Apple is getting ready to release the new iPhone for 2018 and rumours suggest we can expect three variants, one of which should be affordable.
The iPhone 9 is expected to be cheap but the top-end iPhone X Plus was also, many hoped, set to offer relative savings over the current iPhone X . It appears that may not be the case.
New information suggests that the 6.5-inch iPhone X Plus could be Apple’s most expensive phone yet, costing even more than the £999 iPhone X.
This price may offer a benefit worth the extra spending though, in the form of 5G speed.
Spotted by Forbes , the new licencing fees for 5G could put Apple’s prices up even higher since it prides itself on offering a big profit margin.
This follows Nokia’s announcement that it would charge a flat rate per device at €3 (£2.71). The other 5G providers have already announced their prices with Ericsson at $5 (£3.90) and Qualcomm at 2.275%, aka up to $400 (£312).
All that equates to Apple paying about an extra $21 (£16) per device.
When you consider that the iPhone X, at £999, was more expensive because of its OLED display that bumped costs to Apple by $35 (£27), 5G could push that up even higher.
Of course all this relies on Apple actually including 5G capabilities on this generation of iPhones.
Apple historically releases new tech when it’s ready. 5G will still be rolling out across networks from 2019, so releasing an iPhone ready for it this early might be premature.
But since Apple is rumoured to release three new iPhones at once, in a first for the company, 5G as an addition may be a new first also. If the Samsung Galaxy S10 comes with 5G, as rumoured, Apple will need to keep up.
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