Until recently, Apple’s strategy was for its new smartphone models to replace last year’s variants in the offer, and still remain available at lower prices. Thus, you could have two or three different generations of iPhones for sale at a time, each at a different price. Starting with the iPhone X, however, the company began to completely take out of production certain variants, usually keeping only the more accessible model from the previous year. This could happen in 2020, as the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone XR models can disappear from the shelves, without receiving a reduction.
iPhone 12 will also remove the iPhone 11 Pro from the 2018 XR model
Last year, when Apple launched the iPhone 11 series, the iPhone XS and XS Max models were completely removed from the company’s offer. Thus, only iPhone 8 and 8 Plus remained available on the market as basic models, iPhone XR as medium model and iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max variants as new, top variants. Thus, the range of devices was quite clearly defined for potential customers. For this reason, but also to ensure more sales for new models, this strategy could continue for the iPhone 12 range.
It seems that the iPhone SE (2020) will now be considered the basic model. Thus, the need for an iPhone XR on a similar or lower level would not make sense, as the two devices would cannibalize each other in sales. However, the iPhone 11 will remain in the offer and will be cheaper, and in the rest of the offer it will be occupied by the four new models iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Max, iPhone 12 Pro and finally iPhone 12 Pro Max.
This means that those who expected to buy iPhone 11 Pro models at reduced prices this fall may not benefit from such offers. Because these models are out of supply, this means that Apple will no longer produce new units, at least not for direct sale. The company will continue to build a limited range of iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max devices to be able to honor warranties, most likely.
Devices that will remain in specialty store stocks will most likely run out soon after Apple no longer supplies new units.
The new models will have unchanged prices, but will be delivered without accessories
iAppleTimes says that all iPhone 12 models will start with a minimum storage of 128 GB, without 64 GB variants. Prices start at $ 699 for the base model, as with the iPhone 11, and remain the same across the range of new devices: the iPhone 12 Pro from $ 999 and the iPhone 12 Pro Max from $ 1,099.
However, the rumors are not conclusive regarding the capabilities of the iPhone 12 Pro models. Expectations are that the phones will be equipped with 120 Hz screens, and the beta versions of iOS 14 suggest that the phones will support this capability. Other unofficial sources say that Apple does not have the necessary hardware to display images at 120 Hz.
But one thing is almost certain: the iPhone 12 range will be delivered without accessories in the box. The reason will be to reduce production and transportation costs, so that the phones can be offered on the shelf at prices not very different from the models of previous years. The advantage is that the new iPhones will be equipped with 5G connectivity technology, much more expensive to implement than 4G in the past.
Juana loves to cover the tech and gaming industry, she always stays on the first row of CES conference and reports live from there.
