Smartphones at 1000 euros: a very high-end led to last?

Samsung Galaxy Note 8, iPhone X ... smartphones marketed from 1000 euros are now a reality. Is this "very high-end" going to last or are we just in a transition phase before a new democratization?

More and more expensive smartphones

It will not have escaped you that in this coming 2017, the price of smartphones "flagships", has taken another level: the psychological bar 1000 euros. More precisely two of them: the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, whose recommended price is 1,009 euros, and the iPhone X that will be released on 3 November from 1,159 euros. It is unclear exactly how much the LG V30 will cost, but LG France is satisfied to say that it will be cheaper than the Galaxy Note 8, it is fairly well imagined that it will not be much.

This situation did not happen overnight. In fact, it is above all a surge in flagships prices that have been seen in recent years, breaking year after year the limits of 700 euros, then 800, then 900 with the iPhone 7 Plus and the Galaxy S8, to arrive at the current market where, as the general media have not failed to notice, we approach the SMIC net.

A smartphone at 1000 euros: for what?

What is so special about a smartphone at more than 1000 euros? This is the paradox: ultimately, not much more, apart from components more difficult to produce in mass. If one compares an iPhone 8 to an iPhone X, both smartphones integrate the same processor, probably the same amount of RAM, the same internal storage. They both manage wireless charging, are capable of capturing videos in 4K at 60 frames per second, they both have no 3.5mm jack (yes, it was for the joke) and there is no has no application or no game that would work on one and not on the other.

Everything you can do with an iPhone X or almost can be done with an iPhone 8 or 8 Plus. The 8 Plus even has unique benefits, such as its larger screen size that allows you to use a multi-pane display in landscape mode on many apps. Obviously, the difference is on the edgeless screen, OLED technology offers better contrasts and infinite blacks, the presence of an optical stabilization on the second camera (of which the iPhone 8 remains private) and the famous technology FaceID and its 3D camera capable of recognizing your face among a million others, under conditions that remain to be demonstrated.

As for Samsung, it is even more vague: it must be said that the gap is less important, the Galaxy Note 8 barely exceeding 1,000 euros. One would be frankly tempted to answer that the difference lies in the stylus, the dual photo sensor and the screen size if we take in reference the normal S8.

New niche or transition phase?

And of course, in any case the iPhone 8 and the Galaxy S8 are already much more expensive than some competitors nevertheless very well. The OnePlus 5 has everything of a high-end and, if it is much more expensive than what we had used OnePlus in the past, it remains below the 500 euros. Xiaomi continues to pull prices down with a Mi MIX 2 to the screen without borders and to the technical sheet at the top, also in this price category.

The smartphones to more than 1000 euros create a precedent. But does this precedent stay? Not easy to answer. One can say that the screens without edges have provided the manufacturers a good new opportunity to let go. When they become as common as a fingerprint reader or a dual photo sensor, will they come back to more reasonable rates? It is possible, but we can count on the manufacturers to continue a segment with more comfortable margins, which allows them to launch innovations that then descend on a larger part of their range.