chet
chet

Tim Cook on iPhone pricing:

The way most people pay for these…they pay so much per month, so if you look at even the phone that’s priced over $1,000, most people pay $30 a month for it, so that’s about $1 a day.

I hate the way that he minimizes the issue.

|
Embed
jean
jean

@chet I'm on the Apple Payment Plan, and I've never paid less than $40 starting with the iPhone 6S. That math does not work for the APP on a $1000 phone. 🤨

|
Embed
In reply to
Bruce
Bruce

@chet @macgenie Does Apple have a responsibility to produce a cheap iPhone? My view on tech hardware markets is pretty laissez faire. If people are willing to pay an iMac worth of money for an iPhone, I don’t see a reason Apple shouldn’t let them.

|
Embed
EddieHinkle
EddieHinkle

@macgenie Yeah, that doesn't add up. I just added an iPhone X[s] to our family plan and it was about $47/month.

|
Embed
esjewett
esjewett

@Bruce @chet @macgenie No, they don’t. It may not make long-term business sense, but who am I to say? I will point out that the XS Max 512GB is less expensive than (and probably faster than) the cheapest iMac with a 512GB SSD. So if we’re measuring that way, it may be a steal! 😛

|
Embed
ronguest
ronguest

@chet @bruce @macgenie I guess I view it differently though I can understand the reactions to such a high price for a “phone” (which happens to be more powerful than my laptop). I just looked in the Apple Store app and the least expensive installment plan is for the iPhone 7 which starts at $18.70/month. The iPhone 8 starts at $24.95. Both new, both carrier installment plans. The iPhone 8 was introduced last year and isn’t obsolete IMO. Just like car makers there is a range of features and prices to match a range of budgets. There are also good quality used models on the market. I choked when the pricing on the iPhone X was announced but no one makes me buy one.

|
Embed
nitinkhanna
nitinkhanna

@macgenie they've changed the plan from 24 months to 30 months everywhere without talking about it. My wife was asking about her phone recently and wondering aloud if we can buy the new iPhone. I found that we've just finished paying off her iPhone 7 Plus over 24 months. The 30 month thing is such bait and switch!

|
Embed
nitinkhanna
nitinkhanna

@Bruce responsibility? No. People will just stop buying them. They've probably already noticed the trend, which is why iOS 12 reenables so many older iPhones to work better, lest people jump ship to 'droid.

|
Embed
Bruce
Bruce

@chet @macgenie So, I’m trying to prepare for the winter of replies with character limits. Here are some more thoughts. 🙃❄️

|
Embed
Bruce
Bruce

@nitinkhanna @ronguest @macgenie I’m not seeing the 30 month thing on Apple’s site; it’s still 24. Though they don’t show you the monthly price without AppleCare+ unless you go looking for it.

|
Embed
Bruce
Bruce

@nitinkhanna Well, if the question is: “Will Apple’s profit go up if it charges this much?” and the answer is: “No.” then I’m guessing next year the prices will go down. But last year Apple made more money by charging more, so I don’t think the company has hit the limit yet.

|
Embed
Bruce
Bruce

@ronguest 📱>🖥❓ 😜

|
Embed
ronguest
ronguest

@Bruce Based on this article on Geekbench scores (I haven’t delved deeply into it since my laptop 5 years old).

|
Embed
pratik
pratik

@Bruce I’m with you on this one. @ronguest perfectly echoes my thoughts. Apple offers a variety of lower-priced models that work just as well. If you want the newest and greatest right now, you pay a premium. I went for the XS and my wife opted to wait for the XR.

|
Embed
nitinkhanna
nitinkhanna

@Bruce we’ll get there... combined cost of devices to families is rising with everyone getting Watches too...

|
Embed
nitinkhanna
nitinkhanna

@Bruce interesting. I saw 30 on all vendors. I wonder how this works.

|
Embed
Bruce
Bruce

@nitinkhanna Yep. I'm certainly coming at it from the perspective of a late 30s single with a Fitbit.

I'm less frugal with my computers and iPads though. 🙃 I can (sorta) justify those for work…

|
Embed
Bruce
Bruce

@nitinkhanna I forget if you're in the States. Verizon's website and Apple's website and iOS store all show as 24 months for me. Where are you seeing 30? ❓❓

|
Embed
nitinkhanna
nitinkhanna

@Bruce Ah, I am on AT&T - i.imgur.com/jrgENI0.p... They've got a 30 month plan. Maybe my info is stale - I thought I saw this on Apple's site too.

My bad for making you chase all over the web for this 🙃

|
Embed
nitinkhanna
nitinkhanna

@Bruce Justifying personal devices for work? Outlier! Or maybe not. I'm just miserly when it comes to actually spending money.

|
Embed
Bruce
Bruce

@nitinkhanna No worries. I was looking up pricing for this thread in any case. 🙃

|
Embed
Bruce
Bruce

@nitinkhanna I ended up listing my various “indulgences” . 🙃

|
Embed
nitinkhanna
nitinkhanna

@Bruce excellent! 😊

|
Embed
jean
jean

@chet Oh, sorry, I have a new iPhone XS and it is so pretty. What was the question?

(That is what Apple is counting on!)

|
Embed
frankm
frankm

@Bruce What we don't talk about in this country is what are fair and reasonable profit margins. There is a relationship to those profit margins and what labor occurs in the United States. Is a trillion dollar company really good for the United States?

|
Embed
esjewett
esjewett

@chet I would imagine, all the parts are marked up similarly. But it turns out if you go and buy all the parts of an iPhone XS Max at wholesale, you’ll have spent $300-400 and all you’ll have is a pile of useless parts. 🤔

|
Embed
Bruce
Bruce

@frankm I just don't think it's fixable by regulation on the profit margin end, but through labor laws and efforts like Senator Warren's corporate reforms.

I also think, rather than using tariffs to bring jobs back, we should "export" our labor laws down the global supply chain.

|
Embed