At 1 a.m. Beijing time on September 10, Apple held an autumn press conference with the theme of "Super Burning in the Forefront". Holding the banner of "the biggest leap in history", Cook officially debuted with the iPhone 17 series, including four models: iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max.

From the standard version of 5999 yuan to the top-fit ​​Pro Max of 17999 yuan, the iPhone 17 series refreshes the pricing ceiling of high-end mobile phones. However, the carnival at the press conference did not spread to the capital market. Apple's stock price closed down 1.48% on the same day and continued to fall after the market.

One ​​side is the label of "the most expensive iPhone in history" and the other side is the cold-eyed viewing of the capital market. Apple's super-burning innovation has become a microcosm of a business game about innovation and overdraft.

1. Pricing Art

Apple's pricing strategy has always been a precise business arithmetic.

This year's iPhone 17 series presents a peculiar pricing strategy, with the basic version 256GB starting at 5,999 yuan, and even 1,000 yuan cheaper than the previous generation's same capacity; and the newly added Pro Max However, the 2TB version directly broke through the 17,000 yuan mark, forming a product matrix with a span of more than 10,000 yuan.

This "down guaranteed bottom and sprint up" pricing technique can be said to have played "consumption rating" to the extreme.

As for Apple's new series, a joke circulated online: "Apple has understood the precise harvest. From 5999 to 17999, no matter how much money you have, you can find the corresponding model."

It is worth noting that this seemingly jumpy price system of the iPhone 17 series is actually a response to the escalation of Sino-US trade frictions in 2025.

The tariffs imposed by the United States on smartphones are like a sword of hanging over the roof, forcing Apple to walk a tightrope between cost transfer and market share.

Behind this strategy is a clear profit calculation. According to Counterpoint data, Pro and Pro Max in the iPhone 16 series in the Chinese market contributed 76.4% of sales, of which Pro Max single products accounted for nearly 40%. Apple's financial report shows that its net profit margin is stable at around 25%, which means that for every new 2TB version sold, it can cover the tariff cost gap of dozens of basic models.

2. Innovation Boundary

"This is definitely the year when the iPhone has changed the most," Xiaomi Group President Lu Weibing's evaluation is intriguing.

Netizens have been quarreling about Apple's new product launch this time, and behind this is the collective scrutiny of "innovation premium".

Wall Street responded much calmer to this press conference than the audience. Apple's stock price fell 1.6% after the press conference, and the market voted with its feet to express concerns about insufficient innovation.

When Samsung has iterated to the seventh generation of foldable screen phones and Huawei continues to make breakthroughs in AI functions, iPhone The "5.6mm ultra-thin body" and "48-megapixel full lens" that are mainly featured in the 17 series are more like a pile of technical parameters than a revolutionary breakthrough.

But the most controversial one is the brand new iPhone Air. This model, priced at 7999 yuan and is only 5.6 mm thick, is called "the biggest leap in iPhone history" by Cook, but the market is not buying it.

Analysts predict that its annual sales cap is only 4-5 million units, which is less than a fraction of the Pro Max single model. What's even more fatal is that Apple's vague comments on AI functions at the press conference are in stark contrast to Google's high-profile display of Gemini's model, revealing its strategic lag in the AI ​​competition.

This contradiction between lack of innovation and high prices reached its peak on the Pro Max 2TB version. The price of 17,999 yuan is nearly 20% higher than the same configuration version of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, but in addition to the improvement of storage capacity, it is difficult for consumers to find a matching experience upgrade.

3. High-priced game

The price distribution of the iPhone 17 series is essentially an accurate cut of the consumer market.

At the price range above 6,000 yuan, Apple still accounts for 65.8% of the market share, but domestic flagships are rapidly eroding this territory. Behind this rise and fall of one another is a profound change in the power structure of the global science and technology industry.

As domestic mobile phones are no longer subject to core technology, Apple's brand premium becomes increasingly fragile.

What is more interesting is Apple's supply chain regionalization strategy. The iPhone 17 sold to the United States is mainly produced by Indian factories, while the mainland Chinese production areas focus on markets such as China and Europe. This "two-place division" model is not only a response to tariff policies, but also implies differentiated judgments on different markets. However, the tariff rate and yield rate of 26%-47% in Indian factories make the effect of this strategy full of uncertainty.

When the 17,999 yuan price tag was finally finalized, Apple actually completed a user screening-it no longer tries to please all consumers, but focuses on high-end groups that regard iPhones as identity symbols. This transformation of "sacrificing scale for profit" reflects the helpless choices of global technology giants under the growth bottleneck.

Cooks may know that 17,999 yuan is not only a price figure, but also a weather vane for the transformation of the technology industry. In this era of high inflation and slowing technological iteration, Apple uses the most expensive iPhone in history to tell us that the pricing logic of technology products is quietly shifting from "innovation premium" to "identity premium".

I just don't know how long this high-priced game can last when innovation cannot support higher and higher prices?