As time passes by, most people tend to overlook the changing prices of the products they buy on a regular basis. Gadgets certainly fall into the category of routinely purchased items for which costs can change by a surprising amount.
From a gadget insurance perspective, the cost of devices is incredibly relevant, since both repair and replacement prices will often be tied into the expense of the original handset. With that in mind, here is a quick look at some fluctuations that have occurred in some of the most popular ranges that are still around today.
Apple iPhone
The iPhone has always been a boundary-pushing device, sitting at the upper end of the market in terms of both price and performance. However, these are both relative terms and back when the first generation device arrived in 2007, Apple was charging just £269 for its standard model.
Fast forward to 2015 and the launch of the iPhone 6S, the most affordable example of which hit stores for the princely sum of £539. Anyone who opted for iPhone insurance at this point would be protecting themselves from significantly steeper costs in the event of disaster. At this stage, there were also larger models in the same range, with the iPhone 6S Plus starting at £619.
In 2018, the iPhone XR and XS both touched down and, once again, the prices had crept up significantly. The XR was the more affordable of the two, with the 64GB edition costing £749, while the XS started at £999 and went right up to £1449 for the XS Max variant.
Another issue facing UK buyers of Apple hardware today is that the US dollar to Sterling exchange rate has fallen dramatically, making American items significantly more expensive than in the past. In short, iPhones are far more expensive today than they were at the time of the first generation’s arrival.
Samsung Galaxy S
The original Galaxy S was Samsung’s first true rival to the iPhone and arrived in 2010, bringing with it a glorious AMOLED screen that blew away the competition at the time. It also had a reasonable price of around £400, with the flexibility of Samsung’s pricing meaning that partners could make it a lot cheaper than an equivalent Apple device.
In 2015 the Galaxy S6 range arrived, and interestingly enough there was a notable price increase, albeit not quite on the same scale as the iPhone experienced over its first few iterations. Customers could pay £559.99 for the 36GB edition, or another £100 to double the storage.
In 2019 the all-new Galaxy S10 arrived, bringing with it a starting price of £799. This was another major leap, meaning that the price of the latest generation is effectively double that of the first. There is a great deal of technology onboard to explain this, so it is not surprising.
PlayStation
Sony’s home console is still hugely popular in its current iteration, but it really changed things upon the first-generation’s arrival in 1995. At the time it was priced at £299 in the UK, which is equivalent to £564 today when inflation is taken into account.
The PS2 arrived for the same £299 price tag five years later, followed by the PS3 for £425 in 2006. The PS4 hit stores in 2013 for £349.99, showing that modern consoles are actually better value for money than their equivalents from over two decades ago.
With ever-changing economic conditions, having the best gadget insurance in place for any of these devices is probably wise, given the sums involved.