Yesterday the iPhone 14 presentation event took place, which was covered by our colleagues from Omicrono. We also saw new watches and headphones announced there, but what caught our attention the most were the prices of the phones (and the Apple Watch Ultra).
In the United States the company has contained its rise quite well, but the same cannot be said of Europe, where, due to multiple factors, we are facing the most expensive iPhone family in history.
Inflation, currency conversion and more
The reason why iPhone prices have increased is not unique. On the one hand, we have an increase in production costs, caused by the shortage of transformers, the increase in the cost of raw materials, energy, etc. It’s the inflation.
But in Europe there is another factor that has caused prices to skyrocket: the euro-dollar parity.
At the time of this writing, 1 euro is equivalent to one dollar, when converting currencies. This breaks a trend that we have seen in recent years, with the euro stronger than the dollar, which has benefited us to import products, such as mobile phones.
In 18 months, we went from 1.2 dollars per euro to 1 dollar per euro, a depreciation of 16.6% compared to the value at the start of 2021.
We also cannot ignore the increased costs that brands have to give a three-year warranty instead of two in the European Union.
Android makers will see something similar
At the Samsung folding showcase event, we were expecting a lower price point to see this category take off with a wider audience.
Not only was that not the case, but we saw how much higher the prices of the 2022 models were than those of 2021.
[Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, análisis: más de lo mismo, para lo bueno y lo malo]
We have also seen it in entry-level terminals. It is difficult to recommend an Android mobile for less than 200 dollars without making many sacrifices, whereas a few years ago there were very solvent models.
We hope that this trend will not last more than a year or two and that we will soon return to the trend of improving smartphones without implying a drastic increase in their prices.
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