iPhone X Apple builds its first ever budget iPhone

[tkermit]

It has the appearance of a budget phone, with the weird colors reminiscent of the 5c. But it's certainly not priced like one. I'm honestly not sure what to make of this phone...

 

[bluecoast]

If the XR matched the same dpi as the plus at the price it’s going at, this would be an insane bargain.

However...

Plus users get a screen at nearly 100 dpi less than they’re used to at roughly the same price that they’re used to. Maybe Apple knows that many don’t care about the screen dpi. If so, fair enough.

4.7 inch users get to spend more and get a larger screen - and body. They also get lots of great upgrades for their money - especially if they’re a 6 or 6s user. If they can bear the price, 6 and 6s users get great value for money, true.

In the end, I suspect that Apple knows that there are lots of 6 and 6s - plus and regular - users out there and are hoping to tempt them with the XR. I think they’ll succeed.

Myself, I’ll sit from the sidelines (with my 7 128, applauding what apple has done and be keen to see what 2019 brings where I hope that the features plus price points magically combine for me.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

If the XR matched the same dpi as the plus at the price it’s going at, this would be an insane bargain.

However...

Plus users get a screen at nearly 100 dpi less than they’re used to at roughly the same price that they’re used to. Maybe Apple knows that many don’t care about the screen dpi. If so, fair enough.

4.7 inch users get to spend more and get a larger screen - and body. They also get lots of great upgrades for their money - especially if they’re a 6 or 6s user. If they can bear the price, 6 and 6s users get great value for money, true.

In the end, I suspect that Apple knows that there are lots of 6 and 6s - plus and regular - users out there and are hoping to tempt them with the XR. I think they’ll succeed.

Myself, I’ll sit from the sidelines (with my 7 128, applauding what apple has done and be keen to see what 2019 brings where I hope that the features plus price points magically combine for me.

As a current 6S owner myself I do find the lack of proper 3DTouch a stinger. It does have some of the functionality but I’m not convinced it’s enough for someone who is used to it. It’s quite a big phone too and it puts non Plus owners in a dilemma.

 

[Jason Honer]

Apple did it. They built their first budget iPhone - the iPhone XR. Every year there are rumors about a cheaper iPhone model for the mass market of price-conscious Apple enthusiasts. They never come true. Except now! The iPhone XR was designed to be maximum affordable with modern technology.

Previously we had the iPhone 5C and SE, who promised to deliver on the cheap iPhone dream. The 5C wasn’t noticeably cheaper and amidst the 64-bit transition hopelessly outdated from the start. It only offered an interesting new design with unapologetically colorful plastic. The SE on the other hand came with a fairly new six month old processor and camera and at least later on hit very low price points, but you had to make up with an old form factor and old screen. It was a retro phone reminiscent of a time when you could use a phone with one hand.

Now comes the XR and it has the newest processor and its own screen. Sure it’s not OLED and not Super Retina and it lacks a 3D Touch layer, but it was designed this year for this phone to deliver an edge-to-edge display at the lowest possible price point. A price which mustn’t strike you as cheap, but it is. Apple’s insane profit margin of 38% hasn’t gone up with the iPhone X. The X is more expensive, only because its components are more expensive to make. And the iPhone XR is a very close resemblance to Apple’s flagship phone at a much lower price. It was designed specifically to be the same but cheaper, something neither the 5C or SE even tried to achieve.

This strategy shift also acknowledges that Apple was in danger of losing customers. Which didn’t happen in the first year of the price increase, but S-year customers aren’t exactly early adopters either, who will pay anything for the latest novelty. The question remains, how do we convince Apple that iMac and MacBook Pro prices also need to come down again?

Has anyone introduced you to the SE? You can get them new through Cricket for $150.

 

[Falhófnir]

Really it’s not a budget model as such, it’s the next iPhone in the original line, succeeding the iPhone 8. The X, Xs and Xs Max are all over-and-above models for Apple to sound out and tap into what demand there is for an ultra-premium smartphone

 

[Gudi]

It has the appearance of a budget phone, with the weird colors reminiscent of the 5c. But it's certainly not priced like one. I'm honestly not sure what to make of this phone...

The 5C wasn’t a budget phone. It was rumored to become one, but ultimately ended up to be a bad bargain versus the innovative 5S. The XR however is a cheaper variant of the X/XS line. It’s only reason to exist is to be $250 cheaper. What’s not to understand?

As a current 6S owner myself I do find the lack of proper 3D Touch a stinger. It does have some of the functionality, but I’m not convinced it’s enough for someone who is used to it. It’s quite a big phone too and it puts non Plus owners in a dilemma.

There’s no dilemma. If you’re not instantly falling in love with it, then your current iPhone is still good enough for you. Of course the price seems expensive, if you already have a big screen iPhone which has most of the same features and even some more.

 

[Hernan4651]

Oh yes it is! Do you think Apple is suicidal and lowers their profit margin as well as the average selling price? They have to sell a lot more of these XRs anyway to grow year-on-year. Samsung owns OLED technology and charges an arm and a leg for these displays, when sold to the competition. It’s a bit like the Intel monopoly on PC CPUs, the bulk of the profits sticks with one indispensable supplier. There is a (non-technical) reason Apple avoided OLED for so long and is abandoning it only one year later.

As you’ve mentioned 7nm chips lower the price, single camera lowers the price, aluminum frame lowers the price, leaving out 3D Touch lowers the price. The XR is less water-resistant and has slower LTE. Other than that the two phones are remarkably similar, which is precisely the miracle I’m talking about.
There are no other companies making iPhones. Stop comparing Apples and Oranges! Last years iPhone 8 was $700. So $750 is not too much for an iPhone XR given the desirable form factor and bigger screen.

Okay, this years iPhone 8 price is $600. I would still pay up the additional $150 for an XR. If you’re willing to live with bezels, why not buy the iPhone 7 at $450, huh? No one should be buying iPhone 8 anymore.

Yes, but the 2 most expensive parts of a phone are the screen and the processor. As you said, the processor is cheaper BUT is THE SAME in both because it is cheaper than 3 years ago when they released the 5C with another processor to make it cheaper.
If the processor is the same, the screen could be 20 dollars cheaper not 150...

 

[MacCheeseLai]

With the 5C I just remember a lot of tears when the phone had issues with iOS 7. I never owned the phone but I know a few who did.

I wouldn’t agree with calling this new phone a budget phone. A budget compared to the Max+ but it’s still some $700 bucks. Not cheap.

 

[bluecoast]

Yes, but the 2 most expensive parts of a phone are the screen and the processor. As you said, the processor is cheaper BUT is THE SAME in both because it is cheaper than 3 years ago when they released the 5C with another processor to make it cheaper.
If the processor is the same, the screen could be 20 dollars cheaper not 150...

If we all hold on for a year, we’ll probably be able to get the XR for $650-600. Much better. And it’ll still be an insanely fast phone.

 

[Gudi]

Yes, but the 2 most expensive parts of a phone are the screen and the processor. As you said, the processor is cheaper BUT is THE SAME in both because it is cheaper than 3 years ago when they released the 5C with another processor to make it cheaper. If the processor is the same, the screen could be 20 dollars cheaper not 150...

I am not meticulously following supplier rumors. We only get to hear analyst estimates anyway, because everything is a trade secret. It all has its pros and cons. A 7nm process is cheaper because it puts more chips on a wafer, but using an old chip factory which would otherwise run idle also saves money. So far Apples preferred method to lower costs was to keep selling last years iPhone unchanged. The SE was an outlier in that it integrated several components of different ages in a new combination. The cost benefits of each component change from year to year. It’s all a giant mixed calculation only the management can understand.

Nonetheless Apple can’t sell millions of iPhone XR at a much lower profit margin. It must be a lot cheaper to make these phones one way or another. One more curious thing is that Apple didn’t offer any accessories for the XR. Sure iPhones have become a lot more scratch resistant and why advertise a phone as dust and water proof, if it still requires a case? But the profit margins on $49 leather cases are huge. The company can hardly forgo these profits.

 

[mpConroe]

I don't like this phone. LCD is worse than in my 3 years old 6S Plus (lower resolution). The camera is also single-lens, even 7 Plus got 2 lens system. This is rubbish and too expensive, not cheap. My XS is coming on Friday, at least I know what I'm paying for and I'm happy with that.