Apple's retail chief says Apple Stores won't upsell the iPhone X to customers

by Alan Friedman / Oct 20, 2017, 6:08 PM

Imagine this scenario. You walk into the Apple Store near you sometime in 2018 and the location has a number of Apple iPhone X units running on one of the tables. But you walk right past the premium tenth anniversary model and pick up the Apple iPhone 8 because that is the model you want. And just as you are ready to pay for the device, a member of the Apple Store team starts to upsell you on the iPhone X. It has an OLED screen, a larger battery, and of course it features Face ID. And that edge-to-edge display is gorgeous. Before you know it, your $699 purchase has turned into a budget busting $999 after you give in and purchase the 64GB iPhone X.

But don't let this work of fiction scare you off from walking inside an Apple Store once the iPhone X is available in large numbers. Apple's retail chief Angela Ahrendts, told business network CNBC today that it will not upsell the iPhone X to customers. Apple's internal tag line is "an iPhone for everyone." Ahrendts says that the store will make recommendations depending on who an iPhone is being purchased for. She told the cable television audience that she would prefer the sales staff at an Apple Store find out the age of the recipient of the iPhone, and what he/she plans on doing with it.

"Internally we said the tagline was 'an iPhone for everyone. I prefer that we ask you who you're buying it for. If they're 6 or 7 years old, what do they need? If it's someone who's leaning into something else, what do they need? We do that with Mac, we do that with iPad, why wouldn't we do that with [the] phone?"-Angela Ahrendts,Senior Vice President of Retail, Apple

With a new Apple Store opening today on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, the number of retail locations numbers 497. And most important, the average store brings in $5,079 in revenue per square foot. That happens to make the Apple Store the highest grossing physical retailer in the world based on sales per square foot. Which means that there should be no pressure to talk you out of a lower priced phone and talk you into the iPhone X.

source: CNBC

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24 Comments

1. Tipus

Posts: 782; Member since: Sep 30, 2016

It won't be available in stores this year anyway, if rumors about manufacturing shortages are true. So there will be nothing to upsell for a long time :))

posted on Oct 20, 2017, 6:21 PM 2

3. trojan_horse

Posts: 5868; Member since: May 06, 2016

And I doubt Apple has never upsolded consumers in the past, how's it gonna change now, especially in carrier stores? Just saying.

posted on Oct 20, 2017, 6:57 PM 0

4. trojan_horse

Carriers reps upselling iPhones is something I've witnessed in the past ... Apple was behind such move, perhaps?

posted on Oct 20, 2017, 7:00 PM 2

7. uncle_gadget

Posts: 1050; Member since: Sep 20, 2017

Apple shouldn't be telling carrier's how they need to do business. The carriers buy their own phones to sell to their customers. Carriers offer deals to sell you services. They dont make much if anything off the phone itself.

posted on Oct 20, 2017, 7:55 PM 0

11. Back_from_beyond

Posts: 1137; Member since: Sep 04, 2015

But most carriers do have contracts that state they have to sell so many iPhones and if they fail to do so, Apple will award them less iPhones for stock at the next annual launch. How carriers achieve those sales numbers Apple couldn't give a crap about, but Apple doesn't lose a dime on it.

posted on Oct 20, 2017, 9:37 PM 1

2. Nine1Sickness

Posts: 896; Member since: Jan 30, 2011

That’s a joke right? At $999, they’re already upselling it.

posted on Oct 20, 2017, 6:25 PM 8

5. PhoneInQuestion

Posts: 496; Member since: Aug 20, 2017

>won't upsell the iPhone X >no quick charging out of the box >lacks an FPS and forces us to use the unproven FaceID >over one grand, and even over a sum of entry-fund student loans Loving the display of arrogance here.

posted on Oct 20, 2017, 7:21 PM 8

6. uncle_gadget

They won't have too. The IPhone 8 reused design, is too push people to want the X. Then they skimped out of storage too. Instead of offering 128 and 256 in storage, they offers 64gb and then added 4K @60 FPS which will make file take double the space. Which is gonna give people to spend an extra $150 to get 256gb. But all the classless fanboys claim the Note 8 is too expensive? But its okay to pay $999 and 1149 for the X, to only catch up to the S7 edge. Yet they won't include the adapter to support fast charging, hoping that at least 1/2 go and spend $60 for a $15 adapter. No premium headphones in the box like Samsung has done with the S8 and Note 8. Apple may just get the most rudest awakening. No wants the iPhone 8 and assuming they think every one is waiting for the X and if so, they can't even produce them because of parts delays This could be a disaster for them. Tbey stand to lose more .oney than Samsung lost on the Note 7. Karma! https://youtu.be/IC-OQo6FkFc - the greatest scam ever!

posted on Oct 20, 2017, 7:51 PM 3

23. mikehunta727 unregistered

I will say the AKG headphones that came with the Note suck... Even with Adapt Sound on and all it sounds tinny and s**t and it honestly sounds worse than my old wired Airpods I had laying around. No bass at all. I don't know if my AKG headphones are defective or something but they did not impress me one bit at all

posted on Oct 22, 2017, 11:23 AM 0

9. worldpeace

Posts: 3091; Member since: Apr 15, 2016

Of course they won't, and here are the reasons: - iPhone 8 got bigger profit margin than iPhoneX. - iPhone 8 sales isn't that great (they even cut the production by 50%), so they need to do their best to sell this outdated device.https://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_8_production_low_demand-news-27835.php