It must have been a no brainer. The iPhone 5 is selling like hot cakes and even the future ones will continue to be successful products, so how about a price hike?
We just noticed that the German Apple store sells iPhone 5 16GB without contract sells for €679 including VAT, which is exactly €100 more than the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S at launch. The bill of materials is roughly the same as with previous phones which means Apple will instantly make €100 more per each sold phone. You can read the BOM report here.
We can bet that investors will love the fact that Apple can make even more money per phone, simply because it has a cool product. The 32GB version sells for €789 while 64GB sells for €899 and even if you order one of these unlocked phones today, it will take Apple three to four weeks to send them. Clearly, demand is very strong.
Most customers in Europe will get this phone from their network providers and these subsidized phones do seem to be cheaper on day one, but usually come with a two year contract that over the longer term cost you much more.
Our German readers can find the pricing at Apple Germany store here, but these indicate a consistent €100 increase across all shops around Europe.