Tim Cook to Investors: People Bought Fewer New iPhones Because They Repaired Their Old Ones (vice.com) 488
On Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a dire warning to his investors. Apple, the world's first trillion dollar company, lowered its revenue forecast for the first time since 2002, thanks primarily to China, he said. But there was at least one more issue at play.
Motherboard: The lengthy letter cites, specifically, that people are buying fewer iPhones because they are repairing their old ones. Apple has long fought efforts that would make iPhones easier to repair: It has lobbied against right to repair efforts in several states, doesn't sell iPhone replacement parts, sued an independent repair professional in Norway, worked with Amazon to get iPhone and MacBook refurbishers kicked off Amazon Marketplace, and has deals with electronics recyclers that require them to shred iPhones and MacBooks (as opposed to allowing them to be refurbished.) The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, has seized iPhone replacement parts from prominent right to repair activists in the United States.
[...] Apple has never clearly articulated why it doesn't want people to fix their own iPhones or to have independent experts repair them. It has previously said that iPhones are "too complex" for users to repair them, even though replacing a battery is pretty easy and is done by average users all the time. But the fact that repair hurts Apple's bottom line came out in Cook's official communication with shareholders, who he is legally obligated to tell the truth to.
Motherboard: The lengthy letter cites, specifically, that people are buying fewer iPhones because they are repairing their old ones. Apple has long fought efforts that would make iPhones easier to repair: It has lobbied against right to repair efforts in several states, doesn't sell iPhone replacement parts, sued an independent repair professional in Norway, worked with Amazon to get iPhone and MacBook refurbishers kicked off Amazon Marketplace, and has deals with electronics recyclers that require them to shred iPhones and MacBooks (as opposed to allowing them to be refurbished.) The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, has seized iPhone replacement parts from prominent right to repair activists in the United States.
[...] Apple has never clearly articulated why it doesn't want people to fix their own iPhones or to have independent experts repair them. It has previously said that iPhones are "too complex" for users to repair them, even though replacing a battery is pretty easy and is done by average users all the time. But the fact that repair hurts Apple's bottom line came out in Cook's official communication with shareholders, who he is legally obligated to tell the truth to.
If this hurts Apple's bottom line, it should. (Score:5, Funny)
If they lose revenue when people can't repair their hardware, then the replacement costs are hurting the global economy and this needs to stop. Period.
Re:If this hurts Apple's bottom line, it should. (Score:5, Insightful)
Further proof that Apple has been taken over and is being ruled by MBAs rather than innovators.
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2017 iPhone SE - last one with a audio jack which fits neatly in a normal shirt pocket.
Just replaced the battery on mine in December at an Apple Store for $29.
No intention to get another iPhone for the next ~3-4 years.
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2017 iPhone SE - last one with a audio jack which fits neatly in a normal shirt pocket.
Just replaced the battery on mine in December at an Apple Store for $29.
No intention to get another iPhone for the next ~3-4 years.
It's not just Apples either. I have an LG because it has replacable batteries- bought a couple of extra batteries (in case they're hard to find in the future) and I fully intend to hold onto my LG for several years too. None of the phone manufacturers are really innovating anymore- and many are taking features away.
Everyone is racing to have the thinnest phone and slightest bezel and they're willing to sacrifice functionality to do it.
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Just remember to do a recharge-discharge-recharge (w/ trickle charging) cycle on those extra batteries at least once every 6 months. Or they'll die out in storage.
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You're confusing li-po with ni-cad. Ideal long-term storage for lithium-based batteries is ~60-80% SOC. They don't exactly die out' though - they fall below the minimum voltage that the charging circuits (i.e. safety mechanism) are designed to allow and thus you get the 'defective battery' blinky. On a larger scale - Tesla packs are exactly the same. If a pack goes below whatever single-digit % SOC it's 'dead' according to the computer and can't be charged.
But yes, tossing it on a charger every few mont
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I would also look at storing the batteries in a low temperature environment, such as a fridge, to slow down any aging.
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They will have to pry the V20 from my cold, dead hands. And the spare batteries too.
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Don't buy a 5 series phone. I know the 5 does not and I am not sure about the 5S but the carriers are dropping anything that does not do HD voice next year more than likely. Do yourself a favor and find an iPhoneSE if you want the smaller form factor.
Re:If this hurts Apple's bottom line, it should. (Score:5, Insightful)
I am in the same boat. I would like a OLED screen, but.... I do not want a physically bigger phone. I do not want to give up the 3.5mm headphone jack (which I use everyday, while charging). I actually prefer Touch ID over the new Face ID garbage. I like having a home button I can physically feel and press without needing to look at the phone.
But my battery had fizzeled out. Wouldn't keep a charge, kept shutting down when cold. But Apple offered a new battery for $25, so now my iPhone 6 is good as new, and in my opinion, better in almost every way over the current gen models except for the OLED screen.
Make a phone a I WANT to buy, and at a reasonable price, and I might bite. Until then, I will probably replace the battery in my iPhone6 again 2-3 years from now. I don't care if I stop getting iOS updates.
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You do NOT need a headphone jack PERIOD. Why is that so hard for you to grasp?
It's not up to you to decide what I need. Why is that so hard for you to grasp?
Re: If this hurts Apple's bottom line, it should. (Score:5, Funny)
Hush. The spokesman for the entire Internet is speaking.
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Hush. The spokesman for the entire Internet is speaking.
It's a "spokesperson".
Sincerely
SJW for the entire Internet.
Re: If this hurts Apple's bottom line, it should. (Score:5, Insightful)
You do NOT need a headphone jack PERIOD. Why is that so hard for you to grasp?
I don't need an iPhone either. But if you want me to buy one, you should probably make one that I want to buy.
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That's what happens when most of your revenue comes from just one product AND you manage to make it inferior and inferior with every single incarnation you pump out.
MS would be in the same hole if they relied only on Windows...
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Maybe YOU don't need one.
But some of us like to use our current headphones and/or have apps/devices using that port.
To each his own.
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To each his own.
Only if you make your own phone.
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Re: If this hurts Apple's bottom line, it should. (Score:5, Insightful)
I suppose the question is why he should have to pay *more* money to allow Apple to pursue their agenda, versus just buying products/sticking with products that are still designed in a way he prefers? Of course all that said he really should move to a credit card device that isn't magstripe based, due to liability issues, but not because he should pay more to have less function.
I would never dare say someone else's preference for having a port is any of my business.
Personally, I bought an android phone with only usb-c and dongles for headphones. When that phone messed up out of warranty, I was so glad to have a headphone jack again and not deal with the hassle of a dongle, and paid much less for the phone with *more* ports which is a very weird dynamic in the industry.
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Can you add a jack to an XR or XS?
Probably. The iPhone 7 is smaller than the Xs and Xr, so there's more internal room in the later models.
How did the hacked up iPhone do in the waterproof test?
Dunno. Given that others can make waterproof phones with 3.5mm jacks and USB jacks [youtube.com] I would assume that Apple could do the same.
Obviously Lightning alone is more robust than headphone+Lightning.
Sure - you've introduced another point of failure. And a Lightning connector is less robust than a 3.5mm connector; the Lightning connector is about 90% wider, but it is just 42% as thick. Since stiffness/rigidity goes as the cube of thickness, the total mechanical rigidity of
Re: If this hurts Apple's bottom line, it should. (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm a huge Apple fan, and while you can "get by" without a headphone jack integrated into the phone, it is a silly compromise. I use Bose QC20 noise cancelling headphones when I fly; they are hands-down the best in-ear, noise cancelling headphone for that purpose. They have a 3.5mm (god I hate calling it that... it is 1/8"...) jack and a really stupid battery pack. I sometimes use these same headphones for listening to the in-flight entertainment. The headphones have an 18-hour battery, and can be charged while in use.
So, for Apple's world, I can either give up the best headphones and go bluetooth, with an extra bluetooth dongle for the IFE, or keep my stupid lightning/headphone dongle and maybe invest in a dual-port headphone/charger dongle. Either way, it is dongle madness. Oh, and I need two sets of bluetooth headphones since they don't last as long.
Oh, and since purchasing a new iPad pro, I need another dongle for USB-C... but that is a separate matter.
(If I could comfortably wear on-ear headphones for a 17-hour flight then there are more options, but that is not possible.)
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> They have a 3.5mm (god I hate calling it that... it is 1/8"...)
I was asking for an 1/8" headphone extension cord at Microcenter a few weeks back. I had no idea at first why the sales person didn't realize what I was talking about.
Now I know what terminology to use.
Re: If this hurts Apple's bottom line, it should. (Score:5, Informative)
hey have a 3.5mm (god I hate calling it that... it is 1/8"...)
It isn't. The diameter of the plug is 3.5 mm [cui.com]. 1/8" would be 3.175 mm, 10% smaller than 3.5 mm.
Re: If this hurts Apple's bottom line, it should. (Score:4, Funny)
You can Fuck right the Hell Off Apple.
Assuming I have the ear of a very angry Apple exec:
The market has put it's foot in your ass and will continue to punish you.
Apple products are banned in my household as your software is invasive, hardware grossly over-priced and under-performs and we can fix everything we own.
People don't buy things because they are told they have to unless the Govt made them. They buy things they like. They don't like their Audio jack being taken away, we don't like property we can't fix, and we don't *have* to buy overpriced mediocre performing apple garbage.
Want to sell products, find what the customer wants and fill that need, not by telling them they need to spend 200 times more for reduced utility.
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Your definition of invasive is not my definition of invasive.
Here's a prime example from my personal experience:
iTunes offered to search my drive for music to catalog in a playlist and I thought 'Kewl', lets do that. What I discovered once it was done is that it found my music, and MOVED it into iTunes, and wouldn't allow me to export it back to the mp3s / oggs I used to have. It DELETED my music, and put it into some iTunes file or location I was unable to identify.
iTunes was promptly deleted, and I restor
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Correction: You do not need a headphone jack to buy Apple's $150 wireless headphones.
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You also do NOT need:
An internet connection
A computer
A cell phone
and a ton of other things
However; you do want them and you want them to your standards and not some blowhard like you or some PHB at Apple saying you don't.
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You do NOT need a headphone jack PERIOD. Why is that so hard for you to grasp?
Different people have different needs and wants. Why is that so hard for Apple to grasp?
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Alternatively, I shouldn't have to buy a new car just to get bluetooth so I can listen to tunes from a phone. That's like buying a new house because you want to upgrade the tile in your bathroom.
You're right. Just buy a new stereo.
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Ah yes, pay several hundred dollars to go along with the whim of Apple or other similar device makers to not have a headphone jack versus... staying with a phone that actually works with his existing setup for no cost or buying a different phone that has a headphone jack?
Also a very probable pain is that the stereo is no where near a standard DIN form factor and/or has essential car related functionality integrated. Not a trend I like, but it is a reality that fewer and fewer car models have realistically
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With as often as you'll be programming new fobs, just keep the thing in storage. Or have a dealer do it if you don't want to deal with the storage of the old radio.
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So this is almost a thread-jack, but I'll do it anyways.
My Ford has one of those Microsoft factory stereos in it, with Bluetooth. Complete trash. I have to disconnect the battery on occasion to reboot the fucking stereo. I haven't even been able to locate a fuse or relay to pull, and I've checked the three fuse/relay boxes I know of. If I don't reboot it, it won't accept voice commands anymore, and the push-button menu system is horrid, something you don't want to deal with while driving. Even then, th
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Everything beyond a few glasses of water and ~1000 calories a day is a WANT. Actually, even those meager resources are a WANT. You don't NEED to survive, it's just a preference.
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Everything beyond a few glasses of water and ~1000 calories a day is a WANT. Actually, even those meager resources are a WANT. You don't NEED to survive, it's just a preference.
You forgot shelter...
Re: If this hurts Apple's bottom line, it should. (Score:5, Insightful)
> Headphone jacks are overrated, the little supplied adapter works fine
Bullshit. Maybe FOR YOU it's fine. Guess what some of us DO have a problem with it.
* How do I charge my phone and listen to my wired headphones (Senns HD 380 Pro) at the SAME TIME ?
* Why the fuck am I forced to carry around Yet-Another-Dongle ???
Oh, that's right Apple wants me to buy their shitty Beats wireless cans instead and/or more accessories that now I have to worry about remembering to bring and not lose.
Apple no longer cares about respecting the consumer. (Although one could probably argue they never really have with their shenanigans over the years.)
Fuck that shit.
Try making money by repairing iPhones (Score:5, Funny)
Because it's far more profitable to do a trade (Score:2)
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Yeah, they don't do that.
They give you that $100 as a token discount to keep the phone off the local resale market. Then it goes into a shredder.
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Apple does repair old phones but the repair prices are usually so ridiculous that you might as well buy a new one. When the repair cost is a significant proportion of the price of a new one people balk at getting a device a few years old fixed. That's just how consumers are.
Plus they can't really stop other people offering more reasonably priced repairs. They can try, but especially in China (where a lot of the expected sales were supposed to be) there is a huge, thriving market dealing in Apple repairs.
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Yeah, they do, but at twice the cost and for no good reason.
I thought twice the cost was the good reason for Apple pricing?
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Yes, so they have two options.
1. Start gluing all the parts together to make it hard and use the U.S. government to go after and seize imports of older parts from China.
2. Lower your repair prices.
Guess which option they chose?
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Why doesn't Apple offer to repair old iPhones? They could make extra money.
Uh, because it's rather obvious that they make a shitload more money by essentially refusing to repair these devices, and instead will do anything and everything to convince consumers that they need a new one.
Exactly this. Apple's brand power allows them some of the highest markups in their business segment. That's a lot harder to do when someone else can offer a similar, or even identical, service for a substantial discount. If you could be a iFone that looked and worked exactly the same as your iPhone but for 50% less money...who wouldn't?
$29 batteries too (Score:2)
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that is exactly what apple wanted to avoid: BASTARDS! like you trying to use their property for longer than they expected you too, before shelling out another thousand bucks.
You da real MVP.
Convert (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not possible that even one converted to Android? No way he'd admit that.
Huh? (Score:2)
But the fact that repair hurts Apple's bottom line came out in Cook's official communication with shareholders, who he is legally obligated to tell the truth to.
He's not allowed to lie. I don't think there is a legal obligation to tell the whole truth, in fact the obligation on that topic is almost to run the other way, there are things he is definitely allowed, and definitely should not share with shareholders.
If he's telling them this, it's because he wants some action taken.
Tim Cook Reality Distortion Field (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Tim Cook Reality Distortion Field (Score:5, Insightful)
If it costs $150 to replace the screen, and a new iPhone is $400, then maybe you wonder about what you should do. Maybe it's upgrade time. But when the new phone is $1,000, just get the screen fixed.
If Apple has failed to predict this kind of behavior, it needs to hire better economists.
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Their "luxury" strategy worked for several years: they got bigger and richer. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Well, it finally broke.
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They forgot how many of their customers aren't actually rich.
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Its not just the dollars though. Its also a question what you are getting at the margin. The reality for a lot of people is that isnt much at this point.
I mean a few people are really excited about facial recognition or whatever but the for the rest of us we are getting a 'slightly faster CPU' and little more storage... Well I don't need more storage, I mean why do want to carry around every snapshot I have taken since 2010? what for? I don't really need a faster CPU. The CPU in the iPhoneSE is plenty t
Ummm. No.... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Plenty of people (especially in poor countries) see iphones as status symbols. I have a friend shallow enough to pay $$$ for the latest and greatest iphone, because he NEEDS that to stay at his social circles. We live in a third world country where apple doesn't sell its products. He paid about 4 to 6 times his MONTHLY SALARY to get that phone. Hell, an iphone X costs probably 1/4th to 1/3rd the price of a small car here in Argentina.
People Bought Fewer New iPhones Because (Score:5, Insightful)
They Suck.
It's the same with German cars (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple is very similar to BMW and Mercedes when it comes to this "immersive brand experience" thing. None of these companies want people running around with old phones or cars. They want them on the 3-year leasing treadmill. They want you to basically subscribe to their hardware. To accomplish this, one of the things they do is fight efforts to make repairs economical. Apple basically builds their phones as glue sandwiches and solders all the components onto the motherboard for "design reasons." BMW/MB make the out-of-warranty repair experience painful with single-source expensive parts, so even if you find a good mechanic who charges reasonable labor rates, this sensor or that sub-assembly will cost thousands to replace. The only way to own one of these cars long term is to have the money and not care about spending it, or just throw in the towel and rent one forever in the form of a never-ending lease.
I think people in the US and Europe will finally get sick of this and realize they're being ripped off now that there's a huge secondary market for iDevices. China and India have huge middle class populations but they're less likely to blow $1100 on a phone than Americans are.
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You seem to miss the point: their cars are a status symbol. If they become cheap to own, they are no longer a status symbol. If you want something inexpensive and practical, you wouldn't buy nor shop for a beemer to begin with.
I suspect the demand for such will wax and wane over time for many reasons, but it's a sustainable business model as long as enough people want status symbols to show off.
Making them
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When asked how the watch business was going in the face of the new digital devices an executive at Rolex said, "It don't know. We're not in the watch business. We are in the status business."
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There's another, more sinister reason for that: not wanting people to actually 'own' things of any real value.
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Apple is very similar to BMW and Mercedes when it comes to this "immersive brand experience" thing. None of these companies want people running around with old phones or cars.
??? We just bought a 2011 X3 at a BMW dealership for probably 1/3 what it cost brand new (low miles too, less than 10k a year). Our mechanic who specializes in BMWs said upkeep/repairs would cost no more than our 2001 330i with well over 100k miles that costs about $200-300 a year to keep up. New BMWs are expensive as crap, but older ones still run great, look good, and don't actually cost that much to keep up.
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Why isn't there a standardized car platform? (Score:2, Interesting)
Like with the PC. Where one car maker says "fuck it, we're going open", and creates a bunch of interface standards so that everybody can make e.g. a body or a motor or a suspension system for it.
Obviously it would include all the rules so that any arbitrary combination of parts that are certified to be compatible to this interface are also legal and have a known crash test behavior.
And there would be a few different platforms to serve the different needs. Because a high performance sports car can't use the
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Apple is NOT the world's first $1T company (Score:3, Informative)
Saudi Aramco was valued over $1T years ago.
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...by Saudi Aramco, not on the open market.
Re:Apple is NOT the world's first $1T company (Score:5, Informative)
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history repeating (Score:5, Informative)
Not exactly Tim (Score:5, Interesting)
And I've replaced two iPhones now for what turned out to be a dying battery.
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No, they were forced to do that repair for $29 rather than their old price of $99, which made it a no-brainer for most people.
Screen cracks are the only thing forcing people to look at upgrading (when battery dies) now.
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If Apple was up-front about it all along, people would have happily paid that $99. The $29 was to try to misdirect everyone away from that original dishonesty.
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And I've replaced two iPhones now for what turned out to be a dying battery.
But why the hell did you do it the second time?
Mr. Cook needs a dose of reality (Score:5, Insightful)
Why isn't Apple selling more iPhones?
1) Too darn expensive. I'm not dropping a grand on a device that I can lose or break in an instant. I switched over to Android because I can buy a phone with 90% of the functionality of an iPhone for $200 to $300, which is the price point I want.
2) We're at peak functionality. Yeah, apps are bloating and requiring more CPU power, but if I need a phone, email, calendar, a browser, and some basic games, I'm good. I don't need a zillion megapixels or a few more battery stealing CPU cycles, so why do I need a new phone?
3) The "wow" factor is over. Every phone looks the same and does most of the same things. I'm not jazzed by anything on the latest and greatest iPhone. Innovate!
Apple is just about where Motorola was after the RAZR crashed and burned. Motorola didn't take the RAZR profits and invest more in R&D and their customers moved on to the next big thing (smartphones). RIM / Blackberry had the same problem. As has just about everyone else in the space. The only saving grace for Apple is the ecosystem it has for its devices and software. That has built something of a moat around its products, but as long as older products continue to function, there is no incentive for Apple to get hungry again.
free market / surprise or arrogance? (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple has stopped innoovating (Score:5, Insightful)
Under Steve Jobs, Apple innovated creating whole new lines of products with innovative features. Now innovation at Apple means adding a notch to the screen or removing the headphone jack. The iPhone is a great phone, but enough people already own them and they're not willing to pay $1,000 or more for small incremental improvements.
Apple wants you to buy new devices. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Apple wants you to buy new devices. (Score:4, Informative)
I hate to tell you, but Android is mostly worse in this regard. Apple does a lot of things wrong, but long-term OS upgrades is generally better than Android.
The 5-year old 2nd-gen iPad mini still supports iOS 12. iPhone support for iOS 12 goes back to 2014 devices. I had an Google Nexus 6 that went out of support 1.5 years after I bought it - no no updates. And that was an actual Google co-branded phone. The full size iPad is a weird exception to this.
All mobile devices are still given way too short of a supported lifespan. With Android there's no predicting when support will end either.
Translation (Score:2)
Nope (Score:2)
Sorry, I just see no need to pay $1000 for a $500 phone when my current maxed out one does perfectly well.
My next iPhone will probably be a model made for India. Small, compact, capable, and around $500 instead of $1000.
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Do the Indian iPhones have Lightening or USB-C? Headphone jacks? I haven't heard about them, have a link?
The real problem (Score:2)
Is that this is the second duplicated article posted on THE FRONT PAGE today.
Please, someone tell me msmash isn't paid to do his/her job.
Simple Explanations (Score:5, Interesting)
Reasons:
1) Apple went full stupid with the pricing on their newest lineup
2) I like my headphone jack thank you very much
3) There is nothing wrong with my iPhone SE nor my Galaxy S5 ( both of which have headphone jacks )
4) Smartphone market is over-saturated, iPhones are no longer the only option
The only reason I have an iPhone SE is the size. I prefer a smaller phone that easily fits into a pocket vs :|
the super sized versions that are so common today. They get any bigger and we'll be able to mount them
via a forearm strap and use them as shields
Were it not for the larger size, I would really prefer to stick with my Galaxy S5. It has a headphone jack,
a removable battery ( I have a few spares ) and is expandable via the micro-SD card. The drag and drop
file functionality is really hard for Apple to beat imo.
Plus, f*ck iTunes. That sh*t is why I grabbed a Galaxy S5 to begin with.
My ideal phone would be:
1) Android base ( not the carrier bloated bullsh*t that's impossible to remove without root )
2) Removable Battery
3) Micro-SD card expand-ability
4) Hardware switch(es) to disable the Mic, Camera and GPS
5) Decent size selection range ( small to large )
6) Headphone jack
7) Dual Sim
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Agree on the iPhone SE. Both my daughter and I were pissed when we heard it was discontinued. Best values for the money - that's why Apple stopped making them.
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Use DIP switches INSIDE the battery compartment to disable the Mic, Camera, & GPS.
Oh yes, that would be brilliant. Dial emergency services and... can't tell them your car is on fire because you have to open up the phone and use a safety pin toggle a DIP switch, all so that the dispatcher can hear you.
Please (Score:2)
The Elephant In The Room (Score:3)
It wouldn't be anywhere near as hard as these manufacturers claim to build things like smartphones in such a way that they're more modular internally and more easily repaired. It would cost more money, to be sure, but you could create a smartphone in such a way that it's not only 'field repairable', but upgradable, such that you could keep using the same one for years and years and years -- and a company like Apple would likely go bankrupt, or at least become so much less profitable that who knows what would become of them? At the very least perhaps they'd become less innovative for less profits to invest in research and development of new technologies. Who knows?
One thing is certain: microminiaturization of just about everything has clearly made repairing electronic devices significantly more difficult and in some cases impossible. Back in the early days of television, for instance, up to the end of the CRT TV era, repairing a television set down to the individual component level was not only possible but a regular practice. First with vacuum tubes, then transistors, then through-hole integrated circuits; it was possible for a technician to troubleshoot down to the discrete level, replace a part (or several) and the TV would be good to go again. Even with computers and computerized devices, up until the advent and widespread use of BGA [wikipedia.org]-packaged integrated circuits, it was still possible to field repair PCBs without any too-expensive equipment. But now between the fact that the vast majority of ICs are now BGA-packaged devices, and the package density of PCBs in a device like an iPhone, these PCBs are for all intents and purposes unrepairable; between the need for specialized equipment, costing thousands and thousands of dollars, to remove and replace BGA devices, and the specialized training required to successfully use this equipment, there's still a large chance that the attempts to repair such PCBs will fail, costing the company attempting to repair it money they can't recover. Even the manufacturers themselves don't usually attempt to 'repair' PCBs anymore for this reason, they'll replace them with new. For this reason if 'The People' want electronic devices that can be repaired to the Nth degree, they'll have to settle for overall larger, heavier devices, using technologies that allow component-level repair -- or someone will have to invent a new technology that isn't essentially a straight-line path from raw components to finished device to end-user use to the e-waste bin.
is this the source quote? (Score:2)
While macroeconomic challenges in some markets were a key contributor to this trend, we believe there are other factors broadly impacting our iPhone performance, including consumers adapting to a world with fewer carrier subsidies, US dollar strength-related price increases, and some customers taking advantage of significantly reduced pricing for iPhone battery replacements.
because that sounds a lot more like, "we had to charge a lot less for a service than we had anticipated."
It's become good enough.. (Score:2)
Stupid (Score:2)
So IOW they are too stupid to sell iPhone parts so somebody else makes the money.
Tough luck.
Bought a 6S 18 months ago (Score:2)
Then, last summer, the GPS stopped working. Apple replaced it with an identical 6S right before the 1-year warranty expired.
So now I've got a 6S with a 100% battery. Eventually I'll need to spend $49 to get the battery replaced, but that's what I plan to do - not buy a new phone. This phone does what I need it to do.
Sure, I can't do animoji. I can't open it using my face. Somehow I'll live without those awesome features - maybe spend that $1000 on a new camera lens.
We need a 3rd option (Score:2)
I like having a smart phone, but honestly this is getting silly. I can pick android and have google in everything I do. I can pick apple and have better privacy, but support a company that is price gouging and publicly telling me they want my phone to die more often. We need a 3rd option.
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I see a little evil. If Apple is chasing down legit repair shops that are managing to repair devices successfully, without compromising features (particularly security features), and without damaging hardware in a way that makes their products look bad, they're definitely doing wrong. I cannot tell from the bias and obvious venom of TFS and cannot be fucked to search through the self referential links to determine that this is actually the case, but if it is they are wrong.
I don't think Apple, or anyone els
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Apple definitely needs a follow-up to the iPhone SE form factor and price range.
There will be one made in India, according to the announcements in the Chinese and Indian media, but Apple doesn't want you to realize you can order that in the US online direct from Apple.
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