Apple CEO Tim Cook has suggested that international iPhone prices could be reduced.
Revenue from the iPhone, responsible for most of the tech giant’s profits, fell 15 per cent year-over-year in Q1 2019, its first sales drop in more than two years.
Cook said that Apple is now reconsidering the pricing of iPhone models in international markets to make the devices more affordable.
“When you look at foreign currencies and then particularly those markets that weakened over the last year those [price] increases were obviously more,” he told Reuters.
He admitted that customers are struggling with the tech giant’s high prices. Some of the company’s most recent iPhone models crossed the £1,000 threshold.
Apple had previously warned that sales would be hit by weaker than anticipated economic growth in key emerging markets, especially China. It has been impacted by customers choosing to fix their handset rather than upgrading to a new one.
Cook said the tech giant had this month begun to re-price its phones to shield customers from the impact of currency fluctuations.
He also emphasised the ability to ‘trade-in’ older iPhone models when purchasing a new device, and that it will continue to offer instalment-based payments to ease the up-front cost.
“I do think the price is a factor. And so we are working through those and we’ve got a number of actions to address that, including the trade-in and the instalment payments.”