
The group does not want to miss the title as a pioneer. And so he hopes that his supporters will really put a more than four-digit sum on the table. However, a market study claimed in early August that even Apple fans might be too stingy. Only 33 percent of current iPhone users are therefore willing to pay such a high price.

Apple's old business model

While some of the price shock on Tuesday could be quite hard, this type of market segmentation is common to Apple's product range. Apple computers range from $500 for the MacMini to $4000 for the MacPro. The Apple Watch could cost up to $10,000 when it was released with a genuine gold model. In the iPhone segment, the cheapest iPhone 5C costs 100 dollars less than the standard model, the most expensive iPhone 7 Plus with 256 GB turn 969 dollars.
"Apple has become the champion of segmentation at very different price levels," said Geoff Blaber, an analyst at CCS Insight, adding, "We tend to consider the $1000 mark as Apple's new territory."

And yet the new price level could cause a perception problem for Apple's loyal and a good customer base. "There will be major misunderstandings that Apple's stock market chart is trying to pull its customers really out of their pockets," said Blaber
.
According to the analyst Wayne Lam of Research Group IHS, a price of at least 1000 dollars is needed to maintain the operative profit margin of around 32 percent. "It's no secret that Apple has the biggest profit margins in history," he said. "This year they will test the price elasticity of their customers."
Many other analysts claim that the loyal Apple fans are quite ready for such a high price. Payments or mobile phone deals, combined with a cost-effective Apple Music package, could make the high price more tolerable for customers. Also the devices from the everyday life were an integral part of life. And after all, a 1000 dollar iPhone still costs less than daily Starbucks customers spend on latte macchiatos every year.