Gadget price cuts are always good news for consumers, and if the latest leaks are to be believed, it looks like the iPhone 15 will be one of them: Apparently Apple is considering lowering the price of the iPhone 15 Plus due to launch in September.
This comes from Yeux1122, a well-known online resource on Korean social network Naver (via Macworld (opens in a new tab)). The move is apparently being seriously considered and will respond to lackluster sales of the current Plus model.
The 128GB version of the iPhone 14 Plus, which debuted alongside the rest of the range earlier this year, started at $899/£949/AU$1,579, but it didn’t appear to be attracting buyers the way Apple hoped.
A Tale of Four Mobile Phones
While canceling the Plus model is an option for Apple, the iPhone 15 may be too far behind in development to make it happen. The next most logical step would be a phone that replaces the iPhone 13 mini at a reduced price.
It’s worth bearing in mind that the iPhone 14 Pro Max offers the same screen size as the Plus but adds features like a faster chip, dynamic islands and an always-on display for $200/£250/AU$320 – making this is a better deal.
So far, there’s no indication of how big the price cut will be, or how it will affect pricing for other models in the range. We’ve also heard that Apple could launch a more powerful and pricier iPhone 15 Ultra next year as well.
Analysis: Getting the price right
Pricing is always key with any smartphone: the cheapest phones may not have the fastest chips or the best screens, but they cost far less than the high-end flagships on the market, so they’re still worth the money.
As for Apple’s iPhone lineup, the Pro models have been the most compelling phones over the past few years. That’s even more the case with the iPhone 14 Pro, as the less expensive model has last year’s A15 Bionic chip inside.
Buyers of the iPhone 14 are getting a phone that is slower than the Pro, has a less-than-Pro camera system, and lacks some other cool features. Well, it’s cheaper, but there’s not much else to like it over the Pro.
We’ll have to wait and see what Apple does in 2023, keeping in mind it also has a cheap iPhone SE (2022) on sale. Next year could be the year Apple’s flagship phones get closer to mid-range pricing than ever before.