September 10, 2022
01:20
Like every year at this time, Apple has just presented its new phone. Significant advances are few, and the price continues to soar. In short, nothing very new at Apple.
In this period of return, it is the return of some habits. In Silicon Valley in September, one of the best anchored is the release of the new iPhone. And from year to year, the date is more and more stereotyped. Rumors, expectations, a nice show, a phone that looks badly like the one from the year before and a lot of jokes on the networks about this eternal restart.
Some are probably a little less laughing than others Tim Cook’s teams. Like the one published by Eve Jobs, the creator’s daughter. Following the presentation, she shared a photo of a man in a burgundy shirt, receiving all smiles, the exact same shirt he’s wearing, with the caption: “Me moving from iPhone 13 to iPhone 13. ‘iPhone 14 after Apple’s announcement. The spade is almost nice, but Apple engineers would have done without the mockery of the internal messiah’s daughter.
The strange security argument
In addition, there are innovations. They are focused on security with the possibility of communicating emergency messages by satellite in the event of a network failure. The devices are also equipped with a crash identification system, via shock analysis. The few testimonials of lives saved by this technology already present on the Apple Watch show the usefulness of this type of application. Mays a tech company that relies on security to put itself forward, it is a bit perplexing. A bit as if Porsche relied on the argument of new seat belts to sell its latest model. It is useful, but not especially where it is expected in priority.
The “revolution” of the iPhone 14 is the disappearance of the notch. The designer will love it. The Apple fan will appreciate. A good part of the public will not notice it.
What makes potential buyers dream are the additional services and the quality of the product. Under the hood, we will politely say that the 14e brand phone plays the continuity card. The chip has been slightly boosted and the photo sensor is a little overweight. For the rest, the functionalities and components remain, for the most part, identical. On the visible side, the “revolution” of the iPhone 14 is the disappearance of the notch on the upper part of the device. The designer will love it. The Apple fan will appreciate. A good part of the public will not notice it.
Luxury in your pocket
What doesn’t change either is this pretty upward curve on the price side. To the point of reaching a symbolic milestone. To get a new generation iPhone, you would have to pay at least 1,019 euros. At the same time last year, the most accessible iPhone 13 was at 909 euros. With 110 euros more at the checkout, the increase shows a thick 12%. Difficult to swallow. The war in Ukraine, the crisis in the supply of raw materials and the rate of the euro are of course playing their part. Except that, this time, galloping inflation (which also explains the rise) makes the bill even more indigestible. This feeling that Apple’s phone is a luxury product only confirms itself. As a reminder, the minimum wage in Belgium is around 1,800 euros gross.
In Apple’s defense, its flagship object has become a very complicated tool to detach from the hand of a good bunch of Earthlings. If from year to year the revolutions are always more rare, impossible to deny the global evolution. The smartphone of 2022 has nothing to do with that of 2012. But, this year, the new iPhone has never been so close to its previous version. This could encourage users to continue to favor the purchase of the (slightly) more affordable iPhone 13. Previously, the previous version benefited from a price drop on the arrival of the new kid. For the first time, that’s not the case this time around. It will be hard to believe that this is just a coincidence.