Apple’s iPhone XR will start at $749 in the United States

Sep 14, 2018 08:28 GMT  ·  By

If you think that paying $749 on an iPhone that features an LCD screen, comes with a single camera on the back and without 3D Touch is just too much, you may be wrong.

Because as Goldman Sachs analyst Rod Hall notes, the iPhone XR is priced too low and it could affect Apple’s earnings, especially as it’s expected to cannibalize other iPhone models.

Hall originally predicted the iPhone XR, which has often been referred to as the “affordable iPhone,” would be priced from $849 in the United States.

While from a consumer perspective the iPhone XR could be considered a very expensive purchase, Apple should have priced the device higher, Hall explains, as otherwise, the average selling price is likely to drop in the coming quarters.

“Apple rolled out new iPhones as expected but the new LCD 'XR' model was priced lower than we had thought likely. This effectively obsoletes two iPhone 8/8+ SKUs in our opinion and drives us to reduce our ASP [average selling price] and earnings estimates, offset slightly by a higher unit forecast,” he said.

Going on sale next month

Apple dropping older iPhones and the iPhone X could indeed push more people to the iPhone XR, mostly thanks to the new hardware and the modern approach that the device uses as compared to previous generations.

iPhone XR comes with an edge-to-edge design with a notch at the top of the screen and Face ID instead of Touch ID.

“We also assume higher ASPs for the small volumes we had previously been expecting for the SE and 6s,” the analyst was quoted as saying by CNBC. “However, the reduction in pricing expectation for the high volume iPhone XR in our model more than offsets these positive mix changes.”

iPhone XR will go up on pre-order in mid-October, while shipments are projected to begin on October 26.