Price-comparison site rolls out trend forecast tool
Apple’s iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max will go on sale on October 26, but keen buyers might want to wait before splashing their cash.
The iPhone XR will be available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB models with prices starting at $1399, Apple said.
PriceSpy, the independent price-tracking service, predicts Kiwis will be able to buy the Apple iPhone Xs 64GB at a launch price of $1155, but predicts it will have dropped to just $1000 by midFebruary.
It has the starting price for the iPhone Xs Max 512GB at $2130, but predicts by mid-February consumers will be able to buy one for $1868.
The new iPhones provide the PriceSpy price comparison website, which gets about 800,000 visits a month, with an opportunity to raise awareness about its new feature, which predicts future price trends.
PriceSpy has been carving out a following by giving Kiwi consumers a single place where they can check the comparative prices of things such as home electronics and phones.
Users are able to see product price histories, and set up text alerts for when the price of something they want hits the level they are willing to pay.
It has now begun forecasting expected future price trends for products, calling them PriceForecast, for new products that are not yet available to buy, such as the new iPhone release, and PriceTrends for products that are already available.
Liisa Matinvesi-Bassett, the New Zealand country manager for PriceSpy, said the company had used artificial intelligence to develop a method of predicting future price trends, based on historical price information for similar products.
There were, however, no guarantees the predictions were 100 per cent accurate.
Using this tool, PriceSpy hoped to give shoppers an even better ability than before to research when the best time was to buy, Matinvesi-Bassett said.
‘‘Our website currently offers consumers insights for 95,000 indexed prices, 1,840,000 products and 4,130,000 product features.
‘‘Having access to such a large volume of prices and products means we also retain a lot of historical data.’’
PriceTrends would first be introduced for mobile phones, laptops, headphones and televisions, before being rolled out more widely across the site over the coming months.
‘‘With key shopping periods coming up as we near the end of the year we hope shoppers find this tool useful as part of their shopping research.’’