Retail stores are much more connected to their local communities, and more worried about individual customers. They also believe more in the old saw that for e

Retail stores are much more connected to their local communities, and more worried about individual customers. They also believe more in the old saw that for every 1 person who complains, there's 9 more who just walked away. And finally, there usually is real competition in place for any given retail store. Big global manufacturers don't really see that, and don't care. If people are going to continue to buy from them regardless, they have little incentive to listen to their petty concerns. While there is significant competition for the iPhone (called Android), Apple is extremely profitable, far more so than Android, and there doesn't seem to be any limit to how much Apple can squeeze its customers.