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With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

nytimes.com

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Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#211

Post by madeofpalk »

pilsetnieks wrote: post #105
racl101 wrote: post #3

If those new Nokias start being sold in my neck of the woods (Western Canada) I think I will pretty much just stop bothering with smartphones and just go with that compromise. If I'm being honest with myself, I just need a damn phone and an ok camera. The rest are frivolities. I can just continue using my table for the rest.

If by those new Nokias that aren't smartphones you mean the new 3310s (because Nokia also makes Android phones now,) you should be weary - the camera isn't exactly ok, not by modern standards, and most importantly, they only work on GSM (2G) networks that are being phased out in a lot of places.

> they only work on GSM (2G) networks

Haha you're kidding me? They shut down the 2G networks in Australia this year!

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#212

Post by jdietrich »

thingerr wrote: post #34
Yetanfou wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see your 3 year young iPhone and raise my 6 year old Motorola Defy. I bought it new in 2011 for about 1/4 of what the then-current iPhone would have cost. It still works flawlessly, the battery is fine as well (~5 days of normal use on a single charge or ~7 hours of screen time). If the battery were to fail I could just replace it, no tools required. Oh, the thing is waterproof and 'shock-proof' (although the latte…

I'd be with you, except for Android's planned obsolescence. The reliance on third-parties to provide at most ~2/3 year security update paired with a dated and forked version of the Linux kernel gives me pause.

That's all set to change in Android Oreo.

https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2017/05/here-comes...

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#213

Post by monsieurbanana »

bambax wrote: post #167
sho wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> competition is such that you can get an excellent product [..] for $1,000 The really interesting part is that for ~$1000 you get the best product available at any price . That's the magic of economies of scale in consumer markets, especially technology. It's so incredibly expensive and largely fruitless to step out of the economy of scale, that practically speaking no-one does it. I don't have a yacht like Paul All…

I wonder what phone Bill Gates uses nowadays!?! He said many times he's very loyal to MS but they have all but stopped making phones, so every choice left is a bad one...

If I was as rich as Bill Gates I wouldn't have a smartphone. I would have a secretary follow me everywhere and she would be the one to use her phone.

Just kidding. I'd have an android and a squad of engineers to set it up exactly like I want.

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#214

Post by RandVal30142 »

dijit wrote: post #192
fehrm wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must be from the valley if you think that a 1000 phone is economical. That is laughable.

It's a defensible position, I live in the EU so proximity to heaps of expendable income is not as abundant than in the US middle-class. In the UK we had a saying "the poor man pays twice", meaning that if you buy a shitty rake and it breaks you have to go buy a new one. This is kinda the case with phones too, you can buy a $450 phone with 2 years of updates, or a $700 with 5 years. Which one is more economical over t…

> you can buy a $450 phone with 2 years of updates, or a $700 with 5 years.

> Which one is more economical over time?

My sub-100USD android apparently. What the heck kind of math do you have going on for "economical?"

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#215

Post by KozmoNau7 »

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #103
TeMPOraL wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$20k wine is probably not going to taste any better than $20 wine, objectively speaking. It's just a luxury good for conspicuous spending.

It's not true. Yes, there are snobs, and there is a lot of subjectivity involved, an several studies exposed that. On the other hand, some wines have a certain richness of flavor not present in other wines. Certain aspects of it can be better appreciate by people who developed a certain taste of wines and can differentiate better. They're the target group of the more expensive wines. You pay for a unique experience,…

With wine and spirits, you're often paying for rarity, rather than outright quality.

I'm not a huge wine snob (most wines I buy are in the $10-$20 range), but I have tasted some rather expensive wines. In a lot of cases, you're not really paying for "richness of flavor" (a lot of cheaper wines have plenty of richness and balance), you're paying for name and for rarity, especially when it comes to older wines.

I'm actually more into whisky, and I can tell you in no uncertain terms, that the best whisky I have ever tasted in my life costs around $400. Now, that is still somewhat expensive compared to the And it was immeasurably better than any multi-thousand dollar whisky I've had the chance to taste. With Macallans, Dalmores, Pappy van Winkle and other high-priced spirits, you are absolutely paying for a name, not necessarily for the quality.

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#216

Post by Tsiklon »

chadcmulligan wrote: post #12

Does the actual price matter? I thought about buying one outright when I bought mine, but it worked out more expensive than buying one on a plan, I can't think of anyone who bought their's outright

Personally for me and my usage in the UK, a mobile phone plan is more expensive over the course of 2 years.

Yes the initial outlay is more painful, but i find £25 a month much more palatable than £74 (for the same plan with the phone)

back of the napkin maths says the following; iPhone 7+ 128G (my current phone) - £819 phone plan (unlimited data - 600mins - unlimited texts) - £25/month Over 2 years - 819+600 - £1419

phone + plan (unlimited data - unlimited minutes - unlimited texts, closest to what i currently have) - £74/month Over 2 years - £1850

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#217

Post by [deleted] »

naraniano wrote: post #188
ianai wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For one, Mac OS does multiple displays and DPIs right. The trackpad is also solid. Plus the unix stuff that's always been there and isn't some subsystem only available with certain versions of windows. Also, the boot up and sign in process sucks in Windows vs Mac. Once I'm given a mouse cursor post-signon I'm ready to go in Mac OS. With Windows, I've got to wait for the AV to load up and do it's "routine". Then there…

Windows since the Creators Update also does multiple displays and DPIs right. By the way, support for that is completely non-existant on Linux.

[deleted]

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#218

Post by Kluny »

alkonaut wrote: post #189

A lot of people just get the best iphone every 24 months (e.g. rich people, or people who have a generous smartphone policy at work). Having a model that gets another couple of hundred bucks from those people is pretty clever I think. This is basically the S-class phone (To make a car analogy, because that's what we do). The S-class Mercedes costs twice as much as the "Normal" E-class, and each time they launch a new…

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 claims it as a tax write-off - business expense.

In that way I think he ends up paying maybe $200 every other year for his new phone. In the last 6 years I've spent WAY more than that on the Androids I used to get and break/lose every year or so. I've finally seen the light and got an iPhone myself and plan to adopt the same strategy.

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#219

Post by bruwozniak »

stephengillie wrote: post #201
alkonaut wrote: post #189

A lot of people just get the best iphone every 24 months (e.g. rich people, or people who have a generous smartphone policy at work). Having a model that gets another couple of hundred bucks from those people is pretty clever I think. This is basically the S-class phone (To make a car analogy, because that's what we do). The S-class Mercedes costs twice as much as the "Normal" E-class, and each time they launch a new…

This makes the S-class sound like the Nightly branch of a repo, and the E-class sound like the Stable branch of the same repo.

Not an exact analogy as an s-class car will be held to even higher standards and "bugs" will not be tolerated or excused as price for cutting edge features. Both are stable releases

Re: With a $1k Price, Apple’s iPhone Crosses a Threshold

#220

Post by tareqak »

I wonder if the iPhone upgrade program will have these: https://www.apple.com/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrade-program .

(I'm not affiliated with Apple. However, I do think that it's kind of neat that Apple has way for people to get the latest iPhone each year without having to buy it outright, or be locked to a specific carrier).

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