5 ms·

It doesn't necessarily need to be a fashion accessory to justify that price. You're not just getting aesthetics for the money, you're getting performance, batte

by jrs95 9y ago

It doesn't necessarily need to be a fashion accessory to justify that price. You're not just getting aesthetics for the money, you're getting performance, battery life, display quality, etc. I'm using my phone a lot on a daily basis, so it's worth paying a bit more to get the best available. There's nothing functionally different about a $2000 purse. Besides, comparing iPhones to purses is basically the same sort of cringe-y argument some Android users have been making for a long time. "iPhones are for basic white girls". What's next, are we going to say the iPhone is the Pumpkin Spice Latte of smartphones?

user5994461 9y ago
A purse can last a lifetime, if not lost or stolen. An iPhone will be unusable within 5 years no matter what.
- logicallee 9y ago
  >An iPhone will be unusable within 5 years no matter what. your comment makes a lot more sense if you substitute "50 years". This is what a 50 year old LV suitcase looks like: https://i.pinimg.com/236x/1d/cf/2e/1dcf2e4b6dc46d851095f477b19eefc2--louis-vuitton-suitcase-authentic-louis-vuitton.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/236x/1d/cf/2e/1dcf2e4b6dc46d851095f477b... This is what a 2012 iPhone looks like: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_5 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_5 they're about equally useable today (2017/early 2018). After 50 years, though, the iPhone would be a joke. (unusable.) I think the iPhone 5 isn't even close to "unusable" after 5 years.
  - HugoDaniel 9y ago
    quite the pedantic answer. lets interpret "within 5 years" as < 6 years (give or take): Now pick an IPhone 4 and good luck with installing/updating anything in ios 7.
    - logicallee 9y ago
      The millions of people using iPhone 4's and the price of same on used market show they're far from "unusable." For a non-durable consumer good, the difference between 5 and 8 years (i.e. 1.6x useable lifetime) is hardly "pedantic". Would you say there isn't much difference between a 15 and 24 year mortgage in terms of length of commitment? A phone might be the second largest personal investment many lower-income people make in any object, and it matters at what point it becomes literally unusable.
      - user5994461 9y ago
        They are unusable or will be very soon. Old applications refuse to start, the vendor blocks the old version or retired the remote API. New applications don't support older phones, they can't be installed. Batteries die. Screens are broken. Spare parts stop being available after a while. A phone has a life expectancy around 5 years, top.
        logicallee 9y ago
        I don't dispute anything you've said. We'e just going to have to different definitions of 'unusable, no matter what'.
      - CRConrad 9y ago
        No, in the context of real luxury goods, that's still not significant: Compared to a thirty-year-old purse, a seventy-year-old watch, or a three-hundred-year-old piece of jewellery, there is no difference between a five- or an eight-year lifespan of a phone: They're both "flimsy shit; here today, gone tomorrow" in that perspective. Also, a phone will hardly ever be _the_ "second largest personal investment many lower-income people make in any object" -- given how ephemeral the phone's service life is, if those people live past thirty or so, it'll have to be one of several successive such investments. Which is precisely the point: If phones weren't such flimsy pieces of crap, it might be. (Oops, sorry, seems I'm full-on channelling Pirsig here...) But no, BTW, actually I don't see all that much of a difference between a 15-yr mortgage and a 24-yr one. If you get to live your Biblically allotted three-score-and-ten (or more), then they're both "a substantial chunk" of your life. Depending on how a lot of other shit goes -- do you win the lottery, get cancer, have one kid or six...? -- one could be better, or the other. The difference in runtime isn't all that significant. Same thing, only in reverse, with your phone lifetimes: Five years isn't all that different from eight, in that both are rather equally IN-significant chunks of your life.
- patrickaljord 9y ago
  > A purse can last a lifetime, People who spend more than $2k on a purse rarely use it for more than a season, sometimes just for a night.
  - user5994461 9y ago
    My last tinder dates would disagree with that, but they're just normal middle class women. The amount of people renewing luxury bags as fast as you say is very tiny.
    - patrickaljord 9y ago
      Ok, it depends where you live I guess. In some countries only the super rich can afford $2k bags and in this case they don't use them for long. I very much doubt your tinder date will keep using it for a lifetime though.
      - user5994461 9y ago
        The bag already outlasted her last iPhone. It will surely last a few more. I come from a small city in France, it's not uncommon to see poor children [of struggling parents receiving social benefits] having iPhones or $500 shoes. That's in the order of a month rent. I am in London now. Women could live in a dumpster with flatmates and save enough to buy a new bag every month. People have different priorities I guess. Note that $2k is on the high side. You can get luxury brands for much less than that.
- jrs95 9y ago
  And a paperweight will last hundreds if not thousands of years! This isn’t really relevant. An iPhone is a computer. It does a lot of things, and the technology is improving rapidly. A purse is basically just a type of bag. They don’t store more and more stuff every year.
  - bsaul 9y ago
    On the contrary, luxury items are very often associated with « lifetime » usage. A pair of luxury shoes will last 20 years if taken care of properly, a swiss mechanical watch can be repaired 50 years after it’s been bought and transmitted from generation to generation. A jewelry is transmitted from mother to daughter, etc etc. You can’t pretend something to be a luxury item if it’s completely obsolete after a few years. Luxury isn’t purely marketing or aesthetic.
make3 9y ago
I hope you aren't claiming there is anything from a utility perspective that would make the iPhone X a rational purchase, aside from the appearance of wealth which can be utility depending on which business you're in. otherwise there is simply none, let's please cut the bullshit here. well all in all, the premium is purely for the fashion/wealth thing
- matthewmacleod 9y ago
  Recently bought one myself, and it’s the best phone I’ve ever had. I have zero interest in having a status symbol, but for a nicer screen, camera etc. it’s worth the premium over the other models for me. You should be a bit more open-minded and realise that it’s not the case that everyone who makes a different assessment of value from you is merely status-seeking.

by jrs95 9y ago

user5994461 9y ago

A purse can last a lifetime, if not lost or stolen. An iPhone will be unusable within 5 years no matter what.

logicallee 9y ago
>An iPhone will be unusable within 5 years no matter what. your comment makes a lot more sense if you substitute "50 years". This is what a 50 year old LV suitcase looks like: https://i.pinimg.com/236x/1d/cf/2e/1dcf2e4b6dc46d851095f477b19eefc2--louis-vuitton-suitcase-authentic-louis-vuitton.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/236x/1d/cf/2e/1dcf2e4b6dc46d851095f477b... This is what a 2012 iPhone looks like: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_5 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_5 they're about equally useable today (2017/early 2018). After 50 years, though, the iPhone would be a joke. (unusable.) I think the iPhone 5 isn't even close to "unusable" after 5 years.
- HugoDaniel 9y ago
  quite the pedantic answer. lets interpret "within 5 years" as < 6 years (give or take): Now pick an IPhone 4 and good luck with installing/updating anything in ios 7.
  - logicallee 9y ago
    The millions of people using iPhone 4's and the price of same on used market show they're far from "unusable." For a non-durable consumer good, the difference between 5 and 8 years (i.e. 1.6x useable lifetime) is hardly "pedantic". Would you say there isn't much difference between a 15 and 24 year mortgage in terms of length of commitment? A phone might be the second largest personal investment many lower-income people make in any object, and it matters at what point it becomes literally unusable.
    - user5994461 9y ago
      They are unusable or will be very soon. Old applications refuse to start, the vendor blocks the old version or retired the remote API. New applications don't support older phones, they can't be installed. Batteries die. Screens are broken. Spare parts stop being available after a while. A phone has a life expectancy around 5 years, top.
      - logicallee 9y ago
        I don't dispute anything you've said. We'e just going to have to different definitions of 'unusable, no matter what'.
    - CRConrad 9y ago
      No, in the context of real luxury goods, that's still not significant: Compared to a thirty-year-old purse, a seventy-year-old watch, or a three-hundred-year-old piece of jewellery, there is no difference between a five- or an eight-year lifespan of a phone: They're both "flimsy shit; here today, gone tomorrow" in that perspective. Also, a phone will hardly ever be _the_ "second largest personal investment many lower-income people make in any object" -- given how ephemeral the phone's service life is, if those people live past thirty or so, it'll have to be one of several successive such investments. Which is precisely the point: If phones weren't such flimsy pieces of crap, it might be. (Oops, sorry, seems I'm full-on channelling Pirsig here...) But no, BTW, actually I don't see all that much of a difference between a 15-yr mortgage and a 24-yr one. If you get to live your Biblically allotted three-score-and-ten (or more), then they're both "a substantial chunk" of your life. Depending on how a lot of other shit goes -- do you win the lottery, get cancer, have one kid or six...? -- one could be better, or the other. The difference in runtime isn't all that significant. Same thing, only in reverse, with your phone lifetimes: Five years isn't all that different from eight, in that both are rather equally IN-significant chunks of your life.
patrickaljord 9y ago
> A purse can last a lifetime, People who spend more than $2k on a purse rarely use it for more than a season, sometimes just for a night.
- user5994461 9y ago
  My last tinder dates would disagree with that, but they're just normal middle class women. The amount of people renewing luxury bags as fast as you say is very tiny.
  - patrickaljord 9y ago
    Ok, it depends where you live I guess. In some countries only the super rich can afford $2k bags and in this case they don't use them for long. I very much doubt your tinder date will keep using it for a lifetime though.
    - user5994461 9y ago
      The bag already outlasted her last iPhone. It will surely last a few more. I come from a small city in France, it's not uncommon to see poor children [of struggling parents receiving social benefits] having iPhones or $500 shoes. That's in the order of a month rent. I am in London now. Women could live in a dumpster with flatmates and save enough to buy a new bag every month. People have different priorities I guess. Note that $2k is on the high side. You can get luxury brands for much less than that.
jrs95 9y ago
And a paperweight will last hundreds if not thousands of years! This isn’t really relevant. An iPhone is a computer. It does a lot of things, and the technology is improving rapidly. A purse is basically just a type of bag. They don’t store more and more stuff every year.
- bsaul 9y ago
  On the contrary, luxury items are very often associated with « lifetime » usage. A pair of luxury shoes will last 20 years if taken care of properly, a swiss mechanical watch can be repaired 50 years after it’s been bought and transmitted from generation to generation. A jewelry is transmitted from mother to daughter, etc etc. You can’t pretend something to be a luxury item if it’s completely obsolete after a few years. Luxury isn’t purely marketing or aesthetic.

make3 9y ago

I hope you aren't claiming there is anything from a utility perspective that would make the iPhone X a rational purchase, aside from the appearance of wealth which can be utility depending on which business you're in. otherwise there is simply none, let's please cut the bullshit here. well all in all, the premium is purely for the fashion/wealth thing

matthewmacleod 9y ago
Recently bought one myself, and it’s the best phone I’ve ever had. I have zero interest in having a status symbol, but for a nicer screen, camera etc. it’s worth the premium over the other models for me. You should be a bit more open-minded and realise that it’s not the case that everyone who makes a different assessment of value from you is merely status-seeking.