Apple’s latest iPhone costs 0.04 BTC now, versus its price equivalent of 162 BTC in 2011. CoinGecko, the world’s largest independent cryptocurrency data aggregator, investigates the cost of an iPhone in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) throughout the years, since 2011 and 2015 respectively.
The research examines historical price data of Bitcoin and Ether, taken at the daily close on iPhone launch dates for each iPhone generation over the years. These prices were then mapped to the USD launch price of each iPhone, to determine the equivalent amount of Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH) to purchase one.
Overall, the cost of an iPhone in Bitcoin or Ether have both plunged 99%, since 2011 for Bitcoin and the inception of Ether in 2015. As the price of 1 BTC in USD goes up, the amount of Bitcoin required to purchase an iPhone goes down.
An iPhone 4S which retailed at 649 USD is equivalent to 162.2 BTC when it was first released in 2011, with BTC trading at around 4 USD. Fast forward to 2022, the new iPhone 14 retails 23% higher at 799 USD, which equates to 0.042 BTC – reflecting a 99.9% drop in the amount of Bitcoin required to purchase an iPhone.
This can be explained by Bitcoin and Ether price hikes of 471,387% and 211,178% respectively, which outpace the 23% price increase of Apple iPhones, since the 2011 iPhone 4S model.
The cost of an iPhone 14 in Bitcoin now, however, is 138% higher than the cost of an iPhone 13 in Bitcoin, last year. This is explained by the sharp decline of Bitcoin prices by -73%, from 69,044 USD during its all-time-high in 2022, to 18,859 USD on September 7 during the iPhone 14 release.
The newly released Apple iPhone 14, set to retail from 799 USD, is equivalent to the price of 0.042 BTC or
0.510 ETH on the date of announcement.
| The Cost of an iPhone in Bitcoin or Ether, Over The Years | ||||||
|
iPhone Release Date |
iPhone |
iPhone Price (USD) | Bitcoin equivalent |
BTC Price |
Ether equivalent |
ETH Price |
| Oct 14, 2011 | iPhone 4S | $649.00 | 162.2500 | $4.00 | – | – |
| Sep 21, 2012 | iPhone 5 | $649.00 | 52.7642 | $12.30 | – | – |
| Sep 20, 2013 | iPhone 5S | $649.00 | 5.0478 | $128.57 | – | – |
| Sep 19, 2014 | iPhone 6 | $649.00 | 1.6503 | $393.26 | – | – |
| Sep 25, 2015 | iPhone S | $649.00 | 2.7620 | $234.98 | 876.4120 | $0.74 |
| Sep 16, 2016 | iPhone 7 | $649.00 | 1.0700 | $606.55 | 51.8273 | $12.52 |
| Sep 22, 2017 | iPhone 8 | $699.00 | 0.1930 | $3,622.18 | 2.6531 | $263.47 |
| Nov 3, 2017 | iPhone X | $999.00 | 0.1381 | $7,234.74 | 3.2664 | $305.84 |
| Sep 21, 2018 | iPhone XS | $999.00 | 0.1539 | $6,491.89 | 4.4522 | $224.38 |
| Sep 20, 2019 | iPhone 11 | $699.00 | 0.0682 | $10,253.23 | 3.1523 | $221.74 |
| Nov 13, 2020 | iPhone 12 | $829.00 | 0.0510 | $16,265.15 | 1.7936 | $462.21 |
| Sep 24, 2021 | iPhone 13 | $799.00 | 0.0178 | $44,980.90 | 0.2529 | $3,159.27 |
| Sep 9, 2022 | iPhone 14 | $799.00 | 0.0424 | $18,859.50 | 0.5107 | $1,564.56 |
Noting the findings, COO and co-founder of CoinGecko, Bobby Ong, commented: “We have witnessed Bitcoin’s tremendous price jump over the years, outpacing the price increase of Apple’s iPhone. Excited to see how this gap will continue to widen, in years to come.”
This holds true with many people asking questions about FTX’s collapse and how it will affect cryptocurrencies.
Methodology
The research examines historical price data of Bitcoin and Ether on CoinGecko and Mt.Gox, taken at the daily close on iPhone launch dates for each iPhone generation over the years, from October 14, 2011 to September 7, 2022. These prices were then mapped to the USD launch price of each iPhone, and then divided by its respective price data to conclude the equivalent amount of Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH) to purchase one.
iPhone prices are obtained from official Apple Inc. announcements, with its 16GB (iPhone 4S to 6S), 32GB (iPhone 7), and 64GB (iPhone 8 onwards) base models selected for the study.