iPhone 12 Shipping Without Accessories Could Still Be More Expensive

Samsung plans on starting September with a bang by announcing the Galaxy Z Fold 2 but September has also traditionally been Apple's month. Due to circumstances, however, the iPhone 12 might not show up until around October and when it does, it could bring some bad news to the budget-constrained. Of course, Apple is reportedly doing what it can to offset the costs but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough.

The iPhone 12 will be Apple's biggest jump yet in terms of innovation. It is expected to adopt the 120Hz "ProMotion" display of the iPad Pro as well as the latter's LIDAR sensor for ARCore. Its headlining feature, however, will be 5G, the first for any of Apple's devices.

Of course, 5G has proven to be an expensive feature to add, even on the cheapest of chipsets, and the iPhone 12 series, all of which will be 5G-enabled, is expected to get a price hike because of it. To help keep prices down, however, Apple has reportedly decided to ship the iPhone 12 without any charger or wired EarPods inside the box, leaving only the Lightning cable and the Phone itself. That was already noted by Ming-chi Kuo and is now being reaffirmed by TrendForce.

The market analysis firm also lays out the possible starting prices of the iPhone 12 line which aren't exactly reassuring. Despite doing away with those accessories, the base iPhone 12 model could still start at $699 to $749 while the highest iPhone 12 Pro Max would go from $1,149 to $1,199 at the base specs. For comparison, the iPhone 11 launched for $699 and the iPhone 11 Pro Max went for $1,099.

Apple's iPhones have always carried premium prices but these might really be pushing it this year. They will still sell well, of course, though the delays and potential consumer hesitation on those prices could mean delayed profits not just for Apple but eventually for its partners, too.