Your iPhone or Android is About to Cost Even More

If you complained when phones were free because you were asked to sign a contract, you probably aren’t happy nowadays! We are now at a place where a new iPhone could cost up to $1449. Just when you think phone prices are as outrageous as it could get, Qualcomm says hold my drink…

Rising prices aren’t unusual on their own. Faster, better components like processors and cameras cost more to make. Add in the cost of researching and developing new materials into the final product, and then we have the Trump trade war and inflation to affect the cost of new tech. If all of that weren’t enough, chipmaker Qualcomm is increasing their licensing fee for each new 5G chip.

Qualcomm reported a sharp decline in their quarterly profits, largely due to a reduction in the amount of money they obtain from licensing their patents to other companies. Qualcomm is tweaking their licensing program and will charge handset makers for their 5G intellectual property. Specifically, the company said that they could charge smartphone manufacturers up to $16.25 in royalties for every 5G phone they sell. They also stated they would cap their royalty rates at $500 for the selling price of the phone. This means the manufactures will have to pass on the cost to consumers to help cover this new charge.

iPhone Cost and Why They’re So Expensive

Apple has slowly increased the average price of an iPhone since 2007, but with the $999 iPhone X release last year, it made an even bigger leap than usual. A year later, after the shock value of a thousand dollar smartphone had largely worn off, Apple made yet another jump. The iPhone XS Max, which starts at $1,099 and can cost up to $1,449 for the model with the most memory, makes it the most expensive iPhone ever.

Tim Cook, Apples CEO, does not believe the iPhone is too expensive. He states “The phone has replaced your digital camera. You don’t have a separate one anymore. It’s replaced your video camera. It’s replaced your music player. It’s replaced all of these different devices,” Cook said. “And so 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.”

These steadily rising prices across Apple’s portfolio and the mobile category indicate that costlier devices are here to stay . This is our own fault for buying them in mass droves in the first place. We have no one to blame but ourselves!  I don’t regret my own decision, I’ll probably even do it again this September.

Don’t Worry, Androids Mid-Level Phones are Still Affordable

iPhones are expensive, rightfully so, since they are of much higher quality and consistency than some competitors. But, you can only get the iPhone from one manufacturer – Apple. The operating system used in the iPhone, iOS, is a proprietary Apple product. You can’t just get your own copy of iOS and put it on phones and sell it. Tie that in with tight distribution procedures and you have a solid way to control the market. Android does not operate this way, so that makes them cheaper, right? Not really.

Android phones use an operating system that is open-source. Android is actually just another distro of Linux, although it runs some independently-developed software on top of the Linux kernel in place of the GNU userland tools used in desktop Linux. You can even see what kernel version you’re running in the settings of any Android phone. One would think this would help decrease cost to the consumer, but no.

While a lot of different factors are creeping prices higher, some revolutionary tech advancements will only add to these still-rising costs. Android will have its own price increase issues in the near future. As Android phone makers struggle against premium priced components like more robust chipsets and unfathomable cameras, they’re also anticipating new designs.  These include 5G and foldable designs that are crucial to helping their brands stand out in a over-saturated and mundane line-up.

Making newer cutting edge phones in 2019 is getting even more expensive. The 5G phones and foldable designs seen in the upcoming “Galaxy X” will be a whole new ball game, and ball games are never cheap.

SmartPhones Will Be a Major Expense Over Your Children’s Lifetime

Kids are getting their first smartphone at the average age of 11 in today’s world. Assuming the average cost of a smartphone stays the same, with the average amount spent per year in the U.S. on cellphones, and the average  upgrade every 32 months, things will only get more expensive.

Factoring in the typical smartphone costs and usage patterns, your children will end up spending a staggering $75,000 apiece on their phones over the course of their lives. Mind Boggling!