Will people pay Dh4,099 for iPhone X? Of course
▶ Experts say Apple’s new device will sell out, but wonder if those opting for iPhone 8 will lose face
By one measure, the new $1,000 iPhone X is a mid-market smartphone, positioned nicely between the Vsun Aqua Tough Dual Sim Smartphone at Dh199 and the Vertu Signature Touch for Bentley, yours for Dh57,000.
Others may look at the price and echo the words of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, whose initial verdict on Apple’s new product in 2007 was: “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”
If consumers proved the world’s richest man hopelessly wrong as they rushed to spend US$500 (Dh,1830), then what are the prospects for the new four-figure iPhone X, which is fooling no one with an initial price tag of Dh4,099 in the UAE, creeping up to Dh4,729 with the 256GB option.
“Even at $1,000 it’s going to be sold out for the rest of the year and it will be difficult getting it,” said Abbas Ali, founder of the UAE tech website Tbreak.
“People will resort to grey markets and pay north of $1,500 for the first two-to-three weeks of launch. According to what I’ve read, Apple is able to produce only 10,000 units a day. That’s nothing.”
Ashish Panjabi, a self-styled tech enthusiast with a background in electronics retail, said the new products had several shortcomings.
In particular, he questioned the decision to launch the iPhone 8 and X simultaneously, pointing out that buying the former might be interpreted in the UAE market as meaning you could not afford the X.
“I wouldn’t want to be the person boasting that I had just bought the iPhone 8,” Mr Panjabi said.
He said that many of the new features of the X were already available in other devices, and at a lower price.
“A lot of people in the UAE have two phones and I suspect they might keep their iPhone 7 rather than get the 8, and upgrade their Android device.”
Neither Etisalat nor du are advertising the iPhone X yet. A call to the du customer service hotline revealed the iPhone X will be ready for order on October 27, with delivery a month later, but with no word yet on if the company will be offering discounts on handsets if accompanied by a postpaid package.
Etisalat and du are offering the all-glass iPhone 8, also launched this month, from Friday with customers taking delivery on September 23.
Since launching the iPhone 6S three years ago, Apple has brought out three new models, skipping an iPhone 9. The X – meant to be pronounced “ten” – is a nod to the 10th anniversary of the original iPhone.
Apple faces competition, in terms of cost and features, from the new Samsung Galaxy Note 8, at Dh3,399 only a fraction cheaper than the iPhone X and available next week.
What owners will do with the now obsolete – at least in UAE terms – iPhone 6, 6S, 7, or even, for a few unfortunates, the iPhone 5, remains to be seen.
While Apple offers a recycling service in exchange for a shop discount or gift card, the second-hand market looks set for a boost, with the online classified advertising site Dubizzle listing five new pages of Apple phones in the past 24 hours.
Also launched this week – with considerably less fanfare and attention than Apple’s new offspring – are the Oppo A71, at about Dh700, and the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2, with a price tag of Dh2,600. As they say, other smartphones are available.
Apple has confirmed its mobile payment system, Apple Pay, will go live in the UAE, in partnership with six local banks, before the end of the year.
The contactless system, which enables customers to pay for goods and services using their iPhone and Apple Watch, will be available for customers of Emirates NBD, Mashreq, HSBC, RAKBank, Standard Chartered and Emirates Islamic, Apple said.
“We know our customers in the UAE will love the added convenience and security Apple Pay brings, and we can’t wait for them to start making easier and more private payments soon,” Jennifer Bailey, the vice president of Apple Pay, said yesterday.
Apple first announced plans for a UAE launch of the service in its most recent results call last month. It is currently active in 16 markets. The exact date of the UAE launch has not been disclosed.
Samsung unveiled its own payment system, Samsung Pay, in the UAE in April, partnering with seven issuer banks.