Apple products were always high end, but now they’re shooting for being downright rich. This week, Apple made itself more appealing to people with money to burn. The mass-appeal, cheaper iPhone 5C was quietly shelved.
Apple products were always high end, but now they’re shooting for being downright rich.
It debuted a new Apple Watch collection from designer brand Hermes, an Apple TV app from high-end fashion site Gilt where some outfits cost more than $1,000 each and rose gold iPhones.
Given its heavy focus on design, this isn’t surprising. Apple has always behaved more like a fashion house than a computer manufacturer. The Cupertino company is famously high-minded about aesthetics, and the grandiose celebrity-packed product launches it holds a few times a year are reminiscent of those of a designer label.
But in recent months, Apple has taken its luxury cachet to new heights, spurning more affordable tech for ultra-high-end accessories.
The Apple Watch, in every tone from stainless steel to gold, screams “money to burn.”
Its biggest step in this direction was the launch of the Apple Watch. With a premium tier selling for as much as $17,000 for a gold version and a minimum price of $300, the company made clear that it intended its competition to be more Rolex than Fitbit.
The $1,000-plus price tags on the upcoming Hermes collection indicates that Apple is sticking to this plan.
On a lesser scale, the Apple Pen a stylus for the new iPad Pro sells for $99, while a basic keyboard cover for the same iPad sells for $170. By the time someone has bought the entire iPad Pro package, the cost could easily be $1000.
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