>They do own the phone, right? That's just a technicality. They own the phone but for Apple it's more like a subscription: people will buy apps from Apple's A

>They do own the phone, right? That's just a technicality. They own the phone but for Apple it's more like a subscription: people will buy apps from Apple's AppStore, buy accessories that need Apple's approval (and where Apple gets a cut) and after maximum 3 years upgrade to the next Apple piece of hardware. So the phone purchase isn't an atomic purchase, it's more like the first downpayment to "the Apple experience".