For someone that already has some decent over ear headphones, I read the entire press release thinking that these would be great to get. I was pegging them at $249 to $399 max. $549 shocked the daylights out of me! This is beyond too expensive for me to consider. Maybe it will come down over the years but there must be a very slim market of people who can pay that. I’m not usually shocked by an Apple price but that’s nuts. Few hundred dollars more and you can get a state of the art M1 MacBook Air and some amazing non-Apple headphones to go with it.
That's also the range I had the price at in my head. $550 is far too much for headphones. It's not quite as insane as the ridiculous monitor stand or Mac Pro wheel pricing, but it's not far off. I don't really get what their market is here.
It's more insane than the monitor stand. That monitor stand is for a monitor that is aimed at professionals working on HDR content. It's a very low volume, specialised part, $1k isn't entirely unreasonable.
These headphones will be mass produced in huge volumes. It's a consumer product. Just a very expensive one.
I disagree, the stand it is entirely unreasonable, it will sell, but not because of reason, its the only option for now, you're cornered having to add 1k to the 6k purchase because of it and production companies will sign off.
This headphones will sell for the reason that people don't want to/have time to research headphones, they know this will integrate well with what they have and will justify it since is also a fashion/social class statement.
They wont sell because they're headphones, they'll sell because they complete the apple wearable ecosystem.
Totally understand that we all adjust our minds on Apple pricing but giving that headphones aren’t a new and amazing technology, I think that’s an uphill battle for Apple. After seeing this announcement, I just bought a pair of Grado SR80e. They have amazing sound and it’s sub-100 bucks. My Airpods are amazing for outside and running around at home. But for time in the chair, wired headphones are awesome.
It's important to remember that most people in the US, at least, don't pay $800 for their phone. They pay a couple hundred and the phone is subsidized by monthly cell phone bills.
Yes, but like ... it's easier to swallow when it's hidden in the price of a phone bill every month. And, I think for a while, you were stuck in contracts and the bill didn't go up, so it would be $100 with or without a new phone, it's just if you have a new phone, you're stuck in the contract for 2 years.
edit: I don't know if this is still the case. I buy all my phones full price anymore
Yeh so do I. I don’t get it. I do the math every time I get a new phone and result is always that I pay the exact full price of the phone over two years down to the cent, but I limit my choice of cell plan to the ones supporting that phone.
$800 for a device that many people use multiple hours per day for a few years.
I doubt any other device comes close to a rate of $0.80 per day for the amount of utility you get from it. If you use it for 4 or 5 years, like I do, that goes down to as low as $0.50 per day.
Day 1 reaction was sticker shock, but yes, I see your point. If it's insanely comfortable, connectivity a breeze, and sounds amazing...yeah I can see it now. Most bluetooth on headphones with the blinking dot UX is horrendous so maybe people will pay the premium.
I mean yeah $800 is a lot of money for a phone. Even Apple sells the iPhone SE for $400. For $800 you could almost get a MacBook Air and you could buy multiple iPads.
$800 would be outrageous to pay for an iPhone 4. For an iPhone 12? I'm not sure it's so ridiculous.
I've had my current iPhone for 4 years. If I buy one $20 bag of coffee beans a month, then I've spent more for coffee in the last 4 years than I have on my phone. Seems like a good deal to me?
