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Apple Debuts iPhone 17

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Re: Apple Debuts iPhone 17

#181

Post by inkyoto »

toastercat wrote: post #115

I always have a hard time swallowing the price of modern smart phones. Having something so ridiculously expensive and fragile as an everyday carry seems absurd to me. For reference, you can buy two Steam Deck LCDs for the price of one iPhone 17.

As a constrasting comparison data point, a Nokia 8800 cost around USD 900 in 2005 when it launched, which is approximately USD 1450 in the 2025 USD.

The buyer would get a chromium-plated metal case within which a slightly fancier version of a dumb phone was enclosed, and bragging rights as a bonus, and that would be it.

So, today’s USD 1k (or less, for the non-Pro versions) buys the user – depending on one’s point of view – either a commodity appliance or a personal computing contraption whose performance exceeds that of many high-end RISC workstations that once commanded five-digit price tags, and all for a ⅓ less than the launch price of the Nokia 8800.

Re: Apple Debuts iPhone 17

#182

Post by gt0 »

toastercat wrote: post #115

I always have a hard time swallowing the price of modern smart phones. Having something so ridiculously expensive and fragile as an everyday carry seems absurd to me. For reference, you can buy two Steam Deck LCDs for the price of one iPhone 17.

I always think the same when I see people complain about the price of weird new niche computers (think new Amiga-like computers and stuff) and then you realise it's cheaper than an iPhone. Something created by a cottage industry for a tiny market with blood sweat and tears, it's still cheaper than mass-produced smartphone.

Re: Apple Debuts iPhone 17

#183

Post by reaperducer »

tra3 wrote: post #15

No Mini. Not surprised. I guess I'm gonna replace the battery in my 13 mini finally. Wonder if we'll ever see folding phones. I'm not concerned with the thickness but the overall foot print that's pocketable would be amazing.

No Mini. Not surprised. I guess I'm gonna replace the battery in my 13 mini finally.

There are more people on HN claiming to use a 13 mini than Apple actually sold.

Re: Apple Debuts iPhone 17

#184

Post by sbinnee »

matesz wrote: post #24

I’m still using iPhone 12 mini running iOS 26 beta and it’s good enough. OS is definitely not polished, some of the design choices don’t even make sense but in general I believe it’s the right direction - spatial + maxing out visual looks. Being able to turn Liquid Glass off to sth like flat design would be nice but this probably won’t happen. Now when it comes to the event itself, it felt so cartoonish.

I switched to 12 mini about a year ago from 1st gen SE because it broke down. I agree that it would be more than enough for years to come.

I cannot agree more on the event video. It looks like a pure TV ad for a full hour long. Also, it used to cover more diversity in terms of presenters. Where are they now? I want to hear lovely accents from people all around the world.

Re: Apple Debuts iPhone 17

#185

Post by numpy-thagoras »

Gigachad wrote: post #157
tmaly wrote: post #109

At the rate of camera image size upgrades, we are going to need a 5TB icloud storage plan.

Video has always been the real storage eater. A few minutes of video is larger than the whole years worth of photos.

Don't forget live photos as well

Re: Apple Debuts iPhone 17

#187

Post by inkyoto »

dylan604 wrote: post #136
GeekyBear wrote: post #82

Apple shipping their in-house network silicon (5G cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc) to their wider product line is certainly a long time coming. I would assume this means Apple laptops with integrated cellular modems are on the near horizon.

I've been wondering why they haven't had this before even is using 3rd party modems. Seems like an obvious play unless they feel like that would cannibalize their tablet market??

Because until the C1, Apple did not have their own, and there were not that many viable options available with Qualcomm 5G modems being the «best» (however one defines it) and the fastest albeit power hungry and running very hot at high speeds.

Outside Qualcomm, there has been a limited number of players out there, with MediaTek seeming to pick up the pace and giving Qualcomm a serious run for its money – if not now then pretty soon.

What is left is… not a lot and appears to have constraints of one sort or another:

  Samsung – with 5G-integrated Exynos SoC's. It doesn't make sense for Apple to house 2x SoC's in the same appliance;

  Huawei – they target the mainland Chinese market with its own flavour of 5G. One doesn't want their modem anyway due to national security concerns;

  Sequans Communications – they focus on the IoT market, which is a niche and has its own unique constraint space;

  Intel – they quit the 5G modem market in 2019 and sold the IP to Apple, which has given them the C1/C1X.

Re: Apple Debuts iPhone 17

#188

Post by samename »

doctoboggan wrote: post #125
samename wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Visible which uses Verizon’s network, at a steep discount. Never had any issues.

Yeah Visible keeps popping up on recommendation threads. I'll take a look at their offers. Do you suggest I buy a phone through them, or purchase from apple directly and bring it to the plan?

Unless they offer a discount, there won’t be a benefit buying through them, especially with eSIM.

Re: Apple Debuts iPhone 17

#189

Post by samename »

amluto wrote: post #137
samename wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Visible which uses Verizon’s network, at a steep discount. Never had any issues.

I used to use them, and I had two issues: 1. Their international plan is garbage, and if you don’t use the international plan, you cannot usefully use them as a phone-and-SMS-over-WiFi only solution in conjunction with another carrier. Competitors like USMobile do not have this problem. 2. Their customer support and website are very bad.

SMS works over WiFi? Or is that only RCS? Not familiar with this

Re: Apple Debuts iPhone 17

#190

Post by worthless-trash »

reaperducer wrote: post #183
tra3 wrote: post #15

No Mini. Not surprised. I guess I'm gonna replace the battery in my 13 mini finally. Wonder if we'll ever see folding phones. I'm not concerned with the thickness but the overall foot print that's pocketable would be amazing.

No Mini. Not surprised. I guess I'm gonna replace the battery in my 13 mini finally. There are more people on HN claiming to use a 13 mini than Apple actually sold.

There are dozens of us!!
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