13 ms·

Not excusing the price, but people these days spend multiple hours a day on their phones. Phones are as important as cars for example. How high prices can go ?

Not excusing the price, but people these days spend multiple hours a day on their phones. Phones are as important as cars for example. How high prices can go ? Even higher imo People are ready to pay for expensive cars for a better experience and higher "social standing". Phones are not that different in this regard

Malician 9y ago
Agree. People will spend $1000 (or more) for relatively minor features on their cars. A phone is with you 24/7 - it's less like a tool, or even a digital assistant, and more like a cybernetic implant. The amazing thing isn't that phones cost so much but that competition is such that you can get an excellent product with top-of-the-line CPU, radio, RAM, screen, everything for $1,000 instead of $100,000 or $1,000,000.
- sho 9y ago
  > competition is such that you can get an excellent product [..] for $1,000 The really interesting part is that for ~$1000 you get the best product available at any price. That's the magic of economies of scale in consumer markets, especially technology. It's so incredibly expensive and largely fruitless to step out of the economy of scale, that practically speaking no-one does it. I don't have a yacht like Paul Allen, I bet my house isn't as nice as Bill Gates' and my bank account looks nothing like Zuckerberg's. But it's quite possible I have the same phone!
  - jkaptur 9y ago
    Andy Warhol: "What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it."
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - vacri 9y ago
      This is different to soft drinks in other countries... how? Change the drink to whiskey, another popular one, and you can be sure that there's a difference between what the American rich and poor drink. > no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good And coke is not the same everywhere either. My guess is that the prez isn't going to be drinking much watery post-mix coke with his meals. Similarly, coke in glass bottles is nicer than post-mix coke, and it's more expensive. 'Regular' cokes are in-between. And, for the US with its HFCS coke, you can import the much better-tasting sucrose-coke, which is more expensive to obtain if you're importing it yourself (although a lot of places on the Mexican border already have it).
      - njarboe 9y ago
        You can buy Mexican cokes now in California Safeway's and Lucky's supermarkets.
        squeaky-clean 9y ago
        They're common even in South Florida convenience stores. Not every single one, but maybe 25% of stores.
      - adventured 9y ago
        > This is different to soft drinks in other countries... how? The US - along with a select few nations - was a pioneer when it comes to mass-consumer economics that leverage a relatively free market to deliver high quality goods to both rich and poor. It required a dramatic leap in productivity, manufacturing output, to get the scale necessary to drive prices down to such an extent. Ford's Model T was arguably the earliest, best example of that. Over eight years post introduction it went from $850 (6k unit sales) to $360 (577k unit sales), eventually bottoming out under $300 (and incomes climbed substantially over that ~16 year total period). Whether we're talking mass production soda, or cars, or radios, or kitchen appliances, the US was particularly a global pioneer at it from ~1880-1980. > And, for the US with its HFCS coke, you can import the much better-tasting sucrose-coke To be fair, that's a Warhol quote from 1975. At the time he said it, Coke was still using sugar in the US market. It was 1984 when Coke and Pepsi announced plans to switch to HFCS.
  - jeeyoungk 9y ago
    Great thing about America is that no matter how rich or poor you are, you drink the same coke - Andy Warhol.
    - mo11 9y ago
      This is a better quote about America's consumer culture - What was the nature of MTV? For me it was insatiable desire. Thats the very nature of Americans. We want what we don't have. One of the characteristics of American consumers in the early 80's was Shop till you drop. "I want it. I don't know what it is but I want it." - Dale Pon, Advertising exec part of the MTV launch campaign in Aug 1981
  - robin_reala 9y ago
    For example, look at the now defunct Vertu. All the titanium and ostrich skin in the world wouldn’t let them sell a better OS.
    - dagw 9y ago
      For what it's worth Vertu is still around (www.vertu.com) and still selling phones to a certain clientele at places like Harrods and Dubai Airport. And with Android 6, Snapdragon 820, a 534ppi screen and a 3200mAh battery, they can at least hold their own against your average android phone.
      - steve19 9y ago
        Note he said OS. As far as I understand the android fork on those phones is awful. Also the hardware is always a generation behind.
        dagw 9y ago
        As far as I understand the android fork on those phones is awful. According to this review: https://www.androidcentral.com/vertu-constellation https://www.androidcentral.com/vertu-constellation it's pretty close to stock android these days with a slightly customized launcher and a few minor tweaks like "Where a typical phone might offer only a few options for title — Mister, Miss, Doctor — Vertu Accounts offer a laundry list of titles, ranging from King and Queen to Sheikh and Lord and His Excellency" Also the hardware is always a generation behind. Hey they're improving. They used to be at least three generations behind.
      - robin_reala 9y ago
        Ah, OK, I’d assumed that as they shut their manufacturing facilities and went bankrupt they’d closed their concessions as well: https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/13/15963656/vertu-luxury-phone-manufacturing-bankrupt https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/13/15963656/vertu-luxury-pho...
  - bambax 9y ago
    I wonder what phone Bill Gates uses nowadays!?! He said many times he's very loyal to MS but they have all but stopped making phones, so every choice left is a bad one...
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - monsieurbanana 9y ago
      If I was as rich as Bill Gates I wouldn't have a smartphone. I would have a secretary follow me everywhere and she would be the one to use her phone. Just kidding. I'd have an android and a squad of engineers to set it up exactly like I want.
    - neogodless 9y ago
      If I had to go back to Windows phone, I'd use a Lumia 950/XL or an HP Elite x3. The main things I'd give up would be first party Google apps and neat apps like my D&D companion. I'd be giving up SnapChat, but I rarely use it. Not sure if Bill Gates is big into that one! Honestly for a professional, a Windows Phone would probably work just fine. But you give up big players in social, most banking apps and a vast library of entertainment. Fortunately for some, you can bank on your computer, and distractions on your phone are not desired.
  - imron 9y ago
    > But it's quite possible I have the same phone! Maybe, maybe not: https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/vertu-for-bentley-smartphone-news/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/vertu-for-bentley-smart...
- StudentStuff 9y ago
  Or, for $50 you can get a phone with a midrange chipset that will be nearly as fast as any of the top tier phones out there. The slightly used phone market has really broadened access to cellphones quite a bit.
jayd16 9y ago
As an Android dev, I see the total opposite sentiment. Most new phones are pretty damn good, even the mid range. I assume things will go the same way as the PC. Cheaper hardware for most, Apple still holding onto a niche in the market.
- ihateneckbeards 9y ago
  Mid range cars can also drive pretty much like top of the range cars, they share most features yet people like high end cars.
  - cm2187 9y ago
    There is a noticeable difference in experience between a mercedes and a ford. I am not convinced there is a noticeable difference between an i5 and i7 unless you are doing something super demanding.
    - mi100hael 9y ago
      Yeah, the Ford drives better :P http://www.motortrend.com/cars/mclaren/570/2016/2016-motor-trend-best-drivers-car/ http://www.motortrend.com/cars/mclaren/570/2016/2016-motor-t...
  - lagadu 9y ago
    That's just not true in any possible way. The handling and driving experience of a nicer sports car is absolutely nothing like a regular midranger, not to mention all the quality of life features.
    - mi100hael 9y ago
      I think it's truer these days than most of us would admit. The current Shelby Mustang placed only behind the McLaren 570S in Motortrend's 2016 best driver's car contest, beating out the Merc, Aston Martin, Porsche, and others[0]. The BRZ might not be fast, but it has almost universally positive reviews anyway because it handles and drives so damn well[1]. Even the $23k Ford Focus ST gets positive reviews as a great driving car[2]. You can get a fantastic sports car for well under $75k these days. 0: http://www.motortrend.com/cars/mclaren/570/2016/2016-motor-trend-best-drivers-car/ http://www.motortrend.com/cars/mclaren/570/2016/2016-motor-t... 1: https://jalopnik.com/what-nobody-understands-about-the-subaru-brz-1698728189 https://jalopnik.com/what-nobody-understands-about-the-subar... 2: http://www.automobilemag.com/news/2016-ford-focus-st-one-week-review-roadtest/ http://www.automobilemag.com/news/2016-ford-focus-st-one-wee...
avenoir 9y ago
We carry these things on our bodies damn near most of the day. We use them in our down time to read books and news. To communicate with others and consume information in a matter of seconds. To remind ourselves of things occurring throughout the day. To keep track of grocery lists, diets, fitness activities, sleep cycles and etc. It's basically the first fully functional extension of our body. So, absolutely... why the hell not pay more? It's almost like paying slightly more for a bionic arm that will get you a little closer to truly experiencing the sense of touch you've been missing for years.
- alacombe 9y ago
  why not pay more ? 1) A CAN$100 phone gives you 75% of the experience, a CAN$250 gives your 95% of the experience 2) Android doesn't lock you to use a single app depot 3) Android doesn't require 2 or 3 login / password (iCloud + iTunes) 4) Android accounts work worldwide, it doesn't fail to log you in if you change countries (I had to re-create an AppleID when I moved to Canada because the US one no longer worked) 5) You don't have to use an extra step when migrating, just log-in et voila ! (ie. not iTunes shenanigans) 6) generally poor software full of UI glitches 7) No pressure sensitive touch-ID which fails to work with aging users (try to explain the concept to a +80 yo). 8) I can still use my $2 earplugs without an adapter 9) Android does not care what OS you use on your main desktop 10) MULTIPLE SIM ! Dual SIM phone is pretty much getting standard. I wish there was triple or quadruple SIM phones 11) External storage 12) Removable batteries etc.
  - jonknee 9y ago
    On the other hand, receiving timely security updates is nice. To me, saving a few bucks isn't worth using an unpatched phone.
  - taway_1212 9y ago
    > No pressure sensitive touch-ID which fails to work with aging users (try to explain the concept to a +80 yo). It can just be disabled in the phone settings.
    - 9y ago
cm2187 9y ago
Yeah but there was a big jump in performance / new features between early iphone generations. Nowadays the difference is really marginal for every day use. You are only going to take better photos in marginal low light conditions, if you even take lots of photos, everything else will be pretty much the same experience. I'd argue that we are even in removal of features mode (audio jack, touch id) which is putting off people like me who normally wouldn't mind a high price tag for a smartphone. There are enough apple fans out there to buy any piece of plastic that apple will sell at the price of gold. But for a wider wealthy and techie audience, I think the value added of spending more on an iphone is becoming hard to justify.
- StudentStuff 9y ago
  Its surprising how good a used, $50 phone is today. You can get something on par with a Note 3 or Note 4 from LG and get two solid years of use out of it, perhaps more with ROMs. This is part of why I stopped buying the latest flagship, just didn't make sense for me to worry so much when I could avoid that entirely, and get 98% of the same performance and features.
  - disiplus 9y ago
    im still rocking my nexus6 because i dont see a reason to upgrade. before that i was rocking note line from samsung. the only thing that im missing in comparasion with current phones is camera.
    - saagarjha 9y ago
      Nexus 6 isn’t even 3 years old. Many people keep phones that long.
      - disiplus 9y ago
        that was not the point, the point was that the phones crossed some threshold in performance/features where cheap phones are good enough or flagships from 3 years ago, that you do not get that much more from current flagship vs older ones/cheap phone in comparison to some years ago
yodsanklai 9y ago
> Not excusing the price, but people these days spend multiple hours a day on their phones That's my reasoning when I buy a new computer. I can buy a MBP for $2000, use it for 3 years and sell it used for $1000. $30 a month is a bargain considering I use it between 5-10 hours a day. I may pay a mac a little more (20%?) than the competition but it's worth it considering it's subjectively better (and objectively different, Mac OS / design / size -- arguably less and less so). However, I'd never buy an iphone (or an expensive smartphone). Iphone users may disagree, but for what I've seen they provide almost the same experience as much cheaper phones (typically two times cheaper). Another issue I have with the price is that I don't feel confortable walking around with such a small expensive item. So easy to lose it or forget it.
- StudentStuff 9y ago
  Much of this logic is why I stopped buying new computers or phones. I'd rather use a $70 T440 that I've upgraded and know how to repair most everything on than haul a MBP that I'll need to get a pro to service, that also happens to have terrible ventilation. I mean, my last MBP literally cooked itself, comparatively this T440 has a giant grill that it rapidly removes heat through (though its 15w i5 doesn't make much).
  - pilsetnieks 9y ago
    You make it sound like the MBP is a weighty piece of burden compared to a dainty T440 (use a T440 vs. haul a MBP.) And the part about cooking itself sounds like a manufacturing defect for which you should have gotten a replacement - in normal conditions it should just shut down, if temperatures get high enough that ventilation and throttling don't help.
    - StudentStuff 9y ago
      My old MBP is heavier than my T440 by half a pound. I also never said that it shut itself down, just that it was consistently uncomfortably hot to be using, and I couldn't imagine attempting to use it to run a bunch of VMs like I use my T440 for. I'm happy to have sold that MBP and put Apple far behind me, with the inflatable battery and high temps, it was on par with the $20 x100e I picked up last year (though that x100e was much lighter/smaller).
funnelsgun 9y ago
I must be the exception here as I spend no more than an hour on my iPhone (6s) each day. I use Apple Music, WhatsApp, and the camera. However, WhatsApp is available on Android and the camera on the iPhone 6s still doesn't even come close to that of an SLR so I tend to use that and keep the iPhone in my pocket. When I take photos, I have gone out with the intention of taking photos, so there is no convenience factor of an iPhone for me. However, I also love cars. You can take them out for fun on a weekend, show them off and talk to other owners at meets, drive them on tracks all over the world, and, if you made sensible choices, have the depreciation of an iPhone make a car look like an investment. Meanwhile, everyone and their mother has an iPhone - there is no novelty to owning one. Thus, until I start getting more out of an iPhone, I can't help but think how a Moto G and an extra $800 in pocket to spend on something else would give me so much more pleasure than the next iPhone.
- remir 9y ago
  Give me a $300-$400 Android phone with support for Project Treble and an unlocked bootloader and we're talking. I'll put LineageOS on it: regular security updates, yearly OS updates and no crapware!
spike021 9y ago
Even then, there will always be lower-tier iPhones and lower-tier "other" devices that will be cheaper and work just fine for most people, just like most people only need a Corolla, Camry, Civic, etc. for their daily car needs and not necessarily the newest BMW 3 or 5 series, etc.
pcurve 9y ago
Apple and other computer makers have tried the social standing thing too with their products, but thye have always failed. It only works up until certain point. I do think that there are markets for $2,000, $3,000, $4,000 iphone, but they must provide functional enhancements over $1,000 model, be it insanely good camera, insanely good display, 1TB storage, or 50% more battery life in same form factor. With computers and devices, it's more about practical utility. So why doesn't Apple do this? Because the market for $2-$5,000 phone is too small, and given Apple's reliance on parts maker, they can only have so much competitive edge. (i.e. if they can do it, then so can Android)

Malician 9y ago

Agree. People will spend $1000 (or more) for relatively minor features on their cars. A phone is with you 24/7 - it's less like a tool, or even a digital assistant, and more like a cybernetic implant. The amazing thing isn't that phones cost so much but that competition is such that you can get an excellent product with top-of-the-line CPU, radio, RAM, screen, everything for $1,000 instead of $100,000 or $1,000,000.

sho 9y ago
> competition is such that you can get an excellent product [..] for $1,000 The really interesting part is that for ~$1000 you get the best product available at any price. That's the magic of economies of scale in consumer markets, especially technology. It's so incredibly expensive and largely fruitless to step out of the economy of scale, that practically speaking no-one does it. I don't have a yacht like Paul Allen, I bet my house isn't as nice as Bill Gates' and my bank account looks nothing like Zuckerberg's. But it's quite possible I have the same phone!
- jkaptur 9y ago
  Andy Warhol: "What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it."
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - vacri 9y ago
    This is different to soft drinks in other countries... how? Change the drink to whiskey, another popular one, and you can be sure that there's a difference between what the American rich and poor drink. > no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good And coke is not the same everywhere either. My guess is that the prez isn't going to be drinking much watery post-mix coke with his meals. Similarly, coke in glass bottles is nicer than post-mix coke, and it's more expensive. 'Regular' cokes are in-between. And, for the US with its HFCS coke, you can import the much better-tasting sucrose-coke, which is more expensive to obtain if you're importing it yourself (although a lot of places on the Mexican border already have it).
    - njarboe 9y ago
      You can buy Mexican cokes now in California Safeway's and Lucky's supermarkets.
      - squeaky-clean 9y ago
        They're common even in South Florida convenience stores. Not every single one, but maybe 25% of stores.
    - adventured 9y ago
      > This is different to soft drinks in other countries... how? The US - along with a select few nations - was a pioneer when it comes to mass-consumer economics that leverage a relatively free market to deliver high quality goods to both rich and poor. It required a dramatic leap in productivity, manufacturing output, to get the scale necessary to drive prices down to such an extent. Ford's Model T was arguably the earliest, best example of that. Over eight years post introduction it went from $850 (6k unit sales) to $360 (577k unit sales), eventually bottoming out under $300 (and incomes climbed substantially over that ~16 year total period). Whether we're talking mass production soda, or cars, or radios, or kitchen appliances, the US was particularly a global pioneer at it from ~1880-1980. > And, for the US with its HFCS coke, you can import the much better-tasting sucrose-coke To be fair, that's a Warhol quote from 1975. At the time he said it, Coke was still using sugar in the US market. It was 1984 when Coke and Pepsi announced plans to switch to HFCS.
- jeeyoungk 9y ago
  Great thing about America is that no matter how rich or poor you are, you drink the same coke - Andy Warhol.
  - mo11 9y ago
    This is a better quote about America's consumer culture - What was the nature of MTV? For me it was insatiable desire. Thats the very nature of Americans. We want what we don't have. One of the characteristics of American consumers in the early 80's was Shop till you drop. "I want it. I don't know what it is but I want it." - Dale Pon, Advertising exec part of the MTV launch campaign in Aug 1981
- robin_reala 9y ago
  For example, look at the now defunct Vertu. All the titanium and ostrich skin in the world wouldn’t let them sell a better OS.
  - dagw 9y ago
    For what it's worth Vertu is still around (www.vertu.com) and still selling phones to a certain clientele at places like Harrods and Dubai Airport. And with Android 6, Snapdragon 820, a 534ppi screen and a 3200mAh battery, they can at least hold their own against your average android phone.
    - steve19 9y ago
      Note he said OS. As far as I understand the android fork on those phones is awful. Also the hardware is always a generation behind.
      - dagw 9y ago
        As far as I understand the android fork on those phones is awful. According to this review: https://www.androidcentral.com/vertu-constellation https://www.androidcentral.com/vertu-constellation it's pretty close to stock android these days with a slightly customized launcher and a few minor tweaks like "Where a typical phone might offer only a few options for title — Mister, Miss, Doctor — Vertu Accounts offer a laundry list of titles, ranging from King and Queen to Sheikh and Lord and His Excellency" Also the hardware is always a generation behind. Hey they're improving. They used to be at least three generations behind.
    - robin_reala 9y ago
      Ah, OK, I’d assumed that as they shut their manufacturing facilities and went bankrupt they’d closed their concessions as well: https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/13/15963656/vertu-luxury-phone-manufacturing-bankrupt https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/13/15963656/vertu-luxury-pho...
- bambax 9y ago
  I wonder what phone Bill Gates uses nowadays!?! He said many times he's very loyal to MS but they have all but stopped making phones, so every choice left is a bad one...
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - monsieurbanana 9y ago
    If I was as rich as Bill Gates I wouldn't have a smartphone. I would have a secretary follow me everywhere and she would be the one to use her phone. Just kidding. I'd have an android and a squad of engineers to set it up exactly like I want.
  - neogodless 9y ago
    If I had to go back to Windows phone, I'd use a Lumia 950/XL or an HP Elite x3. The main things I'd give up would be first party Google apps and neat apps like my D&D companion. I'd be giving up SnapChat, but I rarely use it. Not sure if Bill Gates is big into that one! Honestly for a professional, a Windows Phone would probably work just fine. But you give up big players in social, most banking apps and a vast library of entertainment. Fortunately for some, you can bank on your computer, and distractions on your phone are not desired.
- imron 9y ago
  > But it's quite possible I have the same phone! Maybe, maybe not: https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/vertu-for-bentley-smartphone-news/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/vertu-for-bentley-smart...
StudentStuff 9y ago
Or, for $50 you can get a phone with a midrange chipset that will be nearly as fast as any of the top tier phones out there. The slightly used phone market has really broadened access to cellphones quite a bit.

jayd16 9y ago

As an Android dev, I see the total opposite sentiment. Most new phones are pretty damn good, even the mid range. I assume things will go the same way as the PC. Cheaper hardware for most, Apple still holding onto a niche in the market.

ihateneckbeards 9y ago
Mid range cars can also drive pretty much like top of the range cars, they share most features yet people like high end cars.
- cm2187 9y ago
  There is a noticeable difference in experience between a mercedes and a ford. I am not convinced there is a noticeable difference between an i5 and i7 unless you are doing something super demanding.
  - mi100hael 9y ago
    Yeah, the Ford drives better :P http://www.motortrend.com/cars/mclaren/570/2016/2016-motor-trend-best-drivers-car/ http://www.motortrend.com/cars/mclaren/570/2016/2016-motor-t...
- lagadu 9y ago
  That's just not true in any possible way. The handling and driving experience of a nicer sports car is absolutely nothing like a regular midranger, not to mention all the quality of life features.
  - mi100hael 9y ago
    I think it's truer these days than most of us would admit. The current Shelby Mustang placed only behind the McLaren 570S in Motortrend's 2016 best driver's car contest, beating out the Merc, Aston Martin, Porsche, and others[0]. The BRZ might not be fast, but it has almost universally positive reviews anyway because it handles and drives so damn well[1]. Even the $23k Ford Focus ST gets positive reviews as a great driving car[2]. You can get a fantastic sports car for well under $75k these days. 0: http://www.motortrend.com/cars/mclaren/570/2016/2016-motor-trend-best-drivers-car/ http://www.motortrend.com/cars/mclaren/570/2016/2016-motor-t... 1: https://jalopnik.com/what-nobody-understands-about-the-subaru-brz-1698728189 https://jalopnik.com/what-nobody-understands-about-the-subar... 2: http://www.automobilemag.com/news/2016-ford-focus-st-one-week-review-roadtest/ http://www.automobilemag.com/news/2016-ford-focus-st-one-wee...

avenoir 9y ago

We carry these things on our bodies damn near most of the day. We use them in our down time to read books and news. To communicate with others and consume information in a matter of seconds. To remind ourselves of things occurring throughout the day. To keep track of grocery lists, diets, fitness activities, sleep cycles and etc. It's basically the first fully functional extension of our body. So, absolutely... why the hell not pay more? It's almost like paying slightly more for a bionic arm that will get you a little closer to truly experiencing the sense of touch you've been missing for years.

alacombe 9y ago
why not pay more ? 1) A CAN$100 phone gives you 75% of the experience, a CAN$250 gives your 95% of the experience 2) Android doesn't lock you to use a single app depot 3) Android doesn't require 2 or 3 login / password (iCloud + iTunes) 4) Android accounts work worldwide, it doesn't fail to log you in if you change countries (I had to re-create an AppleID when I moved to Canada because the US one no longer worked) 5) You don't have to use an extra step when migrating, just log-in et voila ! (ie. not iTunes shenanigans) 6) generally poor software full of UI glitches 7) No pressure sensitive touch-ID which fails to work with aging users (try to explain the concept to a +80 yo). 8) I can still use my $2 earplugs without an adapter 9) Android does not care what OS you use on your main desktop 10) MULTIPLE SIM ! Dual SIM phone is pretty much getting standard. I wish there was triple or quadruple SIM phones 11) External storage 12) Removable batteries etc.
- jonknee 9y ago
  On the other hand, receiving timely security updates is nice. To me, saving a few bucks isn't worth using an unpatched phone.
- taway_1212 9y ago
  > No pressure sensitive touch-ID which fails to work with aging users (try to explain the concept to a +80 yo). It can just be disabled in the phone settings.
  - 9y ago

cm2187 9y ago

Yeah but there was a big jump in performance / new features between early iphone generations. Nowadays the difference is really marginal for every day use. You are only going to take better photos in marginal low light conditions, if you even take lots of photos, everything else will be pretty much the same experience. I'd argue that we are even in removal of features mode (audio jack, touch id) which is putting off people like me who normally wouldn't mind a high price tag for a smartphone. There are enough apple fans out there to buy any piece of plastic that apple will sell at the price of gold. But for a wider wealthy and techie audience, I think the value added of spending more on an iphone is becoming hard to justify.

StudentStuff 9y ago
Its surprising how good a used, $50 phone is today. You can get something on par with a Note 3 or Note 4 from LG and get two solid years of use out of it, perhaps more with ROMs. This is part of why I stopped buying the latest flagship, just didn't make sense for me to worry so much when I could avoid that entirely, and get 98% of the same performance and features.
- disiplus 9y ago
  im still rocking my nexus6 because i dont see a reason to upgrade. before that i was rocking note line from samsung. the only thing that im missing in comparasion with current phones is camera.
  - saagarjha 9y ago
    Nexus 6 isn’t even 3 years old. Many people keep phones that long.
    - disiplus 9y ago
      that was not the point, the point was that the phones crossed some threshold in performance/features where cheap phones are good enough or flagships from 3 years ago, that you do not get that much more from current flagship vs older ones/cheap phone in comparison to some years ago

yodsanklai 9y ago

> Not excusing the price, but people these days spend multiple hours a day on their phones That's my reasoning when I buy a new computer. I can buy a MBP for $2000, use it for 3 years and sell it used for $1000. $30 a month is a bargain considering I use it between 5-10 hours a day. I may pay a mac a little more (20%?) than the competition but it's worth it considering it's subjectively better (and objectively different, Mac OS / design / size -- arguably less and less so). However, I'd never buy an iphone (or an expensive smartphone). Iphone users may disagree, but for what I've seen they provide almost the same experience as much cheaper phones (typically two times cheaper). Another issue I have with the price is that I don't feel confortable walking around with such a small expensive item. So easy to lose it or forget it.

StudentStuff 9y ago
Much of this logic is why I stopped buying new computers or phones. I'd rather use a $70 T440 that I've upgraded and know how to repair most everything on than haul a MBP that I'll need to get a pro to service, that also happens to have terrible ventilation. I mean, my last MBP literally cooked itself, comparatively this T440 has a giant grill that it rapidly removes heat through (though its 15w i5 doesn't make much).
- pilsetnieks 9y ago
  You make it sound like the MBP is a weighty piece of burden compared to a dainty T440 (use a T440 vs. haul a MBP.) And the part about cooking itself sounds like a manufacturing defect for which you should have gotten a replacement - in normal conditions it should just shut down, if temperatures get high enough that ventilation and throttling don't help.
  - StudentStuff 9y ago
    My old MBP is heavier than my T440 by half a pound. I also never said that it shut itself down, just that it was consistently uncomfortably hot to be using, and I couldn't imagine attempting to use it to run a bunch of VMs like I use my T440 for. I'm happy to have sold that MBP and put Apple far behind me, with the inflatable battery and high temps, it was on par with the $20 x100e I picked up last year (though that x100e was much lighter/smaller).

funnelsgun 9y ago

I must be the exception here as I spend no more than an hour on my iPhone (6s) each day. I use Apple Music, WhatsApp, and the camera. However, WhatsApp is available on Android and the camera on the iPhone 6s still doesn't even come close to that of an SLR so I tend to use that and keep the iPhone in my pocket. When I take photos, I have gone out with the intention of taking photos, so there is no convenience factor of an iPhone for me. However, I also love cars. You can take them out for fun on a weekend, show them off and talk to other owners at meets, drive them on tracks all over the world, and, if you made sensible choices, have the depreciation of an iPhone make a car look like an investment. Meanwhile, everyone and their mother has an iPhone - there is no novelty to owning one. Thus, until I start getting more out of an iPhone, I can't help but think how a Moto G and an extra $800 in pocket to spend on something else would give me so much more pleasure than the next iPhone.

remir 9y ago
Give me a $300-$400 Android phone with support for Project Treble and an unlocked bootloader and we're talking. I'll put LineageOS on it: regular security updates, yearly OS updates and no crapware!

spike021 9y ago

Even then, there will always be lower-tier iPhones and lower-tier "other" devices that will be cheaper and work just fine for most people, just like most people only need a Corolla, Camry, Civic, etc. for their daily car needs and not necessarily the newest BMW 3 or 5 series, etc.

pcurve 9y ago

Apple and other computer makers have tried the social standing thing too with their products, but thye have always failed. It only works up until certain point. I do think that there are markets for $2,000, $3,000, $4,000 iphone, but they must provide functional enhancements over $1,000 model, be it insanely good camera, insanely good display, 1TB storage, or 50% more battery life in same form factor. With computers and devices, it's more about practical utility. So why doesn't Apple do this? Because the market for $2-$5,000 phone is too small, and given Apple's reliance on parts maker, they can only have so much competitive edge. (i.e. if they can do it, then so can Android)