Apple says it’ll lower iPhone prices in certain countries

Apple’s iPhone revenue dropped 15 percent this past year over the year prior, and now CEO Tim Cook is saying the company is reconsidering its pricing. In an interview with Reuters, Cook says certain currencies experienced a more drastic iPhone price increase over time.

“When you look at foreign currencies and then particularly those markets that weakened over the last year those (iPhone price) increases were obviously more,” he told Reuters. “And so as we’ve gotten into January and assessed the macroeconomic condition in some of those markets we’ve decided to go back to more commensurate with what our local prices were a year ago in hopes of helping the sales in those areas.”

On the company’s earnings call, Cook mentioned that the strength of the US dollar has made its products more expensive around the world and used Turkey as an example. He says the lira depreciated by 33 percent over 2018, and then in this past quarter, its revenue was down by almost $700 million compared to the previous year.

He said the emerging markets tended to experience the biggest price discrepancies with the new iPhone models, and that since January, the company has absorbed “part or all” of the foreign currency price changes so that the new phone prices are “close or right on the local price from a year ago.”