First published: September 10th, 2014.
Besides the stars of the show — iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Watch — Apple also had a bunch of other news we’re going to cover in this post, which I’ll be splitting into three categories. The first is the official retail price for the new iPhones, followed by the pricing revision for iCloud storage and the older iPhones. Lastly, we’re going to touch a bit about the discontinuation of the venerable iPod classic.
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus prices
Singaporeans tend to get their new iPhones slightly pricier than Malaysians do, but then they can get their hands on one earlier too. It may not be the cheapest, among the ones I’ve listed below, but it’s definitely the closest to Malaysia. Pre-order in these countries start this Friday, September 12th, and begins shipping on September 19th. iOS 8 rolls out on September 17th, by the way.
iPhone 6
- 16GB
- US: US$649 (~RM2,080.92)
- UK: £539 (~RM2,782.84)
- Germany: €699 (~RM2,897.93)
- Australia: A$869 (~RM2,540.12)
- Singapore: SG$988 (~RM2,500.12)
- Hong Kong: HK$5,588 (~RM2,310.74)
- Japan: ¥67,800 (~RM2,036.41)
- 64GB
- US: US$749 (~RM2,401.56)
- UK: £619 (~RM3,195.29)
- Germany: €799 (~RM3,312.70)
- Australia: A$999 (~RM2,920.28)
- Singapore: SG$1,148 (~RM2,905.02)
- Hong Kong: HK$6,388 (~RM2,641.54)
- Japan: ¥79,800 (~RM2,396.99)
- 128GB
- US: US$849 (~RM2,721.35)
- UK: £699 (~RM3,607.63)
- Germany: €899 (~RM3,726.85)
- Australia: A$1,129 (~RM3,300.08)
- Singapore: SG$1,288 (~RM3,259.19)
- Hong Kong: HK$7,188 (~RM2,973.27)
- Japan: ¥89,800 (~RM2,697.37)
iPhone 6 Plus
- 16GB
- US: US$749 (~RM2,401.56)
- UK: £619 (~RM3,195.29)
- Germany: €799 (~RM3,312.70)
- Australia: A$999 (~RM2,920.28)
- Singapore: SG$1,148 (~RM2,905.02)
- Hong Kong: HK$6,388 (~RM2,641.54)
- Japan: ¥79,800 (~RM2,396.99)
- 64GB
- US: US$849 (~RM2,721.35)
- UK: £699 (~RM3,607.63)
- Germany: €899 (~RM3,726.85)
- Australia: A$1,129 (~RM3,300.08)
- Singapore: SG$1,288 (~RM3,259.19)
- Hong Kong: HK$7,188 (~RM2,973.27)
- Japan: ¥89,800 (~RM2,697.37)
- 128GB
- US: US$949 (~RM3,041.40)
- UK: £789 (~RM4,071.68)
- Germany: €999 (~RM4,137.08)
- Australia: A$1,249 (~RM3,649.77)
- Singapore: SG$1,448 (~RM3,664.26)
- Hong Kong: HK$8,088 (~RM3,345.55)
- Japan: ¥99,800 (~RM2,993.95)
New iCloud pricing
Since iCloud was launched, iOS users were already enjoying its 5GB free cloud storage, but to upgrade to 10 or 20 GB, it requires a US$20- or US$40-a-month subscription. During OS X Yosemite’s announcement, Apple decidedly reshuffles the pricing structure, which made it cheaper now, though still pricier than the competition. Here are the new iCloud Drive tiers:
iCloud Drive
- 5GB: Free
- 20GB: US$0.99/month
- 200GB: US$3.99/month
- 500GB: US$9.99/month
- 1TB: US$19.99/month
iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c new Malaysian price
We won’t be expecting the iPhone 6 to arrive in Malaysia for another few weeks, or months. If we’re in the second wave of release, we’ll probably be getting it by the end of October. If we’re following last year’s trend, Malaysia’s in the third wave to get the iPhone 5s/5c in early November. Otherwise, if we’ve been relegated to the fourth tier like during the iPhone 5’s release in 2012, December is the month. In any case, last year’s models are now cheaper. The iPhone 5c is also getting a storage reduction, and it is still a bit too pricey, don’t you think?
iPhone 5s
- 16GB: RM1,999 (previously RM2,399)
- 32GB: RM2,199 (previously RM2,749)
iPhone 5c
- 8GB: RM1,499 (16GB model was RM1,999, now RM1,549 from Machines)
The discontinuation of iPod classic
I was a bit late to the iPod game; my first was the 2005 5th generation iPod [classic], also known as the iPod Video. That turned out to be the second last iPod classic, as the 6th generation that was out on 2007 stayed the same for seven years.
Last night before the iPhone 6 / Apple Watch keynote, the company briefly took down its website for a complete overhaul and to add new products to its lineup. When the site came back online, its was apparent that the iPod classic is no longer listed.
Though being the sixth revision, it retains the classic deck-of-cards form factor because it’s housing a 1.8-inch hard disk drive, a key ingredient to its popularity, (besides the iconic Click Wheel, of course). The hard disk allows Apple to push the storage to 160GB in 2009, when it was still quite expensive even for a 128GB flash drive.
At one point the classic iPod went up to around RM1,500 if memory serves, but due to diminishing demands, the current retail price is at RM849 (Machines still has them). One of the main factors of the decline is due to the introduction of iPod touch, which coincidentally took place in the same year the 6th generation iPod classic came out. It was clear then that a larger touch-centric display is way more superior, not to mention it runs almost all iPhone OS apps at the time. Though having a significantly smaller storage, the iPod touch quickly gain popularity among kids and teenagers who aren’t allowed to own a cell phone yet.
Even the iPod touch itself is suffering a reduction in demand, now that many Android and Windows Phones are so cheap and can even make phone calls. Unless if Apple decides to slash the price of the iPod classic even further, there is no longer any reason for the iPod classic to exist, except maybe for that sweet, sweet 160GB storage.
Bon adieu, iPod classic, you will be dearly missed.
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