Apple iPhone 8 Price Tag Said To Be $1,200

Citing supply constraints and potentially massive demand for Apple’s iPhone 8, Apple watcher and developer John Gruber said he thinks the entry-level version of Apple’s most high-end iPhone will start at $1,200.

That’s a lot more than the $1,000 figure that has been floating around recently. Gruber, who frequently hosts Apple executives on his podcast and has correctly predicted earlier Apple moves, explained his reasoning.

It sounds to me like the OLED iPhone is a phone which Apple can’t make 40 million of per quarter, at least not today. And if that’s true, that means it should be more expensive. Not should in any moral sense, but simply because that’s how the principle of supply and demand works. When supply is constrained and demand is high, prices go higher. The higher prices alleviate demand.

If Apple really is facing supply constraints due to new OLED panels and possible troubles with a new fingerprint reader, Gruber said, it will start the iPhone 8 at $1,199 with 64GB of storage, or even as much as $1,249. A 256GB model would start at $1,299 or as much as $1,399, he said.

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Gruber correctly predicted the gold Apple Watch Edition was going to cost thousands of dollars, something other industry-watchers didn’t believe at the time.

This doesn’t mean every iPhone will be so expensive. Apple is also expected to introduce an iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus which may be priced similarly to the current iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models — under $1,000.

In April, UBS argued that the average selling price of Apple’s new iPhones is likely to come in at about $692. Goldman Sachs, for its part, thinks the iPhone 8 will cost more than $1,000 and will help to send Apple’s stock soaring.

Keep in mind that carriers will help offset these prices by selling the iPhones with device installment plans that allow customers to pay off the full cost of the phone over 12, 24 or 36 months.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Todd Haselton