Are new Apple phones worth the price?

Apple recently unveiled three new iPhones at their annual event held at the new Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California. This year, there has been a backlash from some women activists claiming that the company is making phones “too big for women’s hands”, alongside the continuity of the £1000 smartphones trend.

Even though some activists claim Apple is only designing phones for larger male hands and leave out women from the product design process, the overall argument and consensus agree towards the question of why did the company seem to have decided not to release the iPhone SE 2? The smaller and cheaper SE was still a popular choice among many of Apple’s buyers who would love to see a second generation of the company’s budget phone – now replaced by the two-year-old iPhone 7 in the 2018 lineup.

The smaller and cheaper SE was still a popular choice among many of Apple’s buyers who would love to see a second generation of the company’s budget phone

Tech news outlets and blogs have stated that the current iPhone lineup is, sort of, a mess. The main breakthrough in Apple’s design strategy and significant change since the first iPhone release back in 2007 was last year’s X model. The X introduced facial recognition, removal of the iconic home button to allow for the edge-to-edge display but also continued the trend concerning premium priced smartphones similar to rivals such Samsung’s £899 Note line.

Based on the consensus and current lineup, Apple could have revealed a second-generation iPhone SE, for £400 as the entry model, instead of the 7, 7+, 8 and 8+. Besides, unlike previous years, having multiple models might confuse prospective customers aiming to purchase a budget-friendly iPhone, thus given such confusion, might have them look towards the more affordable competition in the Android space.

The main breakthrough in Apple’s design strategy and significant change since the first iPhone release back in 2007 was last year’s iPhone X

The main difference between the iPhone X and the new flagships XS and XS MAX, is the improved camera and the new processor. If you own an iPhone X, it is not worth upgrading. But if you own an older model and looking for an iPhone upgrade, it’s worth considering the iPhone XR (to be released in October) as it is £250 cheaper than the XS but contains the same new processor and main camera. To cut down the XR’s price, Apple used a lower-resolution LCD display (similar to the smaller iPhone 7 and 8) instead of the more advanced AMOLED technology on the X, XS and XS Max.

Marquees Brownlee, aka MKBHD, one of the leading smartphone reviewers, links such latest trend of high prices to the law of diminishing returns which “refers to a point at which the level of profits or benefits gained is less than the amount of money or energy invested.”

If you own an older model and looking for an iPhone upgrade, it’s worth considering the iPhone XR (to be released in October) as it is £250 cheaper than the XS but contains the same new processor and main camera

As when you jump from a £200 to £500 smartphone, a significant gain in the features and overall quality, but as the amount increases from £500 to £1099, there’s slight value gained, but by not so much when compared to the under £500 smartphones. For students and price-cautious individuals looking for quality and great features, perhaps the most budget-friendly phones out there are the Motorola Moto G6 Play, the Huawei Honor Play, or the OnePlus 6.