iPhone X is Outstanding, The Price That Is

Apple just announced this year’s refresh of the iPhone. There are three of them: iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and the 10th anniversary flagship iPhone X. Among the many outstanding things the iPhone X is, or may not be, the X is clearly one thing: eXpensive. All *cough* S$1,648 of expensive! That’s more expensive than both base configurations of the MacBook Air!

The S$1,648 is, in fact, the base model of the iPhone X with 64 GB of storage. The higher end model, with 256 GB of storage, sells for S$1,888!

What can you do with S$1648? The two base configurations of MacBook Air notebooks sell for S$1,328 and S$1,618. Though the MacBook Air is now considered the entry-level of Apple’s notebook offerings, this should probably still come as a surprise, that a smartphone should cost more than a notebook.

Samsung’s recently announced flagship Galaxy Note8 sells for S$1,398 off-contract. It’s expensive, but Apple has no doubt set a new bar on premium smartphone pricing. The earlier launched Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ sell for S$1,148 and S$1,298 respectively.

It’s worth noting that the iPhone X is priced comparatively higher in Singapore than it is in the U.S. The U.S. price is US$999 and US$1,149 for the 64 GB and 256 GB models respectively. This is similar to the two base configurations of the MacBook Air, which are US$999 and US$1,199.

However, in Singapore, the iPhone X costs significantly more than the MacBook Air.

It looks to me that there might be a demand to import the iPhone X from the U.S., which even after paying for Singapore’s GST, would still cost more than the retail price here.

While there are still budget smartphones that can be had for reasonably cheap, the premium smartphones are getting quite horrendously priced. I felt the crossing of the S$1K mark was a bit much to ask, but the iPhone X is way over.

For that price, the iPhone X doesn’t have Touch ID. Apple’s selling us Face ID now, but it didn’t work out all that great in their demo. I don’t think it’ll work out great at all in practical use.

So who’s up for this S$1,648 status symbol?