On September 8th, American technology giant, Apple, held its “Far Out” online conference. At this event. the company officially released a couple of devices. The protagonist of the event is obviously the iPhone 14 series including the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. The iPhone 14 series mostly retains the design of the iPhone 13 series. The front notch for selfie camera sensors as well as the Face ID sensor for the lower models is the same. However, for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, the display is different. They use a “question mark” design – a pill and a regular punch hole. The Pro series support background activity, brighter displays and AOD always-on display, an A16 bionic chip, new colour options, and more.
iPhone 14 series Price
In the US, the iPhone 14 starts at $799 and the iPhone 14 Plus starts at $899. The iPhone 14 Pro starts at $999, and the iPhone 14 Pro Max starts at $1,099. In China, the iPhone 14 starts at 5,999 yuan ($862), and the iPhone 14 Plus starts at 6,999 yuan ($1006). The iPhone 14 Pro starts at 7,999 yuan ($1150), and the iPhone 14 Pro Max starts at 8,999 yuan ($1293).
If you look at the starting price of the iPhone 14 series in China and the United States, there is no price increase. However, according to CNBC reports, Apple has raised the price of the iPhone 14 series in many other markets around the world. For example, the iPhone 13 in the UK starts at £779 and the iPhone 14 starts at £849. In Australia, the iPhone 13 starts at AU$1,349 and the iPhone 14 starts at AU$1,399. For the Japanese market, the iPhone 13 starts at 98,800 yen and the iPhone 14 start at 119,800 yen. The German iPhone 13 starts at 899 euros, while the iPhone 14 starts at 999 euros.
In addition to this, the prices of other models have increased even more. For example, the starting price of the iPhone 14 Pro Max in the UK jumped by £150 compared to last year’s iPhone 13 Pro Max model. Mainly affected by persistently rampant inflation and a global recession environment, the latest Apple smartphone will test global consumer demand for new electronics and will test the American tech giant’s brand power.
Why is the iPhone 14 series in these regions increasing its prices?
Analysts claims part of the reasons behind the rise could be higher component costs. Furthermore, there are speculations that the appreciation of the U.S. dollar against other currencies in a market is also a factor.
“The key factor is that the euro and yen have depreciated a lot, which means prices have risen slightly,” said Neil Shah, partner at Counterpoint Research.
On Wednesday, the pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985. The euro and the dollar were basically flat, and the dollar continued to appreciate against the yen. Apple has kept prices for the iPhone 14 series unchanged in mainland China, one of its most important markets. Apple’s Greater China revenue segment, which includes mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, was its third-largest region for sales in the second quarter of this year. Factors such as the coronavirus lockdown could depress consumers’ economic purchasing power.
Chinese market to shrink
Market research firm IDC expects China’s smartphone market to shrink 13 per cent this year, falling below 300 million device shipments for the first time since 2012. This may be one of the reasons why Apple has not taken price increases for the Chinese version of the iPhone 14.
“If part of the rationale for keeping prices flat is maintaining demand in such a difficult environment and Apple’s emphasis on this strategically important market, I think it makes sense,” said Bryan Ma, a technology industry analyst at IDC.
Apple continues to succeed in the Chinese market, especially in the higher-priced premium smartphone market. IDC said Apple had a 70 per cent share of China’s $600-plus smartphone market in the second quarter, up from 58 per cent in the first quarter. Much of that can be attributed to the decline of Huawei phones, whose smartphone business has been hit by U.S. sanctions, leaving Apple to fill the void.
“Keeping prices flat helps Apple retain its user base and strengthen its position in the Chinese market,” Bryan Ma said
All the models of the iPhone 14 series comes with 6GB of RAM
After the official release of the iPhone 14 series, MacRumours reports that all four models of Apple ’s iPhone 14 series are equipped with 6GB RAM. The latest beta of Xcode 14 contains files showing that the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max all have 6GB of RAM. For comparison, the iPhone 13 mini and iPhone 13 are equipped with 4GB RAM, while the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max comes with 6GB of RAM. It also means that this year’s base iPhone models have a 50 per cent increase in RAM.
Apple iPhone 13 series RAM capacity
- iPhone 13 mini: 4GB
- iPhone 13: 4GB
- Apple iPhone 13 Pro: 6GB
- Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max: 6GB
iPhone 14 series RAM capacity
- iPhone 14: 6GB
- iPhone 14 Plus: 6GB
- Apple iPhone 14 Pro: 6GB
- Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max: 6GB
Previously, similar Xcode files had accurately revealed the RAM capacity of the iPhone 13 series models and previous generations of iPhones. In March, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the iPhone 14 Pro models will come with a faster RAM type, LPDDR5, compared to the base iPhone 14 models’ LPDDR4X. However, the Xcode file only confirms the RAM capacity of each model. In terms of processors, the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus are equipped with the A15 Bionic chip and 5-core GPU, while the Pro models are equipped with the new A16 Bionic chip.