Here's the thing for all those folks who're scoffing and huffing and puffing about the Rs 89,000 starting price for the iPhone X in India -- get a life, it isn't as crazy you kind of think it is. Call me elitist, but we've been down this road for the last couple of years, and the iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 6S Plus top end models maxed out at Rs 92,000. That's been the trend. It is nothing new.
The iPhone X of course starts at Rs 89,000 for the 64GB model and maxes out at Rs 1,02,000 for the 256GB model. This means it starts lower than the top of the line iPhone 7 Plus from last year but adds another Rs 10,000 to the 256GB model.
That's fair game I think for a phone that brings some cutting edge AR capabilities, high-end facial recognition system, a new design and general improvements across the board -- processing, AI, display technology, battery life and photography.
Think about it even the new Galaxy Note 8 starts in India for Rs 67,900 for the 64GB model. This is a phone that has inferior facial recognition technology and processing power.
Apple's camera technology seems to be on par if not better and similarly, the same applies to display technologies which used to be Samsung's strength.
Apple's integration of augmented reality in all the new iPhones including the X could be the killer new feature which Samsung hasn't cracked yet.
Then we're also dealing with a historical fact of Samsung's phones having performance degradation issues within 6 months and being lazy with Android updates. The iPhone X shouldn't have these issues as iPhones are known to be very reliable and performant for at least two iOS upgrade cycles. They also get updates faster. Apple's integration of hardware and software usually means a big performance delta over the course of a two year ownership cycle something which most reviewers forget as they don't test these devices over such one periods.
Last but not the least is Apple's legendary after sales which few companies in the world can match.
The real test for the iPhone X will come when Google announces the new Pixel smartphones later in the year. The Pixel phones have shown an iPhone like tenacity to remain performant over their life cycle in addition to having breakthrough computational photography capabilities.
