Apple COO Jeff Williams gave a speech on Feb. 22 at Elon University in North Carolina, where he addressed the concerns over increasing price points of the company's products.
It's among the many topics the executive discussed during his appearance, including analysts' production cost estimates and his history with the brand.
Apple Is 'Very Aware'
As reported by The Times News, who covered the talk in detail, a student asked whether Apple had plans to lower the prices of its products during the Q&A portion after Williams delivered his speech. The student also cited a report that said an iPhone X costs only around $370 to manufacture but sells for nearly $1,000.
"The stories that come out about the cost of our products [have been] the bane of my existence from the beginning of time, including our early days. Analysts don't really understand the cost of what we do and how much care we put into making our products," Williams answered.
Using the Apple Watch as an example, William continued to explain that the Cupertino brand had to construct a physiology lab and hire 40 licensed nurses and enlist 10,000 participants to create the wearable's activity tracker. The company didn't want to simply measure exercise using only the wearer's arm movement. Instead, it wanted to find the best way to measure the calories burned during exercise. In other words, it invests a lot in its products.
Still, Williams says that Apple knows about the concern over the increasing costs of its products, particularly certain iPhone models that are priced more than $1,000.
"It's something we're very aware of. We do not want to be an elitist company. That's not - we want to be an egalitarian company, and we've got a lot of work going on in developing markets," he said.
Apple Overcharging Customers?
These points align with the findings of John Gruber of Daring Fireball, who says that Apple simply "engineered and designed too good of a product" to explain the rising price points. Put differently, he says that the company isn't charging too much for them.
He also points out that his source says that Apple sells the Apple TV 4K and AirPods at cost and the HomePod at a loss.
