Whether Cook’s inflation experiment will work remains to be seen. If it enhances brand loyalty, it might. But what it does demonstrate is that Cook is again playing the long game.

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And Apple investing in price to keep or add iPhone customers also plays well into capturing customers in the broader Apple ecosystem.

The yearly Apple launch included other feature upgraded products - in particular three new watches plus updated AirPods.

With inflation in the US running at 8.5 per cent, Apple presumably thinks it would have run into resistance if it increased prices, particularly for its bottom-of-the-range standard iPhones.

There is plenty of survey data collected about the cost of living crunch being felt by some consumer groups in the US.

Apple has also found it difficult in the more recent past to entice consumers to upgrade to more expensive, more highly featured models.

It has also been tackling the trend for customers to hold on to their phones for longer.

Well known US technology analyst Wedbush’s Dan Ives, who has a buy rating on Apple, recently predicted the initial production order for 90 million iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro units - a figure that is roughly flat on last year’s release of the 13 series.

If Ives is correct, Apple isn’t factoring in that its sales will hit a wall, despite the cost of living pressures in many of its markets - including Australia.

Ives also estimates that about a quarter of iPhone owners have not upgraded their device in 3.5 years. This is particularly important for retailers of Apple products in Australia - especially JB Hi-Fi.

They rely heavily on product updates from the likes of Apple and Samsung for a sales sugar-hit.

JB Hi-Fi chief executive Terry Smart suggested recently that these products have arguably moved out of the discretionary basket and now have more of the characteristics of non-discretionary items.

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The relatively small number of improvements/new features in this year’s iPhone models may curb enthusiasm for customers to replace their existing device. But Cook is hoping that his nod to the cost of living pressure may entice those in the market to pay for, and get hooked on, the top-of- the-line options.

And for the “one more thing” element to the Apple yearly product release show - no price rise appears to have been the 2022 surprise.

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