The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR • Hacker News Board

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#311

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:11 PM UTC

donarb wrote: post #65

throw0u1t wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may be so, but the fact is that I can't buy a new 64GB iPhone 7. The trouble with a glass back is that it can still shatter when dropped even if it has a case on it.

Don’t drop it then. I’m not being funny. I treat every phone I’ve ever owned as the expensive devices they are. I buy a protective case, don’t put it in my back pocket where it can be bent or broken. I don’t use it while standing over the toilet so it can’t be dropped in. When I drink with friends, I don’t lay my phone on the bar where some drunk can spill beer on it. It’s more than being able to have the use of a fu…

It must be nice to never make mistakes or have accidents happen.

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#312

Post by tootie » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:14 PM UTC

allenleee wrote: post #171

protomyth wrote: post #5

I cannot help but think that an iPhone XR mini would have been a great seller if it hit the $450 range. I just don't understand Apple these days, its like they have reverted to the early 90's where they kept jacking the price until even the loyal customers had to exit the ship. I had so believed they would repeat the iPod strategy and start at the top end and slowly squeeze the market by introducing models that fille…

Summary of the tweets of Steven Sinofsky(1): 1- Pricing not only says who can afford your product but also establishes a brand, determines channel, & more. 2- The first key to having low priced offerings is that you have to have a set of partners who are willing to compete on thin margins in order to bring the product to market. 3- When people say Apple needs a cheaper phone there are many questions to answer beyond…

Regarding point 6, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Apple had a viable strategy for a lower-priced phones and Jobs just said "never" and Cook is honoring that. I don't know that they did, just that you can't underestimate the potential for powerful people to be irrational.

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#313

Post by IanCal » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:15 PM UTC

m23khan wrote: post #294

Consumers should demand cheaper smartphones with adequate performance -- just like cars, you have toyota corollas and honda civics for the average joe and then you have lexus and cadillacs. Similarly, a cheap, reliable phone for masses and the rich folks can go for their iPhones and Samsung Galaxies. It seems when it comes to smartphones, consumers are also to blame for unnecessarily spending more then their actual a…

Is there a lack of these? My wife got a moto g5 for about £150 and it's been an amazing phone. You can pick up a decent second hand one with a 2 year warranty for < £100 these days (unlocked & top quality, locked and slightly lower quality for ~£70 or less).

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#314

Post by CoolGuySteve » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:16 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #286

marbletiles wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider the iPod: the differentiation was about things people would care about, like size, capacity, portability, style, etc. You weren't made to feel cheap just because you entered at the lower price points. You wanted an iPod Mini, and it made sense that it cost less than the Classic: you were still getting "the best" version of the thing you desired. Same story with the Mac: buying the iBook didn't make you feel…

The same went for the MacBook lineup. I don't want a Retina display, quad core, etc. I'll live with a lower spec for a $999 machine. And as a bonus my battery lasts longer! By comparison I think the iBook was always a crippled version.

The iBook was fairly comparable to the PowerBook in specs but it weighed more, was larger, and the plastic was less durable than the magnesium case.

For $999 or $800 old/refurbished, it was the only small (5 lbs) laptop you could get with a decent GPU back then. The pentium 4 stuff of the day was huge and power hungry and the Centrino line didn’t support it for some reason.

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#315

Post by dreamcompiler » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:38 PM UTC

llampx wrote: post #208

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering Sinofsky's record, I wouldn't necessarily consider him a credible authority on this. There's an obvious difference between "a cheaper phone" and making the range as affordable as it was five years ago - instead of relying on so-called luxury branding while offering very little extra and annoying customers with product issues (missing headphone jack, BatteryGate, etc) and mediocre software updates. Apple d…

I used to love going to the Apple Store and playing with the new iPhones, iPads and Macbooks, especially soon after a new product launch. Maybe its just me getting older but it doesn't have the same appeal anymore.

Same here. Everything in the Apple Store now seems designed to impress me rather than to help me get work done. Battery life gets shorter, keys and ports get removed, prices get higher. But boy do these things look amazing in the store!

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#316

Post by dandare » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:40 PM UTC

tootie wrote: post #312

allenleee wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Summary of the tweets of Steven Sinofsky(1): 1- Pricing not only says who can afford your product but also establishes a brand, determines channel, & more. 2- The first key to having low priced offerings is that you have to have a set of partners who are willing to compete on thin margins in order to bring the product to market. 3- When people say Apple needs a cheaper phone there are many questions to answer beyond…

Regarding point 6, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Apple had a viable strategy for a lower-priced phones and Jobs just said "never" and Cook is honoring that. I don't know that they did, just that you can't underestimate the potential for powerful people to be irrational.

I vaguely remember from Jobs' biography by Isacson that if you are not willing to cannibalize your own market share with a cheaper product someone else will do that for you. I am not 100% if it was Jobs who said that though.

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#317

Post by shliachtx » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:41 PM UTC

llampx wrote: post #208

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering Sinofsky's record, I wouldn't necessarily consider him a credible authority on this. There's an obvious difference between "a cheaper phone" and making the range as affordable as it was five years ago - instead of relying on so-called luxury branding while offering very little extra and annoying customers with product issues (missing headphone jack, BatteryGate, etc) and mediocre software updates. Apple d…

I used to love going to the Apple Store and playing with the new iPhones, iPads and Macbooks, especially soon after a new product launch. Maybe its just me getting older but it doesn't have the same appeal anymore.

I found it interesting that the last time I was in the mall with a friend, we were both more fascinated with the Microsoft store than the Apple store. The Apple store was just bigger, faster, better phones and computers. The Microsoft store had new things. Virtual reality, Surface Hub, Surface Book, etc.

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#318

Post by code_duck » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:42 PM UTC

donarb wrote: post #65

throw0u1t wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may be so, but the fact is that I can't buy a new 64GB iPhone 7. The trouble with a glass back is that it can still shatter when dropped even if it has a case on it.

Don’t drop it then. I’m not being funny. I treat every phone I’ve ever owned as the expensive devices they are. I buy a protective case, don’t put it in my back pocket where it can be bent or broken. I don’t use it while standing over the toilet so it can’t be dropped in. When I drink with friends, I don’t lay my phone on the bar where some drunk can spill beer on it. It’s more than being able to have the use of a fu…

Spill all the beer you want - phones these days are mostly waterproof.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207043

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#319

Post by shliachtx » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:43 PM UTC

dandare wrote: post #316

tootie wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding point 6, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Apple had a viable strategy for a lower-priced phones and Jobs just said "never" and Cook is honoring that. I don't know that they did, just that you can't underestimate the potential for powerful people to be irrational.

I vaguely remember from Jobs' biography by Isacson that if you are not willing to cannibalize your own market share with a cheaper product someone else will do that for you. I am not 100% if it was Jobs who said that though.

“One of Job's business rules was to never be afraid of cannibalizing yourself. " If you don't cannibalize yourself, someone else will," he said. So even though an Iphone might cannibalize sales of an IPod, or an IPad might cannibalize sales of a laptop, that did not deter him.”[0]

The idea being pushed is cannibalization by a better product, not lower prices.

[0] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/908575-one-of-job-s-busines...

Re: The Phone That’s Failing Apple: iPhone XR

#320

Post by alistairSH » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:44 PM UTC

0x0 wrote: post #26

prepend wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m running both a 5S and 6S with latest iOS. An iPhone 8 should be good for st least five years.

The fact that the 5s got iOS 12 is more of an exception than the rule. The 5 stopped at iOS 10, and the 4s stopped at iOS 9, so the general trend should have stopped the 5s at 11.

Aren't Apple OS updates typically tied to actual hardware constraints (vs a x-year obsolescence cycle)? With the 5 and iOS10, Apple stopped supported 32-bit hardware, right? I don't recall a time where Apple just said "that phone is too old and slow" - it's always been "that phone doesn't have [hardware architecture X]".

Point being, the cycle isn't known. The iPhone 7 could be supported for many years. Or, hardware design could change in 2019 and even the XS and XR could be obsolete.