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""$700 or so every two years"" I don't think most people are doing that. They're buying much less costly phones. You can get a new, unlocked Nokia 6 (3GB/32G
by topspin 9y ago
""$700 or so every two years""
I don't think most people are doing that. They're buying much less costly phones. You can get a new, unlocked Nokia 6 (3GB/32GB LTE) with Android 7 from Amazon, Walmart and others for about $230. If you wish you can suffer lock screen ads and Amazon will sell it for $180. And they aren't replacing them every 24 months either.
I know the folks that frequent HN don't hesitate to spend $900-ish every 18 months, but this is not representative of most people.
When you get to $200 for something that lasts 3-4 years it approaches disposable. Most people will replace it rather than try to get it repaired. This isn't me advocating manufacturer's behavior. It's just the reality of the phone market; most people aren't going to care about this.
- digi_owl 9y agoThe price the customer sees, and the one they pay are two different things. In large part because of carrier subsidies. One thing i love about living where i do is that stores are mandated to list the total cost of the device once the contract duration have been accounted for. Quite often the sticker price would be as close to zero as they could get away with, but the total after contract is often 1.5x or higher than just paying for the device up front.
- topspin 9y agoThose aren't contract phones.
- devy 9y agoTo Ben's point, what you described here is exactly a hardware subscription business where average consumer shell out a few hundred bucks every few years. The amount may vary but it's still is a hardware subscription business.