The price of an iPhone in Bitcoin over the years
Finally here: the introduction of the iPhone 16 that many Apple fans have eagerly awaited.
Finally here: the introduction of the iPhone 16 that many Apple fans have eagerly awaited. While the design hardly changed, the tech community is eyeing new features and upgrades vs. the previous models. Pre-orders start today, September 13, and the price surprises many industry insiders. While the new iPhone 16 isn’t cheap, with a suggested retail price of 949 euros for the base model, there’s at least no price increase vs. last year.
Yet the suggested price of the iPhone 6 ten years ago was 699 euros, meaning the euro price has risen about 36 percent from the original release. When expressed in Bitcoin, the price of the latest iPhone model over the years has actually fallen sharply, as CoinGecko clearly shows in a View post on X:
When the iPhone 4s hit the market in 2011, Bitcoin was still in its infancy and worth only a few euros. So buying the model at launch would have set you back a hefty 162 Bitcoin, which equates to about €8.47 million today. With that money, you could buy roughly 8,900 brand-new iPhone 16 units today.
The earlier mentioned iPhone 6 launched in 2014 at 1.7 BTC, while the iPhone 6s hit the shelves the following year at 2.8 BTC. Back then, Bitcoin’s value surged, but it was also known for big price swings. The trend is clear, though: the successor, the iPhone 7, was 1.1 BTC, while the iPhone 8 released in 2017 cost just 0.19 BTC.
Apple stock or Bitcoin? A thrilling race
When Bitcoin hit a new all-time high during the big crypto bull run of 2021, the iPhone 13 launched at a historic low price of just 0.018 BTC. While the iPhone 14 cost 0.042 BTC during the bear market, the price of last year’s iPhone 15 fell back to 0.031 BTC.
With the newest model, a new low is in: based on the German euro price, the iPhone 16 costs roughly 0.017 BTC. In the U.S., the price is only 0.014 BTC because the device is already available there for $799.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin and Apple stock are locked in a heated head-to-head race as assets. Over six months, the tech company leads with a dollar return of 28%, while Bitcoin’s price fell 19% in the same period. The longer-term view looks different: Apple stock also enjoyed strong gains, with a dollar return of 305% over the past five years, but they can’t keep up with the leading crypto. Bitcoin has logged an impressive 460% dollar return since September 2019.
