The Psychology Behind iPhone 15 Pricing

Apple is perfect. The glossy promo videos have finished for another year and Tim Apple pats himself on the back for another day done at the office.

Upselling is at the heart of the fruit-based manufacturers' predatory strategy.

“I guess if a new chip and USB-C are your improvements in your innovative halo product, marketing needs to come to your rescue.”

The secret sauce in Apple’s plan is that they don’t want you to buy any iPhone but the most expensive. If you do buy a cheaper model sure they’ll take your money but they want to manipulate you into buying the most expensive model possible.

The Tactic

Apple doesn’t want you to ‘just’ buy any Apple iPhone. Apple wants you to buy the iPhone that suits them to sell you. Inevitably that’s the most expensive handset in the lineup.

They make it psychologically difficult to buy a less capable handset by making each next step in the product lineup tantalizingly close.

Since people reading this blog aren’t losers I’m not going to cover the budget-conscious iPhone SE in this article.

“The one for people too uncool for an Android.”

An old man pictured scheming ways into your wallet

iPhone 13

Is last year’s model too new for you? Why not necro the iPhone 13 from your local Apple Store for just “from $599”?

Sure, $599 does feel cheap but Apple has a special way to discourage the purchase. In 2023 128GB of storage is unacceptable so you’ll need to pay $699 for 256GB.

I put it to you that nobody will pay $699 for an iPhone 13 when an iPhone 14 starts at $699 from Apple. Apple certainly doesn’t want you leaving an Apple store with an iPhone 13 (although they will sell it to you), they want to sell you…

iPhone 14

Into last year’s model? Fine, you might not need the latest and greatest and you’re budget-conscious. It’s still a nice phone.

“If you’re buying last year’s fashion for $699, I don’t know what to tell you.”

It would be $699 but once again 128GB of storage will see you constantly managing storage instead of living life.

The real price? $799. For last year’s phone. A phone that is only fashionable when new.

Guess what. That $799 could get you a new up-to-date Tim Apple-designed slice of innovation. That’s because Apple doesn’t want you to buy an iPhone 14, they want to sell you…

iPhone 15

From $799 for this year’s model seems like a reasonable deal. Apple is still providing the base model with an extremely basic 128GB of storage to make this usable you’ll pay $899.

I actually think Apple is happy if you buy an iPhone 15. They’ll get a great profit margin. That means you need to pay an extra $200 for the…

iPhone 15 Pro

I think most people want a professional phone. Apple has you covered with their Pro lineup if you really need that extra button (what were they thinking?).

iPhone 15 Pro users are expected to be the most professional of all users so Apple doesn’t insult them with a paltry 128GB of storage.

“That’s a lie.”

Sorry, everyone. To get 256GB professional storage on your professional phone you pay $1099.

I know this is the starting price of the pro version (the iPhone 15 Pro Max) but honestly, I think Apple is more than happy to get $1099 of your hard-earned money.

Apple’s Strategy

There is psychology around this, and Apple’s use of the decoy effect is well documented.

For Apple’s iPhone pricing, the cheaper models with insufficient storage act as the decoy. They’re priced in such a way that the next model up seems like a much better deal for just a little more money which nudges customers to spend more than they initially intended.

Customers oftentimes reach the top-tier model, having justified each incremental cost increase along the way.

The Evil Apple do

I think I wouldn’t be so against this pricing and marketing strategy if the innovation of the products justified it. This year seems to be a new chip and a new button.

I can imagine many Apple fans leaving old mobiles in the drawer to purchase the latest phone with all of the negative economic and environmental impacts that brings.

“They know what they’re doing. He can’t keep getting away with this.”

Conclusion

Apple does a great job at getting people to spend more money than they want to. The decoy effect works!

I know people will slide into the comments to white knight for a trillion-dollar company.

“I don’t mind, I really love Tim Apple too.”

Love you too. X.