5 ms·

Once the upgrade fatigue hits and people are no longer subsidized for their cell phones, putting down $600+ or putting down $60 for serviceable phone would bec

by sremani 11y ago

Once the upgrade fatigue hits and people are no longer subsidized for their cell phones, putting down $600+ or putting down $60 for serviceable phone would become a no brainer. These phones have to become good enough and they are already getting there.

graeme 11y ago
How true is this for that 44% currently using iphones? Iphones stay good enough for at least 2-3 years, if you're not picky. $600/3 = $200. $17 per month, 0.56 cents per day. It's not nothing. But it is nothing compared to what the iphone class spends on, say, coffee. There is the one-off hit from paying the $600 all at once, but credit cards reduce that pain somewhat. Meanwhile, you're using the phone every day. If you have the money, you probably want a phone you really like, not one that is just good enough. Don't get me wrong, I think these new "good enough" phones are going to capture a large part of the market. I just am not sure it will be the iphone part. Past a certain income level, $540 savings for years of daily annoyance isn't really a compelling saving.
- IkmoIkmo 11y ago
  Agreed, that's kind of how I value my rMBP, or equivalent windows laptops around $1500. I'll use it for 4 years, sell it for 25% the price (this is sadly where windows loses some value that's often not justified, resell market for Apple is great, resell market for top (not crappy but top) windows hardware seems to really undervalue the remaining quality). Got my MBP for about €1400, aim to sell it for at least about €400 a few years down the road. That leaves a cost of about 20 euros per month. Then I look at the fact that as an independent developer I'm earning a few thousand a month and this device basically like 90% of my office. It means a device that costs $100 or $1000 or even $5000 doesn't really make a huge difference. It's like a writer's pencil costs $1 or $10 or $100, when it's a tiny percentage of his costs and a gigantic percentage of his usage. That having been said, whether a purchase is justified in and of its own ignores the fact whether it's justified vs other purchases. After all, spending money supremely is a game of opportunity cost. And here spending an additional $500 starts to break down, and now we'd have to weigh the marginal benefit. Does a MBP vs a MBA for say a web developer who has a career in SEO, or say CSS, add much? Often the answer would be no, and compared to say $500 on a year at the gym, a romantic weekend, charity, is hard to defend. And with cheap phones hitting the essentials more and more (messaging, calls, basic snapshots, directions, quick info, a game of poker, dating etc), I'm already personally getting disinterested with new iterations of phones. The latest giants' 6 versions (samsung, apple) did nothing for me in terms of purchasing desire, despite thinking they're awesome devices.
- norea-armozel 11y ago
  I have to agree. I owned a One Touch Idol 3 for a couple months and found it wasn't what I wanted. It was serviceable but it just didn't seem to be something that felt good to use when I did use it. Build quality is the only reason why I switched over to the iPhone (I think the software is horrible).
- JTon 11y ago
  > Past a certain income level, $540 savings for years of daily annoyance isn't really a compelling saving. I think the whole point of this discussion is we've reached a tipping point where the "low end" phones aren't annoying anymore. For many users, they're perfectly acceptable
  - graeme 11y ago
    Just a clarification: I meant annoying compared to what you know is possible. I've had an iphone 4 until recently. I used a moto e while traveling. I now have an iphone six. The moto e was great! It could do anything I want to do, and was very cheap. Meets all my needs. But....using the iphone six is simply a smoother experience on a number of factors. So while the cheaper phone meets my needs, the more expensive version is ultimately worth it, given the considerations I outlined in the original post. For a bunch of people who i. use their phones a lot, and ii. aren't THAT price sensitive, this will play out. Could apply to higher end android phones too. I run a business, so that increases the use of having a smooth operating phone. I manage some work stuff using it.
- cauthon 11y ago
  I'm still running an iPhone 4, it's slow but works fine. Five years old.
- steven777400 11y ago
  The interesting part of these trends is for people like me who aren't in the "iPhone class". It used to be my options for a phone I could justify paying for were: garbage, or garbage. Now I can actually have a usable phone that can do the things I want it do without "daily annoyance" (and I sure do know what daily annoyance from a phone is!). Yes, it's not magically perfect. A coworker made fun of me because I have to dial in to a talking computer to listen to voice mail, for example. But how often do most people get a voice mail anyways? I can text, pictures, email, web and use basic apps, which is all I really need or want to do on such a small screen anyways. So I'm very excited and happy with the improvements in the low-end phone line.
  - graeme 11y ago
    >So I'm very excited and happy with the improvements in the low-end phone line. Oh definitely. It's incredible the amount of fairly smooth functionality you can get for $100 now. If I HAD to use a moto G, say, I'd still be pretty content.

by sremani 11y ago

graeme 11y ago

How true is this for that 44% currently using iphones? Iphones stay good enough for at least 2-3 years, if you're not picky. $600/3 = $200. $17 per month, 0.56 cents per day. It's not nothing. But it is nothing compared to what the iphone class spends on, say, coffee. There is the one-off hit from paying the $600 all at once, but credit cards reduce that pain somewhat. Meanwhile, you're using the phone every day. If you have the money, you probably want a phone you really like, not one that is just good enough. Don't get me wrong, I think these new "good enough" phones are going to capture a large part of the market. I just am not sure it will be the iphone part. Past a certain income level, $540 savings for years of daily annoyance isn't really a compelling saving.

IkmoIkmo 11y ago
Agreed, that's kind of how I value my rMBP, or equivalent windows laptops around $1500. I'll use it for 4 years, sell it for 25% the price (this is sadly where windows loses some value that's often not justified, resell market for Apple is great, resell market for top (not crappy but top) windows hardware seems to really undervalue the remaining quality). Got my MBP for about €1400, aim to sell it for at least about €400 a few years down the road. That leaves a cost of about 20 euros per month. Then I look at the fact that as an independent developer I'm earning a few thousand a month and this device basically like 90% of my office. It means a device that costs $100 or $1000 or even $5000 doesn't really make a huge difference. It's like a writer's pencil costs $1 or $10 or $100, when it's a tiny percentage of his costs and a gigantic percentage of his usage. That having been said, whether a purchase is justified in and of its own ignores the fact whether it's justified vs other purchases. After all, spending money supremely is a game of opportunity cost. And here spending an additional $500 starts to break down, and now we'd have to weigh the marginal benefit. Does a MBP vs a MBA for say a web developer who has a career in SEO, or say CSS, add much? Often the answer would be no, and compared to say $500 on a year at the gym, a romantic weekend, charity, is hard to defend. And with cheap phones hitting the essentials more and more (messaging, calls, basic snapshots, directions, quick info, a game of poker, dating etc), I'm already personally getting disinterested with new iterations of phones. The latest giants' 6 versions (samsung, apple) did nothing for me in terms of purchasing desire, despite thinking they're awesome devices.
norea-armozel 11y ago
I have to agree. I owned a One Touch Idol 3 for a couple months and found it wasn't what I wanted. It was serviceable but it just didn't seem to be something that felt good to use when I did use it. Build quality is the only reason why I switched over to the iPhone (I think the software is horrible).
JTon 11y ago
> Past a certain income level, $540 savings for years of daily annoyance isn't really a compelling saving. I think the whole point of this discussion is we've reached a tipping point where the "low end" phones aren't annoying anymore. For many users, they're perfectly acceptable
- graeme 11y ago
  Just a clarification: I meant annoying compared to what you know is possible. I've had an iphone 4 until recently. I used a moto e while traveling. I now have an iphone six. The moto e was great! It could do anything I want to do, and was very cheap. Meets all my needs. But....using the iphone six is simply a smoother experience on a number of factors. So while the cheaper phone meets my needs, the more expensive version is ultimately worth it, given the considerations I outlined in the original post. For a bunch of people who i. use their phones a lot, and ii. aren't THAT price sensitive, this will play out. Could apply to higher end android phones too. I run a business, so that increases the use of having a smooth operating phone. I manage some work stuff using it.
cauthon 11y ago
I'm still running an iPhone 4, it's slow but works fine. Five years old.
steven777400 11y ago
The interesting part of these trends is for people like me who aren't in the "iPhone class". It used to be my options for a phone I could justify paying for were: garbage, or garbage. Now I can actually have a usable phone that can do the things I want it do without "daily annoyance" (and I sure do know what daily annoyance from a phone is!). Yes, it's not magically perfect. A coworker made fun of me because I have to dial in to a talking computer to listen to voice mail, for example. But how often do most people get a voice mail anyways? I can text, pictures, email, web and use basic apps, which is all I really need or want to do on such a small screen anyways. So I'm very excited and happy with the improvements in the low-end phone line.
- graeme 11y ago
  >So I'm very excited and happy with the improvements in the low-end phone line. Oh definitely. It's incredible the amount of fairly smooth functionality you can get for $100 now. If I HAD to use a moto G, say, I'd still be pretty content.