Apple to hike iPhone prices

Apple is expected to blast further past the $1,000 price barrier when it launches new iPhones, but Wall Street is most intrigued by how deep into its larger-than-ever lineup price hikes may go.

Apple is expected to blast further past the $1,000 price barrier with its launch of new iPhones on Wednesday, but Wall Street is most intrigued by how deep into its larger-than-ever line-up price hikes may go.

Apple’s market capitalisation has passed $1-trillion and the company needs to sustain revenue growth from its signature product even as global demand for smartphones plateaus. One way to do that is to get people to buy more expensive phones.

“There’s no real gamechanger on the table,” said Hal Eddins, chief economist at Apple shareholder Capital Investment Counsel. “It’s a matter of getting people to keep moving up.”

The new top model is expected to have a 6.5-inch screen with an edge-to-edge display and to be called the iPhone X Plus or Max. It is expected to have an OLED display with richer colours, and Wall Street is targeting a price of $1,049-$1,099 versus the $999 base price for the iPhone X.

A phone with a 5.8-inch OLED display, likely to be called the iPhone Xs, will improve on the iPhone X’s processor.

But it is a third expected model with a 6.1-inch display, potentially called the iPhone 9, that has intrigued analysts. The big display is expected to use lower-cost LCD technology. While some expect a $699 price for the iPhone 9, Goldman Sachs analyst Rod Hall sees as much as $849, a significant bump for a mid-range device.