14 DAY TRIAL // The iPhone X has all the bells and whistles that Apple is capable of offering at the moment, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone is crazy about this device. And a recently-conducted survey comes to confirm this.
RBC Capital Markets has asked 4,000 people whether they plan to purchase a new iPhone, and it turns out that as compared to the previous year when Apple launched the substantially less exciting iPhone 7, fewer possible buyers are interested in a new-generation iOS device. Only 64 percent of the respondents said they were looking into a new iPhone this year, down from 71 percent in 2016.
And while this can only be bad news for Apple, especially given Cupertino’s aggressive marketing push for the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X, there’s also a good side of the story. More than half of those who participated in the survey said they plan to purchase the super-expensive iPhone X and not the more affordable iPhone 8.
For what it’s worth, the iPhone X, which will go on sale on October 27 as part of a pre-order program and then on November 3 in Apple Stores, will start at $999 when equipped with 64GB storage, while the top-of-the-range configuration with 256GB storage will be priced at $1,149.
Blame the iPhone 6s
As for the reason why fewer people are interested in the latest iPhone, RBC says it’s all happening because Apple is offering too many similar models right now, pointing to the iPhone 6s as the model responsible for the drop.
The iPhone 8 is very similar in terms of the design to the iPhone 7, which in its turn is very similar to the iPhone 6s, which once again is very similar to the iPhone 6. This means the iPhone 8 looks just like the iPhone 6, and many buyers see no reason to spend so much on a latest-generation device given the similar look and despite the hardware upgrades.
And when it comes to the other 36 percent of people not interested in buying a new iPhone, the reasons are more than obvious: many of the features that Apple is introducing as game changers have already been around for a long time on Android devices, including the likes of wireless and fast charging.