Why is the iphone 5 (& even the iphone 4) so expensive?

I need a new mobile phone as I have a very old nokia. I have been looking at getting an iphone as lots of people at work are saying how good it is. However, I can't believe how pricey it is. I only want a phone for texting and phoning and maybe doing a bit on the internet and a few apps. I may just get the nokia lumia as it seems cheaper and the reviews look good. Has anyone got any advice and also can someone please explain why the iphone is so expensive?

Because there so in' and everyone wants one also the Nokia sounds a good idea.

Because the fan boys will pay that price.

The iphones are so expensive because they are a social symbol. It is like a chevy suburban vrs a cadilac escalade. One is more expensive because it has a better social name not better quality. Ihave the droid razrrm (not maxx) and i love it!

The Iphone is so expensive due to the brand Apple any Apple brand is very expensive that is why the Iphones, Ipads etc are so expensive because of who makes them.

Because Apple doesn't have a clue on how to set pricing on such rubbish phones.

Because apple prices their phones at a high price so that it can gain more money on every phone sold
i suggest you get the lumia 800
amazing build quality it just feels high end and premium in your hand and it's very durable
it's made from a single piece of polycarbonate and it's also made in a way that for example if you buy the cyan version and you scratch or hit it the color after that would stay cyan
the screen is a 3.7" screen with Nokia clear black display so that means colors and text look amazing on it and that also means you can easily see in direct sunlight so you won't have to higher the screen brightness
and it's made in a way that makes everything seem as if it is floating on the screen
the camera is an 8 megapixle camera which takes amazing photos and videos
it has Carl Zeiss optics and it also has the Nokia added features like group shot, panorama shot and burst shot
what group shot allows you to do is to capture the perfect moment so for example if you are taking a photo of 2 people and you blink you will be able to rewind the time till when they were still smiling
the web browser is extremely good and very fast
it has deep social network integration(Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn)
the phone handles mail in a very good way
you've got a huge number of high quality apps and you also got the Nokia added free exclusive apps like Nokia drive, Nokia maps, Nokia city, Nokia lens, Nokia beta, Nokia music, Nokia creative studio, espn, espn radio, CNN, viber HD. And many more
battery life on the phone is very good and would easily get you through a full day of heavy use on a full charge
the whole os on the phone is amazing and it runs smooth and fast and it's also faster in everyday use than iOS and android
you've got everything you want and need in the lumia there really is no need to pay extra for the iphone
hope I helped.
tell me if you decided to get it

You mainly pay all that money because of the brand, Apple.

It's like Dominoes Pizza or Nike clothing, they are popular brands and feel like they can charge anything for it, and people will pay the money for them.

But I must admit, I prefer Apple to any other company for my phones, tablets etc. I don't quite get other devices, like previously I had a HTC Wildfire and it was just so slow and so unreliable, so therefore now I got an iPhone 5 and I have to say I'm really pleased with it.
I got an iPad a few months before and I'm massively into that too, I was playing with a Samsung Galaxy Tab in HMV just last week and it was really slow and unresponsive.

People with BlackBerry phones, as much as I would say the BlackBerry Operating System is pretty fast, it can fail with a lot of people often, but I do quite like BlackBerry.

I would get an iPhone if I were you to be honest, I don't think you will look back!