Did Apple once again just sell an upgrade and make it sound like a critical step in evolution of man?

Not one, but three new iPhone models were announced by Apple earlier this week. For those who swear by Apple products, it may have been the Second Coming. But for the rest of humanity, it did seem a bit of an underwhelming moment in the history of the universe. Especially when the face recognition unlocking feature, one of the radical new features in the iPhone X — the ‘X’, confusingly, is the Roman numerical 10, even as it is pronounced as the (overused) ‘cool’ letter of the alphabet — failed in the demonstration.

As for the other two models unveiled, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, Apple has done what it does best: sell an upgrade (of iPhone 7) and make it sound like a critical step in evolution of man.

But Apple fans love falling for this squeal-inducing, wallet shaking incremental magic. If Apple was in the automobile business, it would have upgraded cars from one wheel, to two wheels, to three wheels, to four wheels… and keep adding wheels to the delight of its believers (read: consumers).

The iPhone X is slated to cost Rs 89,000 for the 64GB version, and Rs 1,02,000 for the 256GB one. We just hope iPhone aficionados will one day explain how these phones — is it blasphemous to call them ‘phones’? — are, like a Van Gogh, imbued with their own intrinsic value that can’t be measured in the crass terms of utility or price.