$1,000 iPhone XS expensive? 'Most will pay $1 a day for one', says Apple CEO Tim Cook

Innovation isn't cheap but that's what our customers want, argues Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Sure, the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are expensive, but Apple CEO Tim Cook offers another way to think of it: innovation and monthly payments.

Cook thinks the iPhone isn't just a phone for the wealthy and in an interview with Good Morning America's Robin Roberts, the CEO of America's first $1 trillion company brushed aside the suggestion that the iPhone XS Max's $1,099 starting price was too high for some.

"We want to make an iPhone for everyone," said Cook, pointing out that Apple does sell iPhone models that cost "materially lower".

The iPhone XS starts at $999, while the more affordable iPhone XR starts at $749. Apple also dropped the price of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 to $499 and $599, respectively.

"The way most people pay for these, it turns out, is they do a deal with a carrier and they pay so much per month. And so if you look at even the phone that's priced over $1,000, most people pay about $30 a month for it, and so it's about $1 a day," he said.

A new iPhone 8 with 256GB storage on a two-year plan with one of the major US carriers does cost about $30 per month. However, monthly installments for a new iPhone XS through US carriers listed on Apple's website are much higher.

Still, as Cook noted, the iPhone XS is the "most advanced phone we've ever done" and has "the most powerful chip ever in a smartphone".

The other way to look at the iPhone is that it's replaced other products that consumers previously bought, such as the camera. Cook said the iPhone XS' camera can take portrait photos on a par with much more expensive professional equipment.

"Now, in the palm of your hand, you can make the portrait that used to cost tens of thousands of dollars with professional equipment," said Cook to a round of applause.

"The phone has replaced your camera. You don't have a separate one anymore. It's replaced your video camera, it's replaced your music player, it's replaced your video player. Arguably the product is really important, and we've found that people want to have the most innovative product available, and with that, it's not cheap to do that."

SOURCE ZDNet: