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Iphone Apple

Apple Fibs About iPhone 12 Pricing To Promote Wireless Carriers (sixcolors.com) 101

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
Jason Snell, writing at Six Colors: Here's one of the weirdest aspects of Tuesday's iPhone launch event: Apple has been less than forthright about the real prices of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini. At the event, Apple referred to these products as starting at $699 (iPhone 12 mini) and $799 (iPhone 12), but those prices are not actually accurate unless you slap a big asterisk on there. (As Apple does on its marketing pages, because it must.) Here's what's actually happening, at least in the U.S.: Apple has cut deals with AT&T and Verizon that give existing customers of those carriers $30 off their purchases. The actual prices of the two models are $729 and $829, and that's what you'll pay if you're a U.S. subscriber to Sprint, T-Mobile, any smaller pay-as-you-go carriers, or if you want to buy a SIM-free model with no carrier connection at all. (The 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max are the same price on all carriers.) It's embarrassing that Apple is hiding the real price of the iPhone 12.
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Apple Fibs About iPhone 12 Pricing To Promote Wireless Carriers More

Apple Fibs About iPhone 12 Pricing To Promote Wireless Carriers

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    • Re:People are willing to get a phone with no charg (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14, 2020 @11:52AM (#60606824)

      The next iPhone will also reported not come bundled with a charger

      If you hate the Earth so much you want to ship a few hundred million chargers people will just throw away, do you also go out and slit the throats of polar bears for fun?

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward

        If you hate the Earth so much you want to ship a few hundred million chargers people will just throw away, do you also go out and slit the throats of polar bears for fun?

        Don't knock it until you've tried it!

      • Re:People are willing to get a phone with no charg (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Ecuador ( 740021 ) on Wednesday October 14, 2020 @12:14PM (#60606910) Homepage

        This is not a response to the GP. If Apple was doing this for the environment, they would sell you a charger for $10 (as much as a 3rd party equivalent is often priced at) for a modest profit, or even less (perhaps with a show of iPhone purchase), closer to cost, to really show they care. $20 for a charger that is normally included is price gouging at its "finest".
        But they don't care, it has never been about the environment for Apple as we have discussed in other stories about their non replaceable batteries / everything soldered on laptops / going after repair centers etc.
        About the specific issue. I don't really see how everybody has so many chargers: I have exactly 1 (one) charger that can charge my Android phone at maximum speed. It so happens to be able to charge my iPhone too, but its own charger has failed (out of warranty). I have a bunch of chargers, but none of them are up to the latest spec - which seems to be ever changing - so, they will charge my phone slower. It gets more complicated as my partner's original Galaxy S8 charger has also failed (not completely, but her phone won't charge fast with it anymore), so among 2 people we only have 1 up to spec charger (a Xiaomi). I charge mine overnight, so I use a slower charger, but saying everyone has chargers lying around so they throw new ones away is not accurate when they have to be A) really recent B) still functional when Apple/Samsung ones can easily fail.

        • Re:People are willing to get a phone with no charg (Score:4, Insightful)

          by samwichse ( 1056268 ) on Wednesday October 14, 2020 @12:57PM (#60607072)

          Or just include a little voucher to walk into an Apple store or send in and receive one free, with the purchase of your phone.

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by mikvo ( 587789 )
            Or perhaps they could have a trade-in option where I can bring in an older iPhone charger and they will exchange it for a newer USB-C version. Even if they limited that to a single trade per iPhone purchase it seems like it would be better for the environment than just forcing us to buy a new one, since so few people have the newer USB-C 20W chargers already.
          • I dunno about everyone else, but I can NOT have too many of those charger units.

            They're either constantly getting lost, or I'm visiting somewhere and need to plug my phone in, so I keep several in a backpack, for phone, tablet, etc....

            No, I can never seem to have too many of them.

            • I do the opposite. I keep one that can supply reasonably high watts to multiple devices simultaneously. I've never gotten such a power supply included with a device, they've always been low wattage or single ported.

              The main reason why I'd rather have 1 supply with multiple ports is because outlet space can be scarce in places like airports. At least it was back when people flew places. Using 3 outlets to charge a phone and a tablet and a laptop at a gate is a bit selfish, so I've always bought a supply th

              • I do the opposite. I keep one that can supply reasonably high watts to multiple devices simultaneously. I've never gotten such a power supply included with a device, they've always been low wattage or single ported.

                The main reason why I'd rather have 1 supply with multiple ports is because outlet space can be scarce in places like airports. At least it was back when people flew places. Using 3 outlets to charge a phone and a tablet and a laptop at a gate is a bit selfish, so I've always bought a supply th

              • I have charger blocks and cables kicking around the house for guests and such, keeping my primary one in the bedroom. But I also have health issues that mean I make frequent trips to the hospital, so I have one block and cable in my coat pocket; they leave the house with me every time. My watch and tablet both do wireless charging, and my phone has wireless power share. With that setup, I only need one charger to handle all my needs.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Old97 ( 1341297 )
          Apple lowered their prices for the chargers, assuming you actually need to buy one. I have tons of them from 10 years of iPhone ownership. I've never had an Apple charger fail. Specs changing? What are you talking about? The standard Apple 5v charger still charges all their phones and watches. It'll even charge your iPad - slowly. You can get the 15v charger that came with the iPad and charge your iPhone faster. Is that a spec change to you? I have an Anker charger (30v I believe) that charges ev

        • as much as a 3rd party equivalent is often priced at

          Yeah but for $10 more than that you can be certain your charger won't burn your house down. And no there's no USB-C 20W chargers under $20 that guarantee that one. At least not ones with legit UL markings.

        • About the specific issue. I don't really see how everybody has so many chargers: I have exactly 1 (one) charger that can charge my Android phone at maximum speed.

          So you own a single phone and that's it? That's the only consumer electronics piece of gear you bought and owned? You can't charge your phone from your laptop brick, your laptop, the charger from your last phone, the charger from your girlfriend's phone, the charger from your UE Boom cordless speakers (yep they fast charge my Android phone too), the charger built into my goddamn desk lamp? The charger than came with your wireless headphones.

          Fuck man send me you address I'll send you a garbage bag full of th

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Ecuador ( 740021 )

            Seriously, where are your reading comprehension skills, you quoted me. Read that quote again. I have a bunch of chargers, everything came with one (kindle, chromecast, Fire TV, speakers, tablets, phones etc), but recent high end phones can charge faster with special chargers. We had two in the house that came with their respective phones, a Samsung and a Xiaomi QuickCharge 3, the Samsung has failed. The iPhone 8 can also be fast charged with that same charger, even though it did not came with a fast charger

            • Where are *your* reading comprehension skills. I only listed chargers that fast charge my Android phone. Yes that includes the one in my desk lamp, and the one that came with the UE Booms, and my laptop brick.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by Ecuador ( 740021 )

                When you list your desk lamp or the UE Boom, you mean "fast" as in micro usb-era fast charger (5V, but higher amperage, usually 2A-2.5A), which is not the same thing as what I am talking about. These devices can't use either Qualcomm's Quick Charge (as they won't have a Snapdragon, never mind a compatible one), or the various other equivalents in high end modern phones, so the chargers they come with are not such. If that's as fast your Android phone charges, you just have an older or lower end phone. It is

      • yo fuckface (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward
        The new iPhones come with a USB-C cable and support 20 watt charging. Last I checked, the USB-A chargers Apple shipped for the last 20 years don't work with a USB-C cable and don't output 20 watts. And even if I wanted to use an old charging cable, generally the cable lasts about as long as the phone it shipped with. But thanks for your sarcastic, ignorant comment!
        • I heard the new iPhones come with braided cables. I have a few Apple braided USB-C and USB-C to Lightning connectors that came with my Mac Pro. They are pretty decent quality, and cost quite a bit more than the older rubber cables Apple used to ship (that we all used to complain about). It is a very good trade-off (for me at least) to get rid of shitty cables and a charger I never used, for a better cable. I have USB-C ports everywhere as is.

          The thing I am upset over, is Apple sticking with lightning port

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Old97 ( 1341297 )
          You don't have to use the USB-C cable. You can use a USB-A lightning cable with the old chargers on you new phone. It just charges a bit slower. Maybe you chew on your cables when you are nervous, but mine last a few years so I have surplus.

          • It just charges a bit slower.

            It charges 400% slower. I guess thats you fanboys version of "a bit"

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Merk42 ( 1906718 )
        If they are including fewer items, the product should be less expensive.
      • I'm 100% cool with not having a charger or headphones included. I have more than a dozen of them, unopened in a drawer. They'll eventually end up in a landfill. At this point, 99% of us have an existing charger and headphones. The other 1% can spend the $10 to get one. It's really not that big of a deal. Some are sure having a meltdown over it though.

      • do you also go out and slit the throats of polar bears for fun?

        He does; but first he gives the polar bear its own knife to make it fair.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tomkost ( 944194 )
        Apparently you don't have kids in your house. Mine lose a charger every other month at least.. If you have any extra chargers, please send them to me!!! So ya, I want to get a charger with my iPhone. Also good to know it's the latest one vs. buying some aftermarket POS.

      • Phones used to come with chargers because many or most people did not have any. It is very useful to buy a phone and then be able to use it right away. It is highly inconvenient to open up the present on Christmas day and then put it away because you have to go to the store the next time it opens and also buy a charge; then go back later and buy the right cable.

        Yes, there will be extra chargers. I have all of the chargers that came with my old phones still in use. Most of them will charge anything, I ca

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Why not have an option to buy with or without a charger?

        • Re:People are willing to get a phone with no charg (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Midnight Thunder ( 17205 ) on Wednesday October 14, 2020 @12:38PM (#60607008) Homepage Journal

          Why not have an option to buy with or without a charger?

          Open catalogue, adds to cart, and then orders together with all the other accessories.

        • That would mean doubling the number of SKUs. That means tons of extra costs, tons of extra shipping, and lots of other headaches like storage challenges and properly stocking the right products to meet demand, for countless retailers. They don't want to do that. It's the same reason someone like Best Buy or even the Apple Store don't stock every configuration of MacBook Pro.

          • Aw cmon.
            Ship X phones without charger, and Y chargers separately, I'm sure they can evaluate how many of each are needed. Aren't chargers the same for the last 3 or 4 phone generations?
            You can get two little boxes instead of one if you opt in to get a charger too.

      • You do know it's not a Lightning charger, right? I have a drawer full of the old 30-pin iPhone and Lightning chargers but those won't help if I made the jump this time. Which I won't...

      • I got the original iPhone. It was nice, it came with the Phone (duh), a charger, and a docking station, which was rather nice. I do miss getting a fitted docking station.

        But what has changed now, is the fact that the charger for the iPhone has been the same one for many generations. And most people are not getting their first iPhone, but upgrading an older model.

        • But what has changed now, is the fact that the charger for the iPhone has been the same one for many generations.

          yeah... not this time. Certainly not the same, so you are.... lying?

    • The iPhone Charger is often too short to be useful, so you end up buying something new, or use what you have already plugged in.
      Also the new phones do Wireless charging. So you may use you wireless charger a bit more. I have seen these for real cheap now.

    • Oh boo hoo apple mistates their lowest price. You might as well say the opposite too, they also have discounted prices for certain groups of people as well (gov, education, ...) And they don't mention those so they are overstating the lowest price.
      And as for chargers, who are you trying to convince? Me? are you worried I am gullible and don't know this? Certainly not you, since you are not buying an iphone.

      Jeeze. apple bashing. get your jollies!

    • This is partially because of new regulations over in Europe (and or England) which are banning the bundling of charges and extra cables with the phone. Supposedly to reduce electronics waste.

    • The next iPhone will also reported not come bundled with a charger, and so far no one is telling Apple that it is ridiculous that they don't just eat the costs.

      Aw, cut them some slack. Apple is so poor now that you need to buy a new phone everytime the battery dies. That'll get them out of the red.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      Because who over Twenty or under 70 does not have a dozen chargers and headphones already.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      Apple lied? Must be Tuesday.

    • I really don't understand why people are losing their minds over this. For folks that have iPhones or other devices already, this is not a big deal. Same with the EarPods. My personal opinion is that this is a good thing.

    • The best part is how they up-sold it as a feature. Now there are fools who will actually pay extra for the "feature" of not having a charger included.

  • An open letter to Tim Apple (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    We status conscious users rely on high prices to maintain cred, and your foray into 4-digit price tags was going great. But this news is not only an about-face, it's a slap in the face to us!

    You know damn well that our kids will be laughed at if any old pleb can afford the new devices. They need to stay on Ebay to buy the four year old models that we dump on them like bread crumbs to a pigeon while laughing disdainly.

    We still love and worship you so can you at least let us add on another 25% at checkout?

  • Ok (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by xonen ( 774419 )

    Ok /. can we please stop having 5 Apple stories on one day?

    First of all i couldn't care less about Apple, or all the little woes they got. As far i concern, if you buy Apple you royally get what you payed for. And apparently there's a market for that.

    But five stories about Apples has nothing to do with 'news for nerds, stuff that matters'. Consolidate it in one story please, then someone might be interested. But frontage full of stories about one company is pretty extreme, unless you rebrand yourself as 'Sl

    • Re:Ok (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Merk42 ( 1906718 ) on Wednesday October 14, 2020 @12:27PM (#60606976)
      Wow why so much news about Apple (or Google/Microsoft/etc)? It's almost like they held an event announcing new products or something?

    • Important (Score:5, Funny)

      by JBMcB ( 73720 ) on Wednesday October 14, 2020 @12:35PM (#60607004)

      This is IMPORTANT NEWS. I was totally going to buy an iPhone 12 at $695. But $725? Heck no, that's way outside of my budget.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        So you'd buy it at $725? What about $755? $785? At some point you are going to say no even though you would've said yes at $30 cheaper. Everyone is going to have some point at which they draw the line (and for an Apple product, for me that line is at $0).

    • Re:Ok (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anubis IV ( 1279820 ) on Wednesday October 14, 2020 @01:04PM (#60607092)

      1) I agree that if it was any random day that had five Apple stories it'd be too much, but these are all related to an annual product announcement presentation Apple had yesterday, wherein they announced the latest models of their best-selling product. That's newsworthy in the same way that it was newsworthy last month when Amazon announced new products. Subsequently, follow-on news occurred as details were pulled out of the tech specs and other press releases, as is the norm with major product announcements from any company. Again, if this happened every day, yeah, it'd be too much, but the big players only have these sorts of announcements a few times a year, so it shouldn't be too burdensome.

      2) If it is too much to handle, no one is demanding you click on stories you don't want to read. Not interested? Don't click. It's just that simple.

      3) If seeing them take over the front page is an eyesore, mouse over your user name in the top right corner of the screen > Options > Exclusions tab > ensure Apple is highlighted in the combobox > click Save. Apple news will disappear from the front page.

      4) Using RSS? At least some (all?) of the different sections of Slashdot offer their own feeds, so simply subscribe to the ones you're interested in. For instance, one that you might want to stay away from would be the Apple RSS feed for Slashdot [slashdot.org]. I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to work out the other URLs.

    • Some years ago I bought a used iPhone 6. It was still getting OS updates as of August. The battery is at 85%. I have no complaints.

    • Don't you have a kernel to patch or a driver to reinstall or something?

    • Ok /. can we please stop having 5 Apple stories on one day?

      Could there have been an event yesterday of significance? Maybe something that would cause tech news sites the world over to cover the multiple things that came out of said event?

      Naaah Slashdot is doing it just to piss you off.

      I'm not even bothering reading any of it.

      You know what would be even better, if you didn't bother to comment on it either.

      So, here's the proposal

      I have a better proposal. Why not give us a complete list of things you don't like so we don't need to offend your poor little eyes with reading a headline and cause RSI to develop in your sensitive littl

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Macdude ( 23507 )

      So your opinion on what stories to post is the only opinion that matters and should be used to determine what gets posted?

      Why can't you do what everyone else does, just skip over the stories that don't interest you?

  • Quibbling over thirty bucks on a seven hundred dollar phone is only embarrassing for anyone trying to make it a major issue.

    • I think most carriers tack on a $30 or $60 activation fee when you change devices on your account. They may waive it for some accounts. Once you add the required activation fee, the price of a new phone is an additional $30 or more. (Not just true for Apple devices.)

      I think the fee is charged if you buy the device in an Apple store or directly from a carrier. Since Apple devices are more tightly controlled, it is more difficult to buy a device and then just swap the SIM as you need to go thru an authorized

    • Actually, the real bait-and-switch isn't this hidden $30, but the fact that "starting at $699" applies to the mini model. The iPhone 11's actual replacement jumped up in price by $130, for the unlocked model.

      Raising prices during pandemic-induced economic uncertainty seems like a dumb business decision, but you do you, Apple. They've got no shortage of cash to burn.

      • The pandemic feels like it's having a bit of an asymmetric economic effect. Some people are doing as well if not better than they were before the pandemic. Initially my wife took a 30% pay cut and I was outright worried my company would crumble, but come about May-June things had bounced back to normal for us; she even got back pay considering she wasn't furloughed and basically worked full time while they stopped production at her business. At this point it almost feels like we got raises, despite food

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      It is worse than that. Apple products are generally sold at one price. It is not especially legal but it what Apple does. So if a widget costs $99 it is that price everywhere. This is a break from that, requested by those who want Apple products but want a discount.

      The confusion is that most products are quoted at a SRP, which always requires an asterisk, because price fixing is not legal in the US. The is no law on what price needs to be quoted as long as it is a price that products are in fact sold. T

    • Quibbling over thirty bucks on a seven hundred dollar phone is only embarrassing for anyone trying to make it a major issue.

      Quibbling over *any price* is relevant if a company announces it at a price that a consumer can't buy it for.

  • For a second there I was expecting a story about multi-year multi-thousand dollar contracts. I guess that's old news. The fact that this particular bit of misleading advertising only represents $30 is almost quaint.

  • 1. No 120 Hz display. What is wrong with them? 3rd rate Chinese phones have 120 Hz displays in them now.
    2. The LIDAR in the Pro is OK, but not it's apparently the same as whats in the iPad, meaning it's not good enough to take 3D scans of objects which would make it cool.
    3. No under screen camera.
    4. No improvement in battery life

    Sorry but there was nothing compelling in it. I knew that when they ranted about the virtues of 5G for half of the presentation. Dude 5G has been out for over a year you fools.

  • Apple is full of dodgy claims, so why should pricing be any different.

  • iPhone 13 will be priced between $1399 and $1799, but for the sake of the environment it will be a virtual device. If you want a physical device, Apple will sell you one for only $1999.95 extra, and to compensate it will donate $0.95 out of its corporate accounts to a cause of its choosing.

  • Am I the only one wondering who pays $829 for a phone that will be out of date in a year?

    Android phones do the exact same job, with more freedom, for significantly less.

    • War = Peace
      Ignorance = Strength
      Google = Freedom

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by 1s44c ( 552956 )

        Are you saying that an iphone will grant you more freedom than an android phone?

        If so just say it without the 1984 reference obfuscation.

  • I think the new phones are nice, as one expects.
    I'm up to my ears in Apple stuff, but that doesn't make me blind.

    My gripe is this continuous growth in product options.
    Four (I think) phones, 2 + 5 colors, all those cases and a wallet for your case.
    All those iPads. Five? Six? models in colors. And the watch SKUs are just nuts.
    Is it choice or is it that they can't decide on any optimal feature set?

    When Jobs came back, he attacked that problem, and now it's worse than ever.
    With the NeXTies mostly gone and photo

    • On the other hand, why can't I get a red iPad Pro, a bright yellow Pencil, and day-glo orange Pods?

  • This is why Apple says, "starting at," or "as low as." It makes the statement technically true while sounding as low as possible. It's pretty common practice for all companies now. This isn't worthy of being a news article IMO.

  • ... hiding the real price of the iPhone 12.

    "... hiding the built-in discount on the iPhone 12."
    Fixed that for you.

    You really think people are going to complain they're handing-over less money at the check-out? Because it's a crime? Because it's wrong to demand less money from yuppie-minded consumers?

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