_posts/2018-11-05-apples-price-hike-strategy-is-paying-off.markdown
---
title: Apple’s price increases are great for everyone but the consumer
date: 2018-11-05 11:45:00 -06:00
tags:
- Apple
excerpt: Yay for corporate greed?
link_url: https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/1/18053012/apple-q4-earnings-report-iphone-ipad-macbook-price-bump
---
Natt Garun writing for *The Verge*:
> Apple’s Q4 quarter ended in September, meaning it only accounted for the first few weeks of the new iPhone XS and XS Max going on sale. (The iPhone XR, which was also announced in September, did not become available for preorder until October.) Despite the slow sales growth, the average selling price per iPhone is now $793, [up from $724 in Q3](https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/31/17636608/apple-q3-earnings-2018-trillion-market-value).
>
> The increase suggests that Apple’s price hike strategy appears to be working; the trillion-dollar company introduced its first smartphone to cross the thousand-dollar starting price in 2017 with the 10th anniversary iPhone, and continued the trend of pricier phones this year with the $749 iPhone XR, $999 iPhone XS, and $1,099 iPhone XS Max.
We've always paid a premium for Apple products, but now we have to pay more? For what? For people who already have plenty of money to make more of it? For the media to stop declaring that Apple is dead? To continue filling Apple's bank account with more cash than is humanly conceivable?
This is all so asinine. It speaks to a larger problem with Wall Street, the media, and capitalism, but I won't go down that rabbit hole. Apple is forced to continue making more money for fear that they'll upset investors and journalists.
According to the article, Apple made $88.3 billion this time last year. If they reported that same number again, it'd be deemed a failure and the stock would drop (which it does either way). It make no sense. At what point is it enough? <mark>Making this much money feels morally wrong and disgusting.</mark>