Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: NIC COURY / AFP 21:41 p.m., September 13, 2023

This Tuesday, during its annual "Keynote", Apple presented various novelties soon to be marketed. Logically, it is the iPhone 15, the new smartphone of the Apple brand, which attracted most of the spotlight during the conference. Especially because of its price, down compared to its predecessor.

A small revolution took place on Tuesday in Cupertino, California. In this locality, located south of San Francisco, where Apple has its headquarters, the apple brand held, this Tuesday, its traditional back-to-school conference. An annual meeting during which the American giant unveils all its technological innovations.

And as every year, it is the new iPhone that has set itself up as the star of this "Keynote". Maybe even more this year. The iPhone 15 has a particularity to which Apple had not frankly accustomed its consumers: its price is lower than its predecessor. If, in its Premium version (iPhone 15 Pro Max), its price is close to the bar of 2,000 euros (1,979), it remains contained under the bar of 1,000 euros for its entry-level version (969 euros). That's a discount of 50 euros compared to the first price of the iPhone 14 at its release (1,019 euros).

The rise of refurbished

An event insofar as Apple had never lowered the price of its new iPhone compared to the previous generation. Since 2007, and the release of the very first mobile flanked by the crunched apple, prices have only increased from year to year.

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It should be noted that this change of strategy will only benefit Europeans, while the copies, intended, for their part, for the American market, will cost 100 euros more than the iPhone 14 at its release. A specificity linked, in part, to the collapse of smartphone sales in Europe. "Today, you have consumers less and less inclined to spend 1,000 euros on an iPhone, with the rise of refurbished products," said Renaud Kanayakis, partner in charge of telecoms at Sia Partners. Hence the interest for Apple to reconquer a market where iPhone sales tend to decline.

"Apple allows itself a larger margin in the US market"

An imperative to which the apple firm is less confronted in the United States. "In the case of the US market, there is less need to review pricing policy to penetrate the market," notes Renaud Kanayakis. Across the Atlantic, where inflation is contained around 3% (against 5.3% in August in the 20 countries of the euro zone), and where economic growth is ahead of that of France, customers encounter less difficulty in financing such costs. "Reason why Apple allows itself a larger margin in the US market," says the specialist.

And, in general, "this is the first time, this year, that Apple has managed to lower its production costs". A feat made possible by the reuse of certain components, already at work on the brand's previous models. "In particular the A15 chip, already present on the iPhone 13," says Renaud Kanayakis. Economies of scale that allow the American manufacturer to lower its prices on the European market. A trend that could even increase in the years to come, according to Gilles Babinet, co-president of the National Digital Council since 2021. "I think Apple has reached a maximum in terms of price. In the future, there will be more competition and prices will fall."