Apple once sold a brand new iPhone model for only 4 million VND: Why is it so cheap?

For a brief moment throughout its 16-year history, an iPhone was once sold for what the late CEO Steve Jobs called a “miracle”: Just over 4 million VND for a brand new machine!

Compared to the expensive iPhone price, touching nearly 40 million VND today, the selling price of 4 million VND for an iPhone is probably unthinkable. But it’s true, proving the claim that anyone can buy an iPhone.

The iPhone costs 4 million

When Apple announced at WWDC on June 9, 2008, iPhone 3G not only improved performance with access to 3G networks, Apple also made an unprecedented move: Cut the price by nearly half.

The first-generation 8GB iPhone, metal case, sold for $599 but quickly dropped to $399. The new iPhone 3G, with a plastic back and subtly redesigned, sells for just $199.

” We think the iPhone 3G will fit most people’s budget ,” Jobs said in the keynote. Over a million iPhone 3G units were sold in the first week of release. Clearly, Apple has delivered something meaningful.

Apple followed up with the more powerful iPhone 3GS, improving the camera and increasing the storage capacity to 32GB. That 8G model still costs just $199. Even so, the correlation between high quality and low cost did not last.

Two years later, Apple launched the completely redesigned iPhone 4 with prices starting at $599 for the 16GB model.

The way Apple continues to raise the price to more than $1,599 (for the 1TB iPhone 14 Pro Max model), makes many wonder if the company still remembers what Jobs once said about a phone that anyone could buy. Is that Okay.

Apple’s iPhone 3G is considered the phone that transitions into a new era of telecommunications.

We have the first iPhone, a device so interesting that it was once called “God’s Phone”, and then the iPhone 3G. There has never been a device released called the iPhone 2 and “3G” here is not referring to the version number but to the cellular network capabilities, the technology is much faster than 2G).

Even so, Apple locked everything at 3, followed by the 3GS, and then the iPhone 4 (as well as the iPhone 4S). People still do not know if in real life, iPhone 2 will be like. Is it the iPhone 3G and then the 3GS is the true iPhone 3?

New era

In a way, the iPhone 3G is a downgrade from the original iPhone. Despite the higher data transfer rate, the black (or white) plastic back is not nearly as luxurious as the metal design of the first version.

” It has an all-plastic back, which is really nice ,” Jobs said. What he didn’t mention is that the plastic will make it easier for the device’s antenna to pick up the signal. The leader only emphasizes the excellent grip.

3G also fixed some bugs of the original iPhone, such as replacing the recessed 3.5mm headphone jack with an easy-to-use jack with more pairs of headphones and adding real-time GPS.

Jobs declared like a prophet: ” Location will be great on the iPhone with next-generation software.” He also talked about what is now commonplace: “Using GPS data, we can actually track something .”

Unlike recent years, when Apple continuously improved the camera or image processing algorithms, the iPhone 3G then took a simple approach, leaving nothing on the 2MP camera from its predecessor other than increased to 3MP.

Apple’s iPhone 3G can be considered an unimportant device in the iPhone timeline, except that it was the first to support the App Store. A few months before the launch of the iPhone 3G, the App Store had hundreds of apps available.

Today, there are at least 1.6 million apps in the App Store, generating more than $1 trillion in revenue last year. It all started with the plastic iPhone 3G.

After more than a decade, people no longer see Apple selling iPhones for $ 199. The reason may be that the materials used on the phone are more advanced, the technology is more advanced and complex than before. In addition, the public also shows a tendency to pay a lot of money for a unique, quality product.

Happy Birthday iPhone 3G. The phone few people remember but is a memorable milestone for Apple.