As if the cost of the iPhone X wasn’t jaw-dropping enough. Priced by Apple at $999, Best Buy is charging an additional $100 for the phone, bringing the cost of the 64 GB model to $1,099 and the 256 GB model to a whopping $1,249 for customers who want to buy the iPhone X outright through the retailer.
Best Buy defended its price hike as a way to preserve customers’ flexibility. “Our prices reflect the fact that no matter a customer’s desired plan or carrier, or whether a customer is on a business or personal plan, they are able to get a phone the way they want at Best Buy.”
It added that “customers have told us they want this flexibility and sometimes that has a cost.” The higher prices even out to what most customers pay through installment plans with their carriers.
Interestingly, you only have to pay the premium if you want to own the phone outright. Installment payment plans in general tend to end up costing people more in the end than just buying the phone, but in this case, if you buy the iPhone in installments from Best Buy, the price is the standard $999 and $1,149.
There are a lot of other things you could buy for the price of the iPhone X. Our tech reporter Mike Murphy drew up a list while he waited to pre-order his phone.
America’s Best Buy (which also added $100 to the cost of the iPhone 8) is not the most expensive place to buy the coveted smartphone. Check out the Quartz Index to see which countries will pay most for the X, which sold out minutes after pre-ordering started on Oct. 27.