Published in Mobiles

Apple finds itself in a 5G pricing dilemma

by on05 October 2018

 

It didn’t think ahead

It seems that Apple might face a problem over 5G because it was thinking too hard about this year’s profits.

Digitimes has been doing some digging and found that next year Apple will hit an iceberg  over 5G which it could have planned for this year.

Phone makers will be shifting from 4G to 5G from 2019 onwards and while 5G will not be with us until 2020, handset vendors including Samsung Electronics, Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo will be eager to release 5G smartphones in 2019.

Since Apple usually announces a new phone every year it may be that Apple follows its rivals and roll out 4G/5G dual-mode smartphones. But the smart money suggests that Apple will stick to 4G because no US telcos will have a service.

This means rivals will have 5G phones which are much cheaper and Apple’s tech will look even more out of date and overpriced than normal.

If Apple does roll out 4G/5G dual-mode smartphones in 2019, it will have to charge more with its first 5G iPhone available starting at US$1,299. The reason for this is that Apple will be stuck upholding the current high-mark-up pricing system.

Digitimes thinks that Apple might apply the same policy of lower prices for the current iPhone lineup when it launches the 5G models, as it did for the iPhone X and iPhone 8 in 2018 and for iPhone 6s and Phone 7 in 2017. But such a practice will kill off its 5G phones among the intelligent.

Apple might roll out an entry-level 4G/5G lineup in 2019 available at US$899-999 to enhance its deployment in the 5G sector, suggested the sources. This is the least likely because it would mean that Apple would be dropping the price only to increase it again.

At the moment Apple’s plan seems to be to keep increasing the price until fanboys finally work out that it is not worth it.

Had Apple been thinking about 5G, it would have kept this year’s price phones at around the 2017 levels and jacked up the price next year using 5G as a reason and no one would have thought badly as it is Apple appears to have painted itself into a corner.    

Last modified on 05 October 2018
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