So that was the Keynote 2018. Apple has presented
the new iPhone XS (Max) and the XR, the Apple
Watch Series 4 and finally gave out some info about
the upcoming iOS12 and macOS Mojave (10.14)

So what’s the quintessence about it?

My personal favourite is the Apple Watch Series 4. You get a lot of stuff for the buck. and the SoC update seems to make that clock even more powerful. The design has been slightly modified (a step I found necessary btw.) and with WatchOS 5 there will be some new additions as well. However some of the features will remein locked to users of Apple Watch 1-3.

The iPhone XS (Max) is, as expected a CPU update. The camera has been slightly improved. The display is now available in 2 sizes (thus the Max). and with the CPU update the iPhone got way faster (again). But the price has raised a lot especially with the new 512GB tier.

For those who expected new iPad models to show up, you’re out of luck. Apple has not shown a new iPad lineup on this keynote. A bit disappointing as the iPad is Apple’s second leg in the mobile computing market even before MacBook (Pro). So an update here would have been placed right in the Keynote. Analysts say that the iPad will get a refresh with the A12(X?) and also the Home Button will be dropped. So the new iPad (Pro) models will be equipped with FaceID also which is already very reliable on the iPhone X.

So what about prices (these are the MSRP taken from the U.S. Apple Store)?

Apple Watch

There’s an Apple Watch for Everyone’s needs.

The Apple Watch Edition ceramic models however have been dropped. Most likely due to the lack of interest although the concept looked nice!

iPhone

The iPhone X and iPhone 8 have been dropped and are no longer available in the store!

Hefty price tags if you ask me! And if you go abroad, let’s see how the prices vary:

Let’s take the XS Max with 512GB and compare prices using US$ as common indicator:

Conclusion: If you intend to purchase your iPhone while on holidays, you’ll most likely get a good bargain in Japan. UAE and Switzerland still offer good prices but they get more expensive already

Other destinations, like Mexico, China, UK, Germany and Spain already beef up the price even more.

And Poland, Norway, S. Ireland, Sweden and Hungary won’t be an option at all. In Hungary the price is just silly.

The other models of the XS also receive the same price lifts, So this chart is for reference only and shows you where you get totally ripped off.

All prices are taken from Apple’s own online store. Maybe some resellers might offer the phone for a lower price but it’s not common that resellers sell it for a lower price as Apple has a very strict price policy.

Oh… and did I mention that online stores already flood your e-Mail box with mails that you can pre-order your iPhone XS? (NOW you’re telling me… huh?). As the pre-order starts on September 14th, 2018 at 11:01 MEST I expect a lot of online stores to break down upon the mass of pre-order requests being placed.

Verdict:

Although I still appreciate the iPhone and Apple’s way of aiming to stay the best on the smartphone market, I think the way Apple is handling it is just crazy. The price tags move to an unhealthy region where people are no longer willing to pay the price asked for.

Positive:

The OLED screens in the XS ans XS Max are still one of the best of it’s kind. The slim-frame design is undoubted more alluring than it’s competitor’s displays which have a chin on either side (for the data cables to attach to the display unit.

The Liquid Retina is a consequent development towards the now-familiar notch design. Interesting to see how Apple managed to get a LC display built like it’s OLED pendants.

The Quick charge function is one of the most-anticipated features of the iPhone. Most people like to have their phone ready back in no time when the battery has run low for whatever reason.

The speed of the A12 Bionic processor is undoubtful unmatched so far and when first benchmarks will show up, they will reflect the power against competitors like the Kirin 980 which has been subject to cheating recently by tweaking the scores. Futuremark has banned all fake scores from the Kirin 980 by now.

The Apple Watch Series 4 is a nice piece of engineering and reflects what current technology is capable of. The S3 SoC is the fastest of it’s kind while maintaining a long runtime. If you need LTE connectivity in a watch, that’s a choice of yours. I find it non-necessary. Luckily Apple did just a moderate price increase on the new Series.

More space is always good. With the 512GB tier Apple offers a large storgae space for even more videos and pictures to be locally stored. Some say, why have that much space if you have iCloud but hey, if you go for at least 200 GB iCloud storage, then you have to shell out another 3 US$/mo for that. So why not reach out for the largest storage tier if you don’t want to put everything into the cloud.

Negative:

Hell, Apple, you ask for a hefty price for your smartphones and then you don’t pack a fast-charge adapter into the package? Why? Is the cable and the adaptor too expensive to be bundled with the luxury iPhone XS? many customers will find that rather repulsing if you demand them to shell out another 70 US$ for fast-charging capability. Not nice!

Users of classic headphone having the 3.5mm headphone jack are also pissed off as you don’t bundle the adaptor cable into the package. You state that with “Most people use wireless headsets now” but recent polls have shown that over 75% of the users would still use the classic headphone jack if available. But 9 US$ is 9 US$, i’ll give you that!

The iPhone XR has a good display, yes bit why is it not covering FHD at least? why not 2380×1080 then? or like the iPhone X 2436×1125 to maintain an uniform design line for Apps. This is so awkward as I see no technical limitation for that. If you can produce 4K displays at that size, the special rounded design at FHD or iPhone XS resolution should be manageable.

The price design in general is a bit hefty. While I thought, the phone would not take the 1300 US$ hurdle to stay on track eventhough it would have meant “Apple is luxury” rants from the Android camp, you still rose the price to a new height. In some countries the phone breaks the 2’000 US$ barrier (see chart above). What the hell, Apple? Not even Samsung is that expensive with their newest models even if you pop in an external 400GB SDXC card! If you want your sales to stay the same or rise then you have to do way better than that.

You take the iPhone X off the shelves yet you still sell the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8? Seriously? Lowering the price of the iPhone X would have boosted your sales. Offering the 8 as a low-budget-option aside to the iPhone 8 would have meant a considerable option to the XR. Why go for the ripoff medal when it could have been way better? A layoff of the iPhone 7 would have been a consequent step yet you keep selling them although they may become outdated in a year or two.

Although Apple offers a 512GB tier for it’s newest phone models, the iCloud storage plans still keep he same. If you fill your new iPhone XS with so much content, Backup will be only fully possible if you go for the 10US$ price plan for iCloud which means heavy annual additional costs of 120US$ just to have your phone’s data safe and sound in case you should be in need to replace it.