Apple’s Priciest iPhones Take Centre Stage as Industry Smartphone Sales Decline

Tech giant is expected to reveal the iPhone 14 lineup during an event Wednesday.

Apple Inc.’s most expensive smartphones will take focus Wednesday as the company unveils the iPhone 14 lineup amid a global slowdown for all but the priciest of gadgets.

The company’s Pro models—the 6.1- and 6.7-inch display versions—have helped fuel record sales and profits for the past two years as the tech giant unveiled its first 5G-capable iPhones in late 2020.

Those versions, which have been priced starting at $200 more than the base-level offering, are poised to get some of the most notable upgrades in a cycle that is expected to be more evolutionary than revolutionary for the iPhone.

Apple’s first in-person product event since Covid-19 upended modern life will include reporters at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., and be broadcast simultaneously via its website beginning at 1 p.m. in New York.

The question among many investors is how long can demand—which has been at record heights—last for the iPhone during uncertainty around the economy and rising prices.

Apple has remained confident that there is still interest in converting to the latest technology. “Around the world, 5G penetration is still low,” Tim Cook, Apple chief executive, told analysts in July. “And so I think there’s reason to be optimistic.”

So far, Apple has bucked an industrywide decline in smartphone shipments, which slipped almost 9% in the past quarter compared with a year earlier, according to researcher International Data Corp. During the first half, the bright spot in the market was smartphones priced above $900, according to Counterpoint Research.

Since the arrival of the 5G phones in late 2020, U.S. buyers have been shelling out more for their iPhones. Average selling prices of the iPhone rose to $954 in the June quarter compared with $783 in the September quarter in 2019, when the iPhone 11 was introduced, according to estimates by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners’ survey of consumers.

That is because more buyers have been opting for the more expensive Pro models and spending more to add more storage on the device, which allows for more photos and data-heavy videos to be kept on the phone.

The iPhone 13 Pro comes with 128 gigabytes, while an extra $100 bumps that to 250 gigabytes. For an extra $500, buyers can get 1 terabyte. More than 50% of iPhone buyers were upgrading their storage in the 12 months ending in June, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, compared with less than 40% in 2019.

“That phone mix has moved more premium in recent years,” said Josh Lowitz, co-founder of Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. “For me, that was not anticipated.”

Continuing to sell pricier phones could help Apple boost revenue even if the rate of unit sales slows or becomes stagnant in the coming fiscal year. The 5G phones fuelled estimated unit growth of 27% in fiscal 2021, according to FactSet data. Apple doesn’t release unit sales.

This fiscal year, which ends in September, is expected to see iPhone unit sales slow to 2.5% and grow just 0.8% next year, according to analysts. But those analysts, on average, expected iPhone revenue to rise 6.7% to a record $204.9 billion this fiscal year, followed by an expected 2.7% rise in the 2023 fiscal year.

On Wednesday, the biggest changes are planned for the most-expensive Pro versions. Those models are expected to have more-powerful cameras and better video performance and to receive Apple’s new A16 chip, according to people familiar with the plans.

The base models will get an enhanced version of the current A15 processor. The base lineup is also expected to get the larger 6.7-inch display along with the cheaper 6.1-inch version, while the iPhone 14 lineup won’t have the Mini version with the 5.4-inch display this year, people familiar with the plans said.

The Pro phones, which have started at $999 and $1,099, might also see a price increase of $100, while the base models stay the same—making the difference between a base model and a flagship model $300, analysts have predicted.

Pricing is always a complicated endeavour, made even more difficult this year by rising costs for parts and falling buying power among consumers. But people continue to spend on higher-end phones.

Those pricier phones have been made more palatable to buyers, thanks to a war between U.S. cellular carriers fighting to keep market share as they push to transfer as many customers over to new faster 5G connectivity.

Those carriers have been investing heavily in the 5G technology, and they saw the first iPhones capable of using the technology as a potential catalyst for poaching customers, setting off record incentive spending to offer deals to customers to upgrade their phones.

In the final three months of last year, after the iPhone 13 lineup fully launched, U.S. carriers collectively spent a record amount on incentives totalling $5.7 billion and the average customer saw about $300 of benefit, according to consulting firm BayStreet Research LLC.

The carriers are effectively subsidising Apple’s high iPhone prices to get people to buy the Pro models, BayStreet Founder Cliff Maldonado said. He said he expects record incentives again when the latest iPhones arrive.

With iPhone buyers on a little more than three-year cycle of upgrading, iPhone 11 owners will be emerging into a dramatically different market than when carriers spent an estimated $2 billion on incentives during the final three months of 2019.

“The iPhone 11 was a big cycle,” Mr. Maldonado said. “This is the last big chunk of people who don’t have 5G.”

The marketplace has spoken and, at least for now, it’s showing preference for hybrids and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) over battery electrics. That makes Toyota’s foot dragging on EVs (and full speed ahead on hybrids) look fairly wise, though the timeline along a bumpy road still gets us to full electrification by 2035.

Italian supercar producer Lamborghini, in business since 1963, is also proceeding, incrementally, toward battery power. In an interview, Federico Foschini , Lamborghini’s chief global marketing and sales officer, talked about the new Urus SE plug-in hybrid the company showed at its lounge in New York on Monday.

The Urus SE interior gets a larger centre screen and other updates.
Lamborghini

The Urus SE SUV will sell for US$258,000 in the U.S. (the company’s biggest market) when it goes on sale internationally in the first quarter of 2025, Foschini says.

“We’re using the contribution from the electric motor and battery to not only lower emissions but also to boost performance,” he says. “Next year, all three of our models [the others are the Revuelto, a PHEV from launch, and the continuation of the Huracán] will be available as PHEVs.”

The Euro-spec Urus SE will have a stated 37 miles of electric-only range, thanks to a 192-horsepower electric motor and a 25.9-kilowatt-hour battery, but that distance will probably be less in stricter U.S. federal testing. In electric mode, the SE can reach 81 miles per hour. With the 4-litre 620-horsepower twin-turbo V8 engine engaged, the picture is quite different. With 789 horsepower and 701 pound-feet of torque on tap, the SE—as big as it is—can reach 62 mph in 3.4 seconds and attain 193 mph. It’s marginally faster than the Urus S, but also slightly under the cutting-edge Urus Performante model. Lamborghini says the SE reduces emissions by 80% compared to a standard Urus.

Lamborghini’s Urus plans are a little complicated. The company’s order books are full through 2025, but after that it plans to ditch the S and Performante models and produce only the SE. That’s only for a year, however, because the all-electric Urus should arrive by 2029.

Lamborghini’s Federico Foschini with the Urus SE in New York.
Lamborghini

Thanks to the electric motor, the Urus SE offers all-wheel drive. The motor is situated inside the eight-speed automatic transmission, and it acts as a booster for the V8 but it can also drive the wheels on its own. The electric torque-vectoring system distributes power to the wheels that need it for improved cornering. The Urus SE has six driving modes, with variations that give a total of 11 performance options. There are carbon ceramic brakes front and rear.

To distinguish it, the Urus SE gets a new “floating” hood design and a new grille, headlights with matrix LED technology and a new lighting signature, and a redesigned bumper. There are more than 100 bodywork styling options, and 47 interior color combinations, with four embroidery types. The rear liftgate has also been restyled, with lights that connect the tail light clusters. The rear diffuser was redesigned to give 35% more downforce (compared to the Urus S) and keep the car on the road.

The Urus represents about 60% of U.S. Lamborghini sales, Foschini says, and in the early years 80% of buyers were new to the brand. Now it’s down to 70%because, as Foschini says, some happy Urus owners have upgraded to the Performante model. Lamborghini sold 3,000 cars last year in the U.S., where it has 44 dealers. Global sales were 10,112, the first time the marque went into five figures.

The average Urus buyer is 45 years old, though it’s 10 years younger in China and 10 years older in Japan. Only 10% are women, though that percentage is increasing.

“The customer base is widening, thanks to the broad appeal of the Urus—it’s a very usable car,” Foschini says. “The new buyers are successful in business, appreciate the technology, the performance, the unconventional design, and the fun-to-drive nature of the Urus.”

Maserati has two SUVs in its lineup, the Levante and the smaller Grecale. But Foschini says Lamborghini has no such plans. “A smaller SUV is not consistent with the positioning of our brand,” he says. “It’s not what we need in our portfolio now.”

It’s unclear exactly when Lamborghini will become an all-battery-electric brand. Foschini says that the Italian automaker is working with Volkswagen Group partner Porsche on e-fuel, synthetic and renewably made gasoline that could presumably extend the brand’s internal-combustion identity. But now, e-fuel is very expensive to make as it relies on wind power and captured carbon dioxide.

During Monterey Car Week in 2023, Lamborghini showed the Lanzador , a 2+2 electric concept car with high ground clearance that is headed for production. “This is the right electric vehicle for us,” Foschini says. “And the production version will look better than the concept.” The Lanzador, Lamborghini’s fourth model, should arrive in 2028.