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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

#531

Post by bspn »

beager wrote: post #402
ghaff wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using credit cards in the US give a pretty high level of consumer protection (over and above usual consumer protection laws) although not as much as buying an explicit warranty.

I'm genuinely curious if credit card companies get involved with warranty-related actions, or really anything beyond the fitness and accurate representation at the time of purchase. As far as I can tell, thigs like AppleCare and EU VAT protections cover an almost entirely exclusive set of concerns, namely, the fitness of the product after initial purchase.

I can only speak to my personal experience, but my Citi Premier card has pretty good coverage for theft and accidental damage, albeit with a relatively short coverage window compared to something like Apple Care. I'd have to look it up, but I think it was about 6 months post-purchase.

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

#532

Post by jsemrau »

leipert wrote: post #498
grecy wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> US has the cheapest iPhone It is interesting to note among Developed countries, the US has the cheapest everything . Cars, computers, building materials, clothes, TVs. You name it, it is cheapest in the USA. It is interesting to note this is because people in the US have much less disposable income than people in other developed countries. Companies can charge higher prices in other developed countries because peop…

Really? To me it seems like the US has a higher disposable income per household (after taxes) [1]: US ~41k, Switzerland ~36k, France ~30k and Germany ~32k [1]: http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/income/

I would say it's the distribution that matters. https://data.oecd.org/chart/4VMU

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

#533

Post by dep_b »

I think Apple hit a point where producing an exclusive phone with top features in every department wasn't really possible anymore at their scale. We've seen them stuck at 16GB for a really long time simply because upgrading all phones to 32GB would consume another whopping 15% of the SSD market. OLED screens in that quality and format aren't produced in enough quantities to put on every iPhone - yet. But people expect an iPhone to be the best of the best given the price.

So there's a new X line that will have all the best of the best and the regularly numbered ones below it will have more mainstream features / design and will be produced in greater numbers.

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

#534

Post by tagurit »

delazeur wrote: post #53
dannysu wrote: post #18

Nobody looks at a top of the line PC with the best graphics card(s) and say it's crossing a threshold. Everybody understands it's for a certain demographic. According to rumors, they're still going to have various models and price points. Also, iPhones are extremely economical because no other phones receive OS updates for as long. My iPhone 6, which cost $749 at the time, is coming up to 3 years old. It's still flaw…

> Also, iPhones are extremely economical. My iPhone 6, which cost $749 at the time, is coming up to 3 years old. Uh, what? I'm on my second ~$70 Android smart phone in eight years. It's a tad slow, but we're talking about literally a few seconds of waiting, nothing truly inconvenient. I have honestly never been impressed by anything a $600+ iPhone can do beyond what my phone can. The only drawback is that it isn't co…

There's not much to understand why people spend a fortune on phones every few years. These days it's more because of the status of owning the latest and greatest device (nothing wrong with that as people are entitled to do whatever they tf they want to do). Like everything else really.

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

#535

Post by overcast »

KozmoNau7 wrote: post #234
TeMPOraL wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's a tad slow, but weren't talking about literally a few seconds of waiting, nothing truly inconvenient. A few seconds of waiting is not "truly inconvenient"? I suppose you're either a zen master, or not doing much with the phone (possibly because it's "a tad slow"). For me, the phone is something I use constantly during the day, in lots of brief bursts. Few seconds of lag may be the difference between me staying…

"A few seconds of waiting is not "truly inconvenient"? I suppose you're either a zen master, or not doing much with the phone (possibly because it's "a tad slow")." No, he just isn't possessed by the ridiculous "must go faster, must go faster" mindset that plagues most people today. A website takes more than a second to load? ARGH it must be down, now my day is ruined! Just relax, if a small delay is enough to make y…

The entire computing world revolves around "must go faster, must go faster". How likely are you to stay on a website that takes a few seconds for each action? You're not. EVERYONE optimizes for it. Every 100MS of latency, Amazon loses 1% of revenue, and that's only ONE TENTH of a second. http://radar.oreilly.com/2008/08/radar-theme-web-ops.html

You may have the patience of a saint, but the majority of the world does not.

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

#536

Post by mikeash »

jsemrau wrote: post #526
mikeash wrote: post #511

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Typical US sales tax of 0-6% versus typical European VAT of 20-25% certainly makes a big difference too.

The funny thing with taxes is that in the end, if you pay the government or a company it makes no difference. However, if you pay the government they invest it in public schools, streets, health-care. Companies benefit the shareholder.

How is this related to what we're talking about here?

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

#537

Post by pawadu »

criddell wrote: post #430
StudentStuff wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its surprising how good a used, $50 phone is today. You can get something on par with a Note 3 or Note 4 from LG and get two solid years of use out of it, perhaps more with ROMs. This is part of why I stopped buying the latest flagship, just didn't make sense for me to worry so much when I could avoid that entirely, and get 98% of the same performance and features.

There's no way I'd buy a used Android phone, unless it was from Google and was less than two years old. Android phone makers are terrible about security updates.

Actually things have improved considerably this year. You may still not have the latest OS version, but the security patches are arriving every 1-2 months.

Oreo is supposed to improve things even further, but for know its just a theory.

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

#538

Post by pawadu »

YSFEJ4SWJUVU6 wrote: post #364
jcelerier wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Got a five years old Jolla which still receives updates every other month

That's odd, considering their first phone was launched in stores less than 4 years ago. In any case, I used to have one too until about 2 weeks ago when it finally broke down (tbh, possibly due to moisture). While it's not odd they still release updates for their phone OS for the only phone they've ever sold to regular customers, I can't brush away GP's point entirely. The hardware is definitely sub-par by now (it wa…

Maybe he is using an android converted to Jolla?

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

#539

Post by chimeracoder »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #467
ghaff wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using credit cards in the US give a pretty high level of consumer protection (over and above usual consumer protection laws) although not as much as buying an explicit warranty.

That doesn't protect you against accidental breakage. Outside of that, I rely on actual consumer protection laws, which aren't so hefty in the US - hence folks using credit cards to get some extra protection. It isn't like you are taking a big risk with Apple or your phone company ripping you off anyway. http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guar...

> That doesn't protect you against accidental breakage.

Check your cardholder agreements. Mine do.

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

#540

Post by jsjohnst »

panzagl wrote: post #499
jsjohnst wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> An iPhone can do neither of those things. That's simply not true, an "iPhone" most certainly can, just not with "stock iOS". Google "roqyUSB7" if you don't believe me.

Right, and an iPhone can get you to the grocery store once you plug a car into it's charging port.

There are tons of advantages to an Android phone (I know, as I own a bunch of them), why do you and the previous posters resort to childish antics rather than sticking to the actual facts which are more the sufficient here to make your point?
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