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A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

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Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#101

Post by bmarquez »

chrisseaton wrote: post #56
saagarjha wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why is any of this your business? Because I am the person paying for the thing?

But why do you care what their costs are? What will you do with that information? Either the product is worth it for what you need or it isn’t.

> But why do you care what their costs are? What will you do with that information?

Make a purchasing decision?

There are value-conscious customers out there, many of which hang out on "deal hunting" sites even for luxury goods. Although the type of consumer willing to scrutinize the bill of materials in order to optimize the best specs per dollar is probably looking at Android.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#102

Post by RandallBrown »

henriquez wrote: post #16
cma wrote: post #4

What's the point of the mag-safe branding if the magnet doesn't really provide any safety if you trip on the cord, since the phones are so lightweight and would still get yanked to the ground?

Seems like literally just a trademark Apple had laying around. I also don't see how it's better or more convenient than just plugging in a cord. From what I understand it wastes a lot of electricity.

It wastes less electricity than normal Qi wireless charging because it can line up the coils more perfectly.

It also opens up a whole ecosystem of MagSafe accessories like wallets, car mounts, tripods, etc.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#103

Post by notJim »

alistairSH wrote: post #87
samatman wrote: post #38

Literally every one of the existing options still works. Ok with charging at 5w? Plug your lightning-to-A cable into the little tiny cube charger they've been selling since forever. Already have a faster USB charger? It works. Ok with Qi at 7W? Works Oh, you want the new shiny MagSafe puck system? Great. Buy it. This analysis completely ignores that the new shiny system is supposed to be a better experience . It's co…

The cable is a wear item. By the time I'm ready to swap phones (3 years or so), I'm also ready for a new cable. If I bought an iPhone 12 tomorrow, I would, at minimum, also have to buy another cable, because the one Apple included doesn't work with my existing charger. Not the end of the world, but still annoying.

I think you may be an outlier in owning only one lightning cable. I just looked in my desk drawer and counted 5, and I can think of 3 more in other areas of my house and car.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#104

Post by Polylactic_acid »

paxys wrote: post #86
radimm wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends how you look at it. If I consider the amount of cables/charges/earpods we have as family this is logical move. We don’t upgrade all the devices every year but it still adds up. Most of them are just throwaway.

While people do have a million chargers lying around from over the years, almost none of them will work with the new iPhone. The average Apple enthusiast will still end up buying one or more separately.

Every single brick I have had on an android phone for the last 10 years work on the iphone. The last 5 years of phones my family has got have come with usb C bricks too.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#105

Post by mynameisvlad »

paxys wrote: post #86
radimm wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends how you look at it. If I consider the amount of cables/charges/earpods we have as family this is logical move. We don’t upgrade all the devices every year but it still adds up. Most of them are just throwaway.

While people do have a million chargers lying around from over the years, almost none of them will work with the new iPhone. The average Apple enthusiast will still end up buying one or more separately.

What?

Any charger outputting to a Lightning cable still works. It's just not the optimal/fastest experience.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#106

Post by tshaddox »

chmod775 wrote: post #95
tshaddox wrote: post #89

I agree that a major motivation here is that Apple will make a bit more money from some customers who are willing to pay. But I don't really agree with the claim that the environmental arguments are ridiculous. If everyone only buys the accessories they want, and assuming some customers previously received accessories in the box that they didn't need, then presumably this will actually reduce waste. There is still pe…

>But I don't really agree with the claim that the environmental arguments are ridiculous. Their arguments are completely and utterly ridiculous given Apple's other behavior. Environmental considerations clearly don't motivate them a single bit. If they gave even a single shit about the environment their devices would have easily replaceable batteries and would be designed to last instead of to be replaced every year.…

I suppose we're talking about a distinction between it being true that this decision will reduce waste, and this decision being primarily motivated by the desire to reduce waste. You seem to be saying "well yeah, they're reducing waste, but only because it's profitable for them." Shouldn't that be a good thing?! I would certainly prefer a world where decisions which tend to be good for the environment tend to also be good for business.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#107

Post by Polylactic_acid »

suprfsat wrote: post #27
Bud wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't make the products more expensive, though. The iPhone 12 Pro series got cheaper (for the equivalent storage). They also made the charger and cable in question cheaper, for the small minority of users who actually need those items.

The cheapest iPhone 11 was $699; the iPhone 12 mini is more expensive at $729, and the regular iPhone 12 is $829.

They also moved OLED to the regular phone and added 5g. Without internal information its impossible to know what cost what. I doubt the brick and airpods cost anything more than $4.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#108

Post by petre »

fastball wrote: post #85
petre wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USB-C is great but the Lightning connector is still better designed. Oh and you can downvote me all you want, I'm an electrical engineer, not an Apple fanboy. Don't like the phone. Anyway, they should at least include a cable.

Disagree. I have had frequent issues with lint and other detritus collecting in Lightning ports, causing the device to no longer be able to charge until it is cleaned out. I haven't had that with USB-C (or any other type of port for that matter). Also USB-C can charge my computer. Lightning cannot. The entire reason I want something like USB-C is so that I can do everything with one cable. Lightning is not up to the…

Well, with USB-C you've got two holes that can fill up with junk, not just one. The Lightning port is at least easy to clean with common household items: toothpick and ear swabs.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#109

Post by Apocryphon »

chrisseaton wrote: post #96
h4waii wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're telling him not to care about their costs, but Apple is straight up telling him to care about their savings, but don't pass it on to the consumer. Generally speaking, people care about saving more of their money, they care much less about how much money the company they are purchasing goods or services for is able to retain by providing less for the same (or more) price.

Is the iPhone as useful as before? So it’s the same price as before.

But now it's just the iPhone. It used to be the iPhone + earbuds and plug. It's objectively less product.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#110

Post by robocat »

skohan wrote: post #44
robocat wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but the real reason is the massive savings they will get on logistics When positing causes, I suggest you learn how to do back-of-the-envelope calculations in your head. A container can hold a lot of iPhones. The cost of transport is trivial in comparison to the value, so the profitability delta is very small. I.e. I think you are making up stuff.

Yeah sure, the price of logistics is probably tiny compared to the BOM of an individual phone, but at the scale Apple is operating on, make no mistake this is saving them a huge amount of money. And it's not just logistics - it's storage space in warehouses, and probably a number of other things which are made substantially more efficient by fitting the same amount of units in a lot less space.

Now you are replying with a double-down on your original thesis “but the real reason is the massive savings they will get on logistics”?

Sure, add all the logistics costs in your head using some heuristic (security is a big component you are missing). Now compare that number to the profit of selling an extra charger, or the BOM price of a charger.

HN is a community of thinkers and you will be judged by your responses to criticism. Learn from your mistakes, or back up your opinions with some numbers and calculations so we can learn from you.

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