Apple is about to release the most expensive phone ever made.
The most premium of the three handsets expected to be released this week – tentatively known as the iPhone XS Max – will almost certainly cost well over £1,000 and could be approaching £1,500.
The new iPhones already stand to be the most expensive phones Apple have ever made: last year's iPhone X had the highest ever price of any iPhone, and the larger version of the same phone will almost certainly be considerably more expensive.
The iPhone X currently sells for £1,149 in its biggest storage configuration. (The prices are roughly comparable in dollars.) With the iPhone 8, it adds a premium of £100 for the Plus-sized version, and it is almost certain to add a premium of at least that much for the Max version of the iPhone XS.
(Some have already mocked that name for sounding like the word "excess", which might be fitting given the price. The phone is also going to be made in gold, which might suit the high price.)
Breaching the £1,000 mark with the iPhone X was already seen as a major landmark, and one that counted as a significant risk for Apple. But it appears to have paid off so far, with the average selling price of iPhones increasing markedly since the X was released.
And that effect could be even more exaggerated because they are being released at the same time as a dispute over tariffs and trading with China. Apple has suggested those extra fees could push the cost of its products up by as much as 25 per cent.
Apple warned in a letter that the burden of new tariffs would fall on people in the US. The tariffs are thought to bring their biggest impact ot the technology industry.
Mr Trump responded to the warning on his Twitter feed, in a post in which he appeared to suggest he was offering Apple a way out of the price increase.
"Apple prices may increase because of the massive Tariffs we may be imposing on China - but there is an easy solution where there would be ZERO tax, and indeed a tax incentive," he wrote. "Make your products in the United States instead of China. Start building new plants now. Exciting!"
