The iPhone 12 will reportedly start at $749 in the US, a $50 premium over the $699 starting price of its predecessor. That’s according to a tipster on Chinese micro-blogging site, Weibo, who says that the higher pricing will be largely because of increased input costs related to 5G technology. Apparently, the additional price will be on account of the 5G modem, RF, Time of Flight sensor, OLED display and other key components in the upcoming iPhone 12-series devices.
The post contradicts a recent report which claimed that the iPhone 12 lineup will start at $699 (~Rs. 51,200) for the base model, while the top-spec iPhone 12 Pro Max might go up to $1,149 (~Rs. 84,100). Interestingly, even as the US pricing of iPhones are slated to go up, a report last month suggested that the iPhone 12 lineup might actually cost less than the iPhone 11 series in India because it will be assembled in Karnataka. However, it remains to be seen whether that happens.
Meanwhile, the same tipster also claimed that Apple might fail to meet its target of 80 million iPhone 12 shipments this year, largely on account of production delays. According to the post, manufacturing of the company’s A14 processor “will lag behind by a few weeks”, with only around 70 million units rolling out from the foundries by the end of the year.
This assertion is also in direct contradiction with a recent investor note by lead Wedbush analyst, Daniel Ives, who claimed that Apple might ship between 75 and 80 million iPhone 12 units. “We continue to believe the line in the sand a few months ago was between 65 million to 70 million 5G iPhone 12 units and now has moved into the 75 million+ range with 80 million a stretch goal”, Ives wrote in his note, according to Apple Insider.
