【2022 Archives】

Last year022 Archives Apple shocked the world by launching its most expensive phones ever, with some models' cost extending far beyond the $1,000 mark.

So what's the tally this year? The overall pricing for the new set of iPhones, the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max is just a tiny bit better, but the high-end models still cost a small fortune.

The cheapest of the three, the now-default iPhone 11, starts at $699, which is 50 bucks less than the price of its predecessor, the iPhone XR, at launch.

The iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, however, mimic the pricing of the iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max to the tee: It's $999, $1,149 and $1,349 for the iPhone 11 Pro with 64/256/512GB of storage, and $1,099, $1,249 or $1,449 for the iPhone 11 Pro Max for the same storage capacities.

Yes, you still have to pay a $350 premium to get 448GB of storage on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, and yes, it still sucks.

Generally, I'm happy that the madness stopped and that the new top models aren't even pricier than last year's iPhones. But there's still no way to call these cheap, which is probably why Apple has flipped the tables and positioned the cheapest model as the most important one, while giving the pricier phones the "Pro" moniker.

In Europe, prices are typically far higher than in the U.S., partly because U.S. prices do not include state tax. This hasn't changed much since last year, though some countries got it even worse. In the UK, for example, the iPhone 11 Pro Max with 512GB of storage costs £1,499 ($1,853). In dollar terms, this is cheaper than last year because the pound plummeted against the dollar, but in local currency, this is the most expensive iPhone ever; last year's iPhone XS Max with 512GB was £1,449 ($1,791).

In Germany, the priciest new iPhone costs €1,649 ($1,820). In Italy, it's €1,689 ($1,864). And in Hungary, which typically sets records for iPhone prices because of its high VAT tax, the iPhone 11 Pro Max costs 577 990 forints ($1,923).

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