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Also the smartphone one..EU should investigate on the higher prices, sometimes unjustified, of producers..see Apple, Samsung or LG. This race to and over the €1

Also the smartphone one..EU should investigate on the higher prices, sometimes unjustified, of producers..see Apple, Samsung or LG. This race to and over the €1000 barrier is really nonsense, considering that the companies are profiting

briandear 8y ago
Define “unjustified.” What does it cost to write iOS? Because in the case of Apple, you have the cost of the parts and assembly, but you also have the engineering costs to even create the product. A product price isn’t just the sum of parts + assembly + profit. Regarding €1000 — if a country like France wouldn’t have a 20% VAT, prices would be lower obviously. So perhaps we should “investigate” the 20% VAT? Maybe we should “investigate” the French labor laws that contribute to the cost of goods sold? There are a lot of things we “could” investigate — or we can just accept that companies will price their good appropriately based on the market demand. This isn’t like it’s an essential item required for basic life. Maybe we could investigate why France has strict milk quotas that necessarily increase the price of milk? Investigating milk prices has a lot more relevance to people than the pricing of a luxury item like a high end smartphone. To be clear, I am not suggesting we investigate anything, only pointing out the absurdity of complaining about smartphone pricing when the EU has plenty of other products that are subject to price manipulation based on political interests. The EU has had tariffs for decades on imports, making everything more expensive. But sure, let’s complain about Apple and Samsung while ignoring textiles, food, cars and machine parts all of which are subject to tariffs that raise prices.
- the_duke 8y ago
  I can't quite follow your thoughts there. You are wildly mixing together taxes, tariffs, production quotas, etc. Of course iPhones are ridiculously overpriced, and Apple has huge margins. But that's absolutely fine. There is plenty of competition in the smartphone space and people willing to bite the Apple are welcome to do so. PS, yes, the agriculture rules in the EU are sometimes crazy, but to a certain extent they do actually serve the purpose of guaranteeing local production capabilities, which is important.
foepys 8y ago
I paid 165€ (incl. VAT) for a last-year - but new - Nokia 6. This isn't a top of the line phone but considering that I keep my phones 3 years or longer (unless they randomly stop working, thanks LG) and use them a lot through the day, this is an absolute bargain. You can get low-end phones for under 100€. If you want a high-end phone, you have to pay proportionally more. But that's normal and applies to nearly everything else, too.
ckocagil 8y ago
That one is IMO different. Manufacturers are running out of things to improve so they're adding premium gimmicks to their phones. If you're looking for a flagship level phone without useless features, you should consider the likes of OP6, Honor 10 and Xiaomi's Mi series.

briandear 8y ago

Define “unjustified.” What does it cost to write iOS? Because in the case of Apple, you have the cost of the parts and assembly, but you also have the engineering costs to even create the product. A product price isn’t just the sum of parts + assembly + profit. Regarding €1000 — if a country like France wouldn’t have a 20% VAT, prices would be lower obviously. So perhaps we should “investigate” the 20% VAT? Maybe we should “investigate” the French labor laws that contribute to the cost of goods sold? There are a lot of things we “could” investigate — or we can just accept that companies will price their good appropriately based on the market demand. This isn’t like it’s an essential item required for basic life. Maybe we could investigate why France has strict milk quotas that necessarily increase the price of milk? Investigating milk prices has a lot more relevance to people than the pricing of a luxury item like a high end smartphone. To be clear, I am not suggesting we investigate anything, only pointing out the absurdity of complaining about smartphone pricing when the EU has plenty of other products that are subject to price manipulation based on political interests. The EU has had tariffs for decades on imports, making everything more expensive. But sure, let’s complain about Apple and Samsung while ignoring textiles, food, cars and machine parts all of which are subject to tariffs that raise prices.

the_duke 8y ago
I can't quite follow your thoughts there. You are wildly mixing together taxes, tariffs, production quotas, etc. Of course iPhones are ridiculously overpriced, and Apple has huge margins. But that's absolutely fine. There is plenty of competition in the smartphone space and people willing to bite the Apple are welcome to do so. PS, yes, the agriculture rules in the EU are sometimes crazy, but to a certain extent they do actually serve the purpose of guaranteeing local production capabilities, which is important.

foepys 8y ago

I paid 165€ (incl. VAT) for a last-year - but new - Nokia 6. This isn't a top of the line phone but considering that I keep my phones 3 years or longer (unless they randomly stop working, thanks LG) and use them a lot through the day, this is an absolute bargain. You can get low-end phones for under 100€. If you want a high-end phone, you have to pay proportionally more. But that's normal and applies to nearly everything else, too.

ckocagil 8y ago

That one is IMO different. Manufacturers are running out of things to improve so they're adding premium gimmicks to their phones. If you're looking for a flagship level phone without useless features, you should consider the likes of OP6, Honor 10 and Xiaomi's Mi series.