iPhone X prices to start from 1.42 million won

The iPhone X, the highly anticipated 10th anniversary phone from Apple, will be sold at 1.42 million won ($1,272.4) in Korea, a hefty markup compared to the price in the United States.

According to Apple Korea on Wednesday, the 5.8-inch phone’s price is set at 1.42 million won for a standard 64-gigabyte model and 1.63 million won for a 256GB model. The price exceeds estimates by industry analysts that predicted that the priciest model would cost no more than 1.5 million won.

In the United States, where presales began last Friday, the phone is sold at $999 for a 64GB model. Even when considering taxes, the price there is at least 200,000 won cheaper than in Korea. In Canada, the 64GB model is sold at 1,319 Canadian dollars ($1,021.89), in Japan the phone costs 112,800 yen ($990.04) and in Hong Kong it is 8,588 Hong Kong dollars ($1,100.78).

The iPhone 8 has a similar markup here as well. While the phone costs $699 in the United States, it will cost 990,000 won when it goes on sale in Korea later this week.

However, Korea isn’t the only country dealing with expensive price tags. The iPhone X will also be more expensive in some European countries. In Hungary, the price of a 64GB iPhone X is 379,990 Hungarian forints ($1,421.26), in Italy it costs 1,189 euros ($1,384) and in Russia it is 79,990 Russian rubles ($1,374).

The phone, which includes a host of features including facial recognition and an OLED display, will officially go on sale in over 55 countries including the United States, Canada, China and Japan on Friday. However, Korea wasn’t included in the launch.

In Korea, the launch date of iPhone X has not yet been set.
Still, Apple fans in Korea seem to be waiting for the pricey phone to arrive.

“Though it has a hefty price tag, there are people in local online communities that are already preparing to sell their existing phones to buy an iPhone X,” a source from the mobile industry said. “Preorders of the iPhone 8 have been slow largely due to interest in the next generation phone soon to hit the country.”

BY KIM JEE-HEE [kim.jeehee@joongang.co.kr]