Want to spend US$1,100 on a smartphone? Meet Apple’s new iPhone Xs Max
Apple CEO Tim Cook yesterday announced an updated iPhone X – the Xs – which will cost around US$1,000, and the iPhone Xs Max, which has a 6.5-inch screen and will cost about US$1,100
Apple unveiled three new iPhones on Wednesday, including its biggest and most expensive model yet, as the company seeks to widen the product’s appeal amid slowing sales.
CEO Tim Cook showed off the iPhone Xs Max, which has a bigger screen than the one on last year’s dramatically designed model, the iPhone X. It’ll cost about US$1,100, topping the iPhone X, which at US$1,000 seemed jaw-dropping at the time. An updated iPhone X, now called the Xs, stays at US$1,000.
As with the iPhone X, both new phones have screens that run from edge to edge, an effort to maximise the display without making the phone too awkward to hold. The screen needs no backlight, so black would appear as truly black rather than simply dark. The Max model looks to be about the size of the iPhone 8 Plus, though the screen size is much larger.
The iPhone Xs Max, which will be available on September 21 – with orders open the week before – represents Apple’s attempt to feed consumers’ appetite for increasingly larger screens as they rely on smartphones to watch and record videos and to take photos wherever they are.
By making more expensive iPhones, Apple has been able to boost its profits despite waning demand as people upgrade phones less frequently. iPhones fetched an average price of US$724 during the April-June period, an increase of nearly 20 per cent from a year earlier.
Apple also showed off a cheaper iPhone, called the iPhone XR. It has a traditional, lower-quality screen and an aluminium body; it’s physically smaller than the iPhone 8 Plus but has a bigger screen. It’ll cost roughly US$750 and come out on October 26.
All three new models join the iPhone X in getting rid of the home button to make room for more screen. They will have facial-recognition technology to unlock the device.