Your Apple Products Are Getting More Expensive. Here's How They Get Away With It. (washingtonpost.com) 410
An anonymous reader shares a report: Apple has never made cheap stuff. But this fall many of its prices increased 20 percent or more. The MacBook Air went from $1,000 to $1,200. A Mac Mini leaped from $500 to $800. It felt as though the value proposition that has made Apple products no-brainers might unravel. For some perspective, we charted out the past few years of prices on a few iconic Apple products. Then we compared them with other brands and some proprietary data about Americans' phone purchase habits from mobile analytics firm BayStreet Research.
What we learned: Being loyal to Apple is getting expensive. Many Apple product prices are rising faster than inflation -- faster, even, than the price of prescription drugs or going to college. Yet when Apple offers cheaper options for its most important product, the iPhone, Americans tend to take the more expensive choice. So while Apple isn't charging all customers more, it's definitely extracting more money from frequent upgraders.
[...] Apple says prices go up because it introduces new technologies such as Face ID and invests in making products that last a long time. Yet it has clearly been feeling price discomfort from some quarters. This week, amid reports of lagging sales that took its stock far out of the trillion-dollar club, it dedicated its home page to a used-car sales technique that's uncharacteristic for an aspirational luxury brand. It offered a "limited-time" deal to trade in an old iPhone and get a new iPhone XR for $450, a $300 discount.
What we learned: Being loyal to Apple is getting expensive. Many Apple product prices are rising faster than inflation -- faster, even, than the price of prescription drugs or going to college. Yet when Apple offers cheaper options for its most important product, the iPhone, Americans tend to take the more expensive choice. So while Apple isn't charging all customers more, it's definitely extracting more money from frequent upgraders.
[...] Apple says prices go up because it introduces new technologies such as Face ID and invests in making products that last a long time. Yet it has clearly been feeling price discomfort from some quarters. This week, amid reports of lagging sales that took its stock far out of the trillion-dollar club, it dedicated its home page to a used-car sales technique that's uncharacteristic for an aspirational luxury brand. It offered a "limited-time" deal to trade in an old iPhone and get a new iPhone XR for $450, a $300 discount.
Zombies. (Score:3, Insightful)
Apple users want new well branded, logo showing bling the same way zombies want brains.
Re:Zombies. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm an Apple user but you're making sweeping generalizations of which I've honestly only heard from non-Apple users. The only people who care that someone has an Apple product seems to be those who use Android.
I used to use any number of different products across any number of platforms (OS/2, Debian, Windows, etc, etc, etc) but to say I want to use it because of the logo is objectively ridiculous.
I use it because I've used one for years and don't see any reason to change. I haven't had to pay anything (except standard mobile contract fees) for any of these phones and my laptops are solidly killing it years later.
Do your thing, by all means; but stop spouting off ridiculous theories of which have little basis in reality.
Re:Zombies. (Score:4, Insightful)
I haven't had to pay anything (except standard mobile contract fees)
That's like saying, "I haven't had to pay anything for my house (except standard mortgage payments)."
Re:Zombies. (Score:5, Insightful)
The only people who care that someone has an Apple product seems to be those who use Android.
People who drive around with Apple stickers on the back of their car would seem to offer a counterpoint to that argument. I've seen cars with 3 or 4 Apple stickers on the back in a neat row, apparently they want to make their car as attractive a target as possible for a smash-n-grab.
I use it because I've used one for years and don't see any reason to change.
There are better products for the same price or less, which is a reason to change. There ARE reasons to change, but once you get deeply enough into the Apple ecosystem then it becomes a burden to move to a different platform. Which goes back to the headline about how Apple gets away with making their products more expensive.
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and for your stuff to continue to work for a long time
Not really, Anonymous Coward. If I were able to copy DonkeyKong.exe from a 5.25" IBM "PC-compatible" floppy I have in the attic onto a thumb drive, and load it in the Windows 10 MS Surface I'm typing this on, it would run. Likely so blindingly fast it would be unplayable, but it would run, sound effects and all. Ditto my dBase II disks.
However, were I to try to run Lode Runner from a Mac Classic onto a modern Macbook Air, it wouldn't work. Fairl
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The proliferation of iPhone cases with a cutout to show off the Apple logo [otterbox.com] contradicts your belief. Android users aren't buying those cases for iPhone owners. The iPhone owners are preferentially selecting those cases themselves. It's part and parcel of treating your phone as a (branded) fashion accessory, rather than as a technological tool.
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I know they're not out yet, and yes, I have an Android phone that does a lot more than an equivalently priced iPhone, but I'm sort of looking forward to getting away from Android too. [shop.puri.sm]
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Be warned, that phone looks like a scam.
Looking at the product page they make some clearly untrue claims without qualification. For example, they say the software is "fully open", but also admit that they have non-free hardware (and presumably drivers) such as the modem, i.e. the bit that communicates with the world. They also make some false statements about the competition, such as claiming that Android isn't Linux.
They don't even list the hardware specs.
If you are really concerned about this stuff then a
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Can you define "a lot more" because I can't see how your Android phone does more or less.
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My 2013 macbook pro is 10% slower than the 2018 model in single core performance for teice the price
You can thank:
1. Intel
2. The speed of light
For the (lack) of incredible speed increases. That's why NOBODY replaces their computers as often as they used to.
So? (Score:2, Troll)
Re:Purchase price is the least important part (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple understands that the purchase price of a device is in fact pretty much the least important things about it.
It isn't different than any other luxury device like an expensive home, car, clothing, etc. Once someone reaches a level of income where their time has significant value, the cost of luxury items is not nearly as relevant. The difference between a $1000 phone and $200 phone purchases every other year is $1 per day. It is the difference between a small fry and a large fry at McDonalds. If you have enough income where you aren't struggling to pay the mortgage, pay for car repairs, and feed yourself, how trivial is the difference between a small fry and large fry when eating fast food?
If someone is having trouble balancing their budget, buying an expensive phone every other year probably won't even make the top 20 things to fix in their spending habits.
You fondle your iphone more than your wife (Score:2)
Apple even tells you now how many hours your phone was fondled. Something that intimate in your life is consuming valuable life cycles. The purchase price isn't really the expensive part.
Additionally, people are not upgrading things as fast probably for the same reason these things are getting more expensive. At first all the breaktrhough changes were cheap to do. Many times they even made the phone cheaper. E.g. a more efficient radio or screen means smaller battery. When scale let you start winding y
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Damn formatting:
Retina Display
Multitasking
Facetime
Video Recording
Selfie Camera
Airplay
$1000 phones (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:$1000 phones (Score:5, Informative)
So while Apple has the healthiest margins in the industry, no one sells a $140 phone for $1,000.
Re: $1000 phones (Score:2, Insightful)
My iPhone 6 doesn't run the latest version of iOS.
But by refusing updates, my iPhone 6 will continue to perform to hardware spec for several more years.
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Re: $1000 phones (Score:4, Insightful)
To find things. I already know how to use a map, I just need to see where it is I'm going. They don't need my location to provide the location of something else.
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Thank you. I have said this (to myself) innumerable times when using Google Maps on my PC (I don't have a "smart" phone). There is no need to know where I'm at right now. All I asked for was where something else is located. That's all.
This same nonsense occurs when, on those rare occasions, I use the iPhone issued to me and use their mapping service. Apple does not need to know where I'm at when I ask for the location of an address. Just give me what I ask for.
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Did you read the actual comment? AC chooses not to run the latest iOS because updating "breaks" older phones. No one said anything about it not actually being able to be updated.
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But there is enough room for ambiguity that maybe I should have just thought him to be full of it, rather than explicitly stating it.
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My iPhone 6 Plus runs iOS 12 just fine. Quite a bit better than iOS 11, in fact.
Re: $1000 phones (Score:2)
Should add that setting up a production line is certainly not a zero dollar affair either. Moulds, for example, cost a fair amount of money, so you need to sell a certain number if units to recoup the cost. Also, not all units pass the production line and there are plenty of people wanting that complementary support.
Even with all the other costs factored in, no one in their right mind would sell an item at cost. It would actually work out to be a loss maker and you generally charge what the market is willin
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Anyone who willingly transfers their money to a corporation with margins like Apple is a moron. Apple doesn't have "good margins", it has INCREDIBLE margins. They make $20 billion in net income every 3 months. Until people like you stop being morons, Apple will continue to raise prices. Apparently no price is too high.
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That's a lovely philosophical argument. But you completely ignored the use-case. Where's the Android phone with 4+ years of updates with premium hardware?
I'd like to switch, but if I do companies like Samsung won't send out updates after a ridiculously short period of time. Resulting in me paying Samsung far more money than I pay Apple since I have to upgrade the hardware at least twice as often.
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It makes sense if you know math (Score:2, Interesting)
Even if that was accurate, why would anyone pay $1000+ for a $390 phone?
Because no-one is making a phone for $390 and selling it at $390.
Also because if I wanted to build an equivalent phone myself it would probably cost around $10 million+, and work like crap (see: so many lower tier Android handset makers).
Idiotic
Only if you hate nice things, and are super-bad at math to figure out your average cost per day...
The iPhone X last year is by far my favorite phone I have ever owned. Over many years some upgra
Re: It makes sense if you know math (Score:2)
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Because no-one is making a phone for $390 and selling it at $390.
I like it so much will probably not even upgrade next year either, making for a good three year run on a phone.
You should look at OnePlus. I bought the first one in 2014 for $350, paid in full, I own the device. When the OnePlus 5 came out in 2017 my original was doing fine but I bought two, for $450 each or something, because my wife needed a new phone. Again, we own the phones, we aren't renting them from a carrier and paying the price back in monthly charges. My OnePlus One still works fine, although the Five does have dual sim cards, international radios, etc that warranted an upgrade. I didn't need to upgr
Re: $1000 phones (Score:2)
How many 2014 Android phones are still getting updates from their manufacturer?
Re:$1000 phones (Score:5, Insightful)
The $140 isn't the true cost of the product either. There is a lot of money in the Administrative costs of such a device. The R&D probably factoring in hundreds of rejected designed and ideas that cost a lot money before it was rejected, staff from the executives down to the maintenance workers, who needs to get paid no matter how many units are sold.
Now Apple is one of the biggest companies in the world, they are making a good amount of profit off each unit sold, but the cost to build one unit, isn't the true cost.
Now that being said, there is danger in the Race to the bottom sales tactic. Where you sell your product less then your competitor, then your competitor cuts their prices to be below you and then you return back again. At first you may assume that this is good for the consumer, however it isn't long in this race to the bottom sacrifices are made to where the product gets crappier and crappier every price cut, because the company will still try to keep its margins, and will not sell at a loss.
If you look at historic Desktop PC makers back in the late 1990's
1995ish, Gateway 2000 was gaining a lot of ground, one of its biggest points was its product quality. Sure you will pay more for it but it is worth it. Then in a few years it tried to compete with lower cost competitors such as Compaq which then caused the quality to drop rapidly as your $2k PC is now $900 but the drives will fail, and 3rd party components would undoubtedly crash Windows rapidly because the drivers were never quite right.
1997ish, Dell begin to gain a lot of ground, one of its biggest points was its product quality. Sure you will pay more for it but it is worth it. Then in a few years it was trying to compete with eMachenes which then caused the quality to drop rapidly as your $2k PC is now $900 but the drives will fail, 3rd party components would crash win....
Apple isn't the perfect company and their products are not perfect. However they have mostly maintained a high quality in their products (with their share of duds) often the big scandals like the iPhones 4 antenna problem and the iPhones 6+ bending problems, are actually small problems, however people got angry because of the standard that Apple normally has. But if Apple would try to make their products cheaper it will only open the door for their competition to sell better quality products and take Apples spot.
Re:$1000 phones (Score:5, Informative)
You are a terrible historian.
Gateway was never a quality product, it was a low cost one. Gateway designed absolutely nothing. They were eliminated when high quality manufacturers collapsed the price umbrella that eliminated parasites like them.
Dell had a mix of in-house products (Optiplex) and co-developed ones (Dimension). In fact, Gateway's boxes, effectively rebranded Dimensions, had a lot of Dell engineering in them. Dell was the leader in collapsing the profit model and causing Gateway's extinction. By then, Dell wasn't "gaining ground", it was a tier 1 supplier. Dell, though, was never a brand where you paid a premium for quality, it only appeared so when compared to the lowest cost boxes. Dell offered high quality PCs at lower cost than other tier 1 suppliers.
Dell never cared in the slightest about eMachines. Dell cared about Gateway who was essentially selling Dell machines at lower cost. We know how that turned out.
The cause of quality issues in the industry is not as you describe. Intel moved to monopolize every aspect of the PC (including the mindshare aspect with the "Intel Inside" campaign). PC manufacturers could not fight this and it led to a loss of differentiation on quality. When the core PC is always the same, it's a commodity. Reversion to the mean was inevitable and it was caused by Intel, not by anything you describe.
Apple, throughout the bulk of their resurgence, sold Intel PCs with Intel chipsets and Intel quality. Apple merely restricted compatibility deliberately. Curious that a move like that would lead to an image of superior quality, eh?
Apple does not have to lower quality to "make their products cheaper". In the end of a long-winded and largely incorrect exposition, you make quite an ignorant claim. In fact, the whole point of this article is Apple's remarkably high margins.
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I never stated that Billions were spent in R&D. But there is more to the cost of such a device. Then the parts and labor to make it.
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I never thought anyone would buy a $1000 phone that was built for $140. That is probably why I am not in sales.
Yep, same here.
I can get a phone that does everything I want - navigate roads, web browse, email, make calls, stupid yet useful apps (e.g. restaurant coupons) - for $100 - $200. Headphone jack, removable battery.
WTH would I want to pay $100+ for it?
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I never thought anyone would buy a $1000 phone that was built for $140. That is probably why I am not in sales.
Yep, same here.
I can get a phone that does everything I want - navigate roads, web browse, email, make calls, stupid yet useful apps (e.g. restaurant coupons) - for $100 - $200. Headphone jack, removable battery.
WTH would I want to pay $100+ for it?
Missed a 0 there, but you get the idea, lol
It's pretty simple (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple can sell these for more money because everything else is treated like a knockoff. They are the dominant player, everyone knows that, and no one checks specs since they are all close enough to each other that it doesn't matter.
I know we can expect a raft of posts to follow that explain the important technical and religious differences, but the vast, vast majority of the people buying these just don't care about that stuff, they want to have what is socially considered the best.
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I like things that stand on their own. I like my MacBook, but I like Thinkpads too which have their own design language. I like the Surface Go, I like some of the Yoga range...there's room in the world for good design that
Re:It's pretty simple (Score:5, Interesting)
Most are treated as knock-offs because they actually are - witness the notch nonsense, which wasn't even Apple's idea to start with. And then how every manufacturer suddenly came out with a laptop that like a MacBook Air - some of them are still embarrassingly obvious MacBook Pro clones.
If I ran a competing company and could poach any one employee from Apple- it would be their head of marketing.
What you say is true, other companies do copy Apple. (sure Apple copies the competition too- but there is more Apple mimicry than the other way around).
It's not that Apple is the only company with good ideas, and it's not that all the features copied from Apple are good ideas- some of them are terrible, but other companies copy them nonetheless. Somehow much of society has the idea that Apple is the end product that others should strive to be (even if in somecases the competition has a better product).
I'm not sure how they did it, but their head of marketing must be a genius.
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If it's only marketing, why didn't another company with superior products and/or prices put Apple out of business decades ago? It's not like Steve Jobs placed snipers on Madison Avenue to keep competitors from running their own advertising.
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How they did it? For more than a decade starting in 1984, they really were 'the end product that others should strive to be'. The Mac OS, combined with the Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines blew everything else out of the water.
Added to that were lesser innovations (zero-configuration expansion cards, effortless multi-monitor desktops, daisy-chainable port for keyboards, mice etc, excellent construction, SCSI, etc) that all helped make the Mac the machine to choose when you wanted to concentrate on your
Re:It's pretty simple (Score:4)
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Apple charges a premium because they are a status symbol, and that's the end of it.
It's actually not at all simple (Score:5, Interesting)
no one checks specs
Anyone intelligent does not check specs on mobile devices these days, because it's not raw hardware or software alone that matters - it is the combination of the two.
That is why iOS devices can get away with less RAM. Technically it's "lower spec" than some Android devices, but it ends up working better because iOS simply needs much less RAM to function well.
Same for battery, if you "check the specs" on an android device you might find a bigger battery where the entire phone has much worse real-life battery life than a similar iOS device.
Even highly technical people like myself stopped "checking the spec" some time ago for this very reason - my remain cognizant of what the specs are, but keep them in perspective within the entire function of the device.
"Checking specs" makes more sense with desktop and laptop hardware because there all of the OS choices have been heavily optimized over a long time (though even then the administration overhead matters a lot to me which is why I still will not run Windows).
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They might be pushing up against a boundary though. Most of my net worth is tied up in Apple stock, and between my wife and myself I have five Apple computers in use, two iphones, two ipads, two 2nd generation Apple Watches, and a handful of ipods and Apple TVs.
While I did upgrade my iMac last year, as well as an iPhone X, everything else I am stretching out the life on, and looking at alternatives (with limited success). I should upgrade my iPad; it is five years old now and will likely fail soon, but a
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Had; it was a strategy that served me well at the time. It is closer to 75-80% right now. Diversifying in absolute terms is hard when the stock you need to sell is going up and the ones you want to buy are staying flat. I sold calls to establish a divestment strategy though, which gets me down to about 50% in a couple years. If my case for investing in Apple changes I will divest more.
The problem is that I don't see many better investments.
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The only thing it has changed is that instead of it being 90% of my portfolio, in 3 years it will only be 50-60% as I continue to diversify.
What are you switching to?
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I am double to triple long on TSLA and AMZN, and have some dividend stocks in T, VZ, HD. SBUX dividends pay my habit there. Other than that I have LULU, IRBT, UBNT, and a few smaller holdings. I contemplate BRK, WM, and GS. Wife's (solo) 401k has SIEN and BA, which I am considering adding to my portfolio.
Basically, I want to limit to about 5-10% of my portfolio to any of the stocks I hold for diversification purposes. I still see TSLA and AMZN as having growth opportunity, which will hopefully help red
It's all about the stock price (Score:2)
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Moving on... (Score:3, Interesting)
I've been an Apple fan for years because the hardware *just works*. But back then I could at least upgrade the harddrives, add a gpu, ram etc. My last Mac was a Mini from 2012 with an i7 cpu (faster than the mini which came out in 2014 and fast enough that upgrading to the new mini is akin to throwing out money).
But over the last few years Apple has become increasing hostile to users. Gluing the batteries into the laptop case, soldered memory, middle of the road gpus etc. And now I'm seeing Apple charge $600 for a 1TB ssd upgrade for the new mini when that same drive is $150 on Amazon. GPU's now come in their own $600 case outside of the damn hardware — and now this T2 chip from hell which prevents user or third-party upgrades/fixes?! What. The. Hell. Apple. I suspect this will get much worse as Apple uses the fear of encryption + hackers to lock down their hardware even further under the pretence they are making you safer.
That said, I've been honing up on Linux the last few months and will build a rig in the new year and fully switch to Linux. It's the first time I'll use Linux as a *desktop* OS as opposed to a cloud service. Linux has come so far in recent years that in my testing I haven't found anything lacking (hell, Steam runs fine on it!).
I don't want to crap on Apple for invoking their right to be a capitalist company, I'm sure the shareholders are happy. But I'm done handing my money over to a trillion dollar company (I'll give it to Amazon instead — irony is not lost on me here...).
Re:Moving on... (Score:4, Insightful)
It’s True (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's True (Score:3)
I really, really wanted the Air. Or rather, I wanted what the rumors suspected of it
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Let's look at reality. IN 1995 the top of the line MacBook was $3500. Not fully ticked out, just the top base model. That is $6,000 in todays dollars. I can get a 1 terabyte iPad that does so much more for $2000 in todays dollars.
Moving forward a bit, a Palm V, the PDA without a phone, was arou
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You believe Apple isn't spying?
Not like Google is. Like I said, Apple makes its money on hardware. The more Google spies, the more valuable you are to them.
Sagging sales (Score:4, Insightful)
Overpriced junk (Score:2, Insightful)
Apple makes good but not great products. They sell based on their reputation which they haven't deserved in years.
Re:Overpriced junk (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple makes good but not great products. They sell based on their reputation which they haven't deserved in years.
I think they have a reputation for protecting your privacy better than the alternatives, which they have and continue to deserve.
Re:Overpriced junk (Score:5, Insightful)
The contrast is the shit-show that is Android. It is a wild west scene of outdated OS versions, sporadic and unreliable security updates, non-removable bloatware, apparently rampant Chinese spyware, etc. Even otherwise good brands turn around and do this crap on their entry level and mid-range phones with just a few notable exceptions.
I have an Android phone, and I am amazed at the rampant pitfalls one has to navigate to pick a good phone at a low price. The safe ways to avoid this seem to be to get a flagship phone from the likes of Samsung or Google, or to get an Apple phone. I did not begrudge my rather non-technically minded wife when her iPhone 5s wore out and she wanted an 8. I've had to do ZERO to help her out. $800 was very cheap for marital bliss, and the phone will likely keep her going for a good 3+ years.
The peanut gallery will tell you to just root your android phone and load Lineage OS, or similar. For 99% of the buying public that is useless advice.
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Well let's compare them to the competition: fucking Windows, and Linux (with all its aggravations and no MS Office + general lack of software).
OK I do run Linux for several systems at work and it's a non-issue. But for a personal computer, I'd much rather use OS X, and using Windows doesn't even enter the range of possibility.
Here's how they get away with it: lack of competit (Score:5, Interesting)
I was a happy Android user for 7+ years. But to reliably get OS updates and upgrades, and not have to put up with a botched Android UI and bloatware, that meant buying a Nexus phone and tablet. Which I did, every 2 years or so.
But then Google decided to give up on Android tablets entirely, and give up on mid-price phones. They jacked up their prices, and a Pixel 3 now starts at $799. Well, guess what, that's the same price as an iPhone XR. And Google's last Android tablet offering before they gave up was actually more expensive than an iPad. So I switched.
With computers, nobody else is even offering a good Unix-based computer. Linux isn't competitive -- I use it for work, but sound and video are still a dumpster fire and don't count on hibernation working as well as a Mac either. If I didn't need to edit 4K video and work on music, I'd probably buy a ChromeBook, and sales of ChromeBooks seem to suggest that indeed there's an underserved market there.
Basically, nobody is putting in the time and money to clean up Linux (or BSD) and offer systems where sound and video editing, hibernation, and all the other basic functionality of a Mac is right there and just works. If you want that, you either have to put up with Windows and its myriad deficiencies, or you have to buy a Mac.
I'm a little surprised that nobody's deliberately setting out to build laptops that have exactly the same hardware as a Mac and are perfectly suited to hackintosh use. Give me a laptop with a proper keyboard and hardware that all worked properly with macOS and I'd be very tempted.
Huh? (Score:5, Funny)
"It felt as though the value proposition that has made Apple products no-brainers might unravel."
In what universe of delusion has Apple ever been a value proposition???????
Not with me they don't. Moving away from Apple. (Score:2)
I've been pondering a new hardware update cycle in the last 2-3 years. Waiting for the cheap viable Apple option to come around. Didn't happen with Apple lately. I'm in the process of moving away from Apple hardware and basically finished with that. I'm typing this on a refurbushed ThinkPad X220 in which I just upgraded the SDD to 1TB yesterday (runs Manjaro i3 Linux) and got meself a Chromebook a few months back to try out the cheap ARM-based secure "Lord-Google-watches-over-me" option. Not sure if that te
The products are not getting more expensive, (Score:2)
you're just holding them wrong.
That, and reality distortion fields don't grow on trees.
Apple charges more to solve problems they create (Score:5, Informative)
And Face ID wouldn't be necessary if they hadn't removed the fingerprint reader, so in other words they're imposing the cost of solving problems to its customers that Apple itself caused.
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I use both on a regular basis, and Face ID is vastly more reliable than the fingerprint reader.
Dry skin from ambient weather? Sorry, your fingerprint isn't recognized. Damp skin from washing your hands? Sorry, your fingerprint isn't recognized. Got out of the pool less than an hour ago? Sorry, your fingerprint isn't recognized.
I thought Face ID was stupid until I used it.
Missing the point (Score:2)
Apple products have never been about low prices. They charge premium prices for what they believe is a premium product. Their customers seem to agree. A lot of people put a premium on ease of use and visual esthetics. And they are willing to pay more for that.
I equate it to German cars. Some people believe it is worth it to spend more for a BMW or Merc because they believe it handles better and has superior engineering. Other people see those cars and just think money pit. There is no right answer. If you f
Wrong Focus (Score:2)
Apple is going in the wrong direction. They should be reducing the price and pushing market share, while pivoting the company towards offering more services. This is where the future is. Google has been steadily working towards this, and even Microsoft has gotten the message. In another 5-10 years phones will be dirt cheap (maybe even free) and the funding model will be through the services you use on it (though you might be paying though ad services, or indirectly e.g. uber). This is just pretty obvious.
I
Re: Wrong Focus (Score:2)
Apple is going in the wrong direction. They should be reducing the price and pushing market share, while pivoting the company towards offering more services.
You mean like every other company? It seems that you are suggesting that Apple do less to distinguish themselves in all markets and be another Dell. How does that work for other companies? Did Kmart win against Walmart by being another Walmart?
You know you can....not buy their products, right? (Score:5, Insightful)
Summary not just written and powered by smarmy Hatorade, its a honey pot for the same. You know Zombie Steve isn't holding a gun to your heads, right? You are perfectly free to buy an Android phone - even if it comes with a notch and costs just as much as an iPhone XR.
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You know Zombie Steve isn't holding a gun to your heads, right? You are perfectly free to buy an Android phone - even if it comes with a notch and costs just as much as an iPhone XR.
Or even if it's perfectly usable, notch-less, has a headphone jack and removable battery, and costs $100 - $200.
Get away with it? (Score:3)
They can charge what they want, and if people continue to buy then they are not charging too much.
Value Proposition? (Score:2)
Apple is NOT getting away with it (Score:2)
The central premise of this article is wrong. The high price of the latest product releases has impacted sales, causing a significant drop in stock price. The new features are reviewing well, but the perception of Apple users is that an innovation like face unlock will become standard at lower prices in the future, so why jump in at this early-adopter price point?
Re: (Score:2)
You have to compare the Apple price with the Microsoft price. AAPL is disproportionately down.
My Kid wants iMessage (Score:4, Informative)
mac pro 2020 (late 2019) needs to be $2999 max sta (Score:2)
mac pro 2020 (late 2019) needs to be $2999 max starting price.
No need for 1TB or more base pci-e storage (start at 256-512) at apples price 1TB or more is insane to start with.
No need for an high end / upper mid range card video card as starting point and (no duel video cards as base)
At least 32GB ram (fill all channels) (and have slots)
Start with an lower cpu then the imac pro.
Biased much? (Score:2)
I don't see the reason for all the bitterness that substitutes for real discourse around here. Sure it's funny at times but I really feel more often that I am wasting my time here with a quality of discussion that's on a downward spiral. And that's fucking sad because I've had some really interesti
The 1st Amendment (Score:2)
Our right to practice religion allows cults like Apple to legally operate.
Pricing Power! (Score:2)
Here's How They Get Away With It. (Score:2)
1: They make a new version of a product.
2: They price that new product higher than the one from last year.
3: Enough people buy the new one at the higher price that they make a profit.
THEY GOT AWAY WITH IT!!!
Mixed bag of truths here (Score:2)
You only have to spend a little time perusing the web forums designed for Mac enthusiasts (macrumors, etc.) to see that plenty of "Mac faithful" users are getting irritated with the high prices and lack of really innovative changes coming from Apple in recent years.
Of course, the problem is -- choosing to use a computer, or entire "ecosystem" of devices that aren't part of the "Microsoft Windows world" meant a pretty big investment. You have all the software products you've grown familiar with and have data
Fair to me (Score:2)
Value proposition? (Score:3)
It felt as though the value proposition that has made Apple products no-brainers might unravel
I can't tell, was this written tongue-in-cheek? When was the Apple choice a "no-brainer"?
Cost of a trade war (Score:2)
While helping a friend buy a Kindle I noticed those prices went up 30% this fall too... in the US. I think there was something about a trade war with China?
Re: (Score:2)
Re:EVERYTHING is getting more expensive (Score:4, Informative)
EVERYTHING is getting more expensive ... except labor... wages haven't moved in 30 years.
Wages have moved significantly in the last 30 years. Just not for the working or middle class. The upper middle class which makes up most of Apple's customers has been growing rapidly for the last few decades.
Total compensation for the middle class has been rising as well, but almost entirely in the form of health care benefits. For instance the employer portion of health care coverage has increased 10% from 2015-2018. That is a compensation increase for those workers, they just don't see it in their salary figures. If health care plans were not tied to employers then it would be more obvious that pay has been increasing for most workers faster than inflation. Unfortunately so has health care costs.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Off the backs of exploited workers. (Score:4, Insightful)