February 20, 2025
There's nothing great about $1,000 for a low-end phone
Go to apple.ca and see the cruel joke Apple is playing on Canadians with their tagline for the new iPhone 16e: “Latest iPhone. Greatest price”
You’re supposed to think of “greatest” in terms of a good deal, but in reality it’s closer to this definition: “of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above average.”
At $899 plus tax, Canadians are now looking at $1,000 for Apple’s cheapest phone. In my mind, that’s way above average. I simply cannot imagine myself, even in my wildest fantasies, paying that much for a phone.
I currently have a second-generation iPhone SE that still works fine, so thankfully I don’t need a new one. But that day will come and, when it does, I expect iPhones to be even more expensive.
Most likely my next phone will be a used iPhone. Telus, for example, has “certified, pre-owned” iPhones for as little as $499. That’s for an iPhone 13, which, for all I know, might actually be a step up from my old SE.