Fast Company reported back in February that the iPhone 8, chock full of goodies like a vibrant wraparound screen, below-the-screen fingerprint sensor and 3D facial scanning, will cost more than $1,000.
Well, count one bank against the publication: UBS analyst Steven Milunovich writes that the 64GB model will cost between $70 and $90 more than a standard 32GB iPhone 7s Plus. The end user premium would realistically chalk up to be $80 to $130 — meaning a final price between $850 and $900.
The investment note, obtained by CNBC, puts Apple in a more positive position with average sales prices on its iPhones maintaining above $690 through fiscal year 2018.
An $869 iPhone 8 in the US would give Apple a competitive upgrade wedge against the $840 Galaxy S8+ and would count for 45 percent of iPhone sales in the year. Why not more? It’s partially because of “a display size disadvantage” where the S8+ has the iPhone 8 beat, at least on paper.
We’re definitely not talking about a phone with 6GB of RAM costing better than a grand, here.