Since the speculated iPhone 8 would use the more costly OLED display instead of the usual LED screen and offer more improvements, the upcoming flagship is expected to cost more than $1,000.
The radical design changes and premium parts are the justification for Apple to hike the price tag of its rumored flagship in 2017, MacRumors reported, citing a report from Fast Company which has a source with knowledge of the pricing plan of the Cupertino-based tech giant. The tech website points out that a four-digit iPhone price tag may not be surprising since the 256GB iPhone 7 Plus costs $969 in the U.S.
Design Changes
The rumored design change include the iPhone 8 looking like a single glass sheet as it does away with physical buttons such as volume, power and mute switch. The Touch ID fingerprint sensor would reportedly be placed under the screen and the Home button too.
The 10th anniversary iPhone would also receive a memory upgrade and would look like a black monolith, Fast Company reported. Although media speculation names the next Apple flagship as iPhone 8, the report says Apple would likely name it iPhone X to celebrate the tech giant’s manufacture of the iPhone which has boosted the company’s finances significantly.
Cost of Manufacturing vs. Retail Price
If the next Apple’s flagship would cost more than $1,000, the company stands to earn at least $700 per iPhone sold. A Time report in 2014 estimated that it cost Apple $200.19 to build the iPhone 6, $211.50 the iPhone 6S and $236 the iPhone 6S, based on estimates by IHS Technology.
In another price comparison, IHS notes the iPhone 5S has a price tag of $649 for the 16GB model and $849 for the 64GB model. Motorola released at about the same time the Moto G, a similar gadget, priced at $179. To explain the price difference, the report points out that except for the battery, all parts of the Moto G is cheaper than the iPhone 5S, Alphr reported.
Total cost for the Moto G is $109.75 which means at a retail price of $179, Motorola earned $73 per gadget sold. In contrast, it cost Apple $198.70 to manufacture the 16GB iPhone 5S which translates into a net profit of $450 per unit sold.