Apple’s Jeff Williams has said that he is “aware” of iPhone and Mac price concerns.
The COO was delivering a speech at Elon University in North Carolina, and told attendees that he did not want Apple to be known as an elitist company and that he wants the firm to “become a brand that’s accessible to all”.
“It’s something we’re very aware of. We do not want to be an elitist company. That’s not – we want to be an egalitarian company and we’ve got a lot of work going on in developing markets,” said Williams, according to the Burlington Times News report released on Sunday.
Williams discussed several key topics during his keynote speech during his visit, including the rising cost of Apple hardware.
He added that the “stories that come out about the cost of our products (have been) the bane of my existence from the beginning of time, including our early days.
“Analysts don’t understand the cost of what we do and how much care we put into making our products,” he added, suggesting the estimated $358 cost of the iPhone X was inaccurate.
Giving the Apple Watch as an example, Williams said Apple had “built an entire physiology lab with 40 licensed nurses and enlisted the help of 10,000 participants to further study how calories are burned in various fitness exercises,” something many other firms wouldn’t do.
CEO Tim Cook, who was also in attendance at the Elon University in North Carolina, said there were a number of reasons why iPhone sales had not picked up in emerging markets.
“The customers are holding on to their older iPhones a bit longer than in the past. When you pair this with the macroeconomic factors, particularly in emerging markets, it resulted in iPhone revenue that was down 15 percent from last year,” Cook told attendees.
Many business analysts expect to see some price correction in markets outside of the United States in the coming months – something Apple has already promised to do.
Until then, we can do little but speculate as to the iPhone and Mac pricing, and ponder as to whether this year’s upgrade to the iPhone XR – touted to be a ‘low-cost iPhone’ – will be significantly cheaper in a bid to appeal to price-sensitive consumers in both growing and developed markets.