Big phone, big price
Apple iPhone XS Max will break $2000 phone price barrier
APPLE has smashed all smartphone price records, unveiling its biggest iPhone screen inside its most eyewateringly expensive mobile phone to date.
The Apple iPhone XS Max, due in Australia on September 21, will feature major upgrades to its display, its speed, its cameras, and even its colour, but it will cost Australian buyers more than $2000 for the first time, breaking last year’s record price for the iPhone X by more than $500.
The Cupertino tech giant also revealed a smaller iPhone XS, and a budget model dubbed the iPhone XR at its launch event.
Apple worldwide marketing senior vice-president Phil Schiller revealed the company’s new flagship device would be the first iPhone to feature a 6.5-inch screen, making it even bigger than Samsung’s famously large Galaxy Note 9.
“You can see it’s about the same size (as the iPhone 8 Plus) phone with a much larger display. We think there are a lot of customers who are going to love this bigger display,“Mr Schiller said
He said the iPhone XS Max, which will cost as much as $2369 when it arrives in Australia on September 21, will also feature “the smartest and most powerful chip ever in a smartphone”, as well as up to twice the storage of the previous model at 512GB, more durable glass, and upgrades to its camera with larger image sensors and artificial intelligence to automatically recognise scenes and facial features.
“You are going to be blown away with the pictures you can take with the iPhone XS camera,” Mr Schiller said.
“Some people call this computation photography. It’s making images possible now that weren’t before.”
The dual 12-megapixel rear cameras on the new iPhone XS models will let users alter background blur on images after they’ve captured them for the first time, and deploy a mode called Smart HDR that would use artificial intelligence to identify scenes or even users’ eyes.
Apple will also launch the cheaper iPhone XR, though even it will cost a minimum of $1229 and up to $1479 for the 256GB model.
The writer travelled to Cupertino as a guest of Apple.