What's wrong with people that they would pay $1000+ for a phone that is maybe only 5% better than a $200 one?
With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold
451–460 of 730 posts
Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold
#452Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except a good keyboard really makes the difference, an iPhone is worse in many ways from my Xiaomi Mi5, that costed 200 euros. For example you can't use the iPhone as an usb disk.
I don't know about you, but I most certainly can use my iPhone as a USB disk.
To clarify, he means he can both use it as a mass storage device on any platform, as well as it can be used boot an ISO if needed.
An iPhone can do neither of those things.
Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold
#453Earlier quoted context omitted.
I also know a guy who made his living for many years repairing and reselling iPhones, who simply buys the top of the line as soon as it comes out and resells the old one to pay for it, at as close to full price as he can get away with. Since he always gets the most specc'd out phone available, treats it very carefully, always inside an otterbox, and is a pretty decent salesman, he usually gets his price. He also clai…
I always take a 2-year contract. About one week before the new iPhone launch (and, conveniently, the end of my contract term), I sell my iPhone. My 6S with 64GB went this weekend for €450, which was the asking price. Next week I won't be able to get that price since there's a new model. I'm using a cheap, Chinese Android phone for 2 weeks every other year to bridge the gap between selling my iPhone and getting the ne…
> I always take a 2-year contract. About one week before the new iPhone launch (and, conveniently, the end of my contract term), I sell my iPhone. My 6S with 64GB went this weekend for €450, which was the asking price. Next week I won't be able to get that price since there's a new model.
I usually sell my iPhones and iPads after the new one has been delivered, preferably on the first weekend of the month. In my experience you won't have to expect a significant decrease in value after release. People know there's a new iPhone - it's not a surprise, even for non-tech audiences, and people will spent accordingly.
However the supply will be larger after release, no doubt, but one could argue that this applies to size of target audience as well. People will look for second hand iPhones after release.
In any case the resale value of Apple products is nothing short of amazing.
Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold
#454Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for the response. This is something that's not well known to me and in the age of retailers trying to upsell the same thing for a fee, I'm not surprised that it is obscured.
In all fairness, it's not a standard thing. Most of the extended card protections that go beyond purchase dispute resolution/defective product come from various premium cards more so than basic no-charge ones.
The Costco visa adds additional 2 years of warranty to all electronics purchased at Costco. It's a nice little feature.
Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold
#455Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "I get there are different needs." What are those different needs? What do the top end phones do that the mid range phones do not, other than take better photos? Battery life is comparable, screen size is comparable, they run the same apps. I'm struggling to think of a single reason (other than the camera) why people buy high end phones anymore. There used to be a big difference in quality, but that gap has pretty…
Go to an Apple Store and see them all side-by-side. What makes those devices what they are are the high end devices on the next table over. The advances very much do trickle down. Whether you would personally buy it or not.
That's a non-answer. I'm asking people who buy high end phones why they pay extra. A phone with faster processor and more memory can't be the only reason people pay extra for these devices, which is all I'd get from comparing specs.
Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold
#456Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold
#457Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except a good keyboard really makes the difference, an iPhone is worse in many ways from my Xiaomi Mi5, that costed 200 euros. For example you can't use the iPhone as an usb disk.
What makes a keyboard better in your opinion? I once bought a 100$ mechanical keynoard and ended up going back to my 10$ keyboard because it was familiar I am not sure if the difference between keyboards is that price dependant
A lot of people (including myself) like long-throw clicky keyboards given the choice. However, especially with the wholesale shift to laptops, they're far less familiar to people than they once were. I do like my mechanical keyboards but I admit that I use other keyboards so much of the time that I don't feel I "have" to use them like I once did. (And, indeed, I may have to adjust a little if I haven't used them in a while.)
Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold
#458This reminds me of the arguments about whether popular bands should raise ticket prices on the one hand, or create the conditions for ticket scalpers on the other.
Let's say Apple wants to be as innovative in hardware as a company like Essential – and therefore use components or manufacturing processes that aren't available at the scale of tens of millions per quarter. What should Apple do?
* Not innovate. Leave this for smaller companies; wait for the price to come down. Risk: lose market, engineers, and ability to build competence, to other companies.
* Release in limited supply at a low price; leave the surplus to rent seekers (scalpers). Risk: Leaves money on the table; insert middleman in relationship between Apple and (ultimate) customers.
* Release in limited supply at a low price; attempt to control scalping by limiting sales per customer and locking phones to the original purchaser. Risk: Complicated mechanism that people will hate.
* Charge a higher price, in order to set demand to supply. Risk: Bad image; magnifies effects of wealth inequality.
Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold
#459The author of this article has soaked up the conventional wisdom about Apple's pricing. Yes, they don't sell cheap phones, and sure they make a healthy profit, but it doesn't then follow that the product is overpriced. The iPhone has always been an extremely high-quality product and has always been competitively priced versus comparable models from other phone makers. So why do they have the reputation of premium pri…
I'm not quite sure the $1K price for the X is Apple playing the Veblen game here.
Gruber seems to hint that the OLED display is still single-sourced by Samsung and incredibly expensive to boot:
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/09/06/samsung-oled-mo...
The price may just be what it is until the price of the display comes down. Apple could also be trying to modulate demand because of the low display availability, but in the case of iPhone it will probably backfire and cause demand to increase.
Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold
#460Earlier quoted context omitted.
My understanding was the USD $1K mark was for the cheapest. If they were introducing a luxury version I wouldn't be so upset.
I thought the rumor-mill had Apple introducing two phones tomorrow - the 7 replacement AND the expensive phone. The naming conjecture has muddled the discussion a but, I think.
I see. I guess I was confused by this:
(FTA:) "The company will also enter new territory on price: The latest phone will start at about $1,000, compared with the $769 minimum for its current top phone, the iPhone 7 Plus."
So they are comparing 'top' to 'top' here. Got it.