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I'm not sure the comparison is that significant. We tend to omit two aspects when we deride price changes: One is just inflation. No need to explain that. In

I'm not sure the comparison is that significant. We tend to omit two aspects when we deride price changes: One is just inflation. No need to explain that. In 15 years at 3% annual inflation rates, the $500 becomes $780. Second is that the product has changed, massively. The better comparison is to a flagship phone-only, which is $30. Or to compare the iPhone to a range of products, e.g. a phone, but also a television, a videocamera, photocamera, pocket-microphone, GPS tracker, mp3 player, navigation system, fitness tracker, and some kind of pocket computer that lets you browse the internet, read news, take notes etc. It's quite remarkably different from a phone, and we sort of have to thank Apple for this 'issue' in them calling it the iPhone and getting smartphones as a permanent product category. When really it's a computer first, phone second. Try selling an iPhone that can't do anything but make calls, then try selling an iPhone that has its call function disabled, the latter would outsell the former by a large margin.

jaclaz 8y ago
Inflation does not apply usually to electronics. A 32" inch flat panel TV costed in 2003 twice or triple what it costs today. In 2003/2004 a Sony Ericsson P800 or P900 (among the first products that can be called "smartphone") costed more or less the same as an iPhone costs today.
- nickik 8y ago
  That is just the absolute price. You still have the price increase of the inflation but it is off set by the decline in price form the production efficiency. So you absolutely have to take in inflation calculations to any comparison.
  - jaclaz 8y ago
    Yep, my point was that - when it comes to electronics - the combination of fairly low inflation with economies due to mass production, competition, diffusion, efficiency or what not, results in a substantial deflation, i.e. a "same" or "comparable" electronic device tends after a few years to cost less (in absolute price). The iPhone is an exception as the good Apple guys managed - one way or the other - to keep the price constant or nearly constant. Of course it remains clear that - say - US$ 1,000 15 years ago were "more" than US$ 1,000 today.
- koffiezet 8y ago
  Yeah, my P910i was pretty damn expensive back in the day. It showed the potential of smartphones, but never really materialized. I did have a 3rd party GPS app with external bluetooth GPS dongle - which worked pretty well, but the resistive touch-screen, memory limits, generic slowness, no WiFi, and lack of software updates and maintenance made it a "too soon" device.
- IkmoIkmo 8y ago
  Of course it applies, you're just describing the outcome of an even stronger effect counteracting inflation. Inflation simply means an inflation of the money supply. If you give everyone 1 trillion dollars tomorrow, hypothetically speaking, prices of all electronics would surely go up. Similarly, if there was no technological advancement in the past 20 years, prices of flatscreen TV's would also have gone up in nominal terms due to an increasing money supply. Instead, technology moved much faster to lower production costs than an increase in the money supply increased nominal prices. Doesn't mean there was no inflation or that it magically didn't apply. As for your example of a Sony Ericsson, did you miss half of my post where I explain it's an apples/oranges comparison, or that better smartphones than the P800 sell for $100 (like the Moto G5, infinitely more value than the P800).

jaclaz 8y ago

Inflation does not apply usually to electronics. A 32" inch flat panel TV costed in 2003 twice or triple what it costs today. In 2003/2004 a Sony Ericsson P800 or P900 (among the first products that can be called "smartphone") costed more or less the same as an iPhone costs today.

nickik 8y ago
That is just the absolute price. You still have the price increase of the inflation but it is off set by the decline in price form the production efficiency. So you absolutely have to take in inflation calculations to any comparison.
- jaclaz 8y ago
  Yep, my point was that - when it comes to electronics - the combination of fairly low inflation with economies due to mass production, competition, diffusion, efficiency or what not, results in a substantial deflation, i.e. a "same" or "comparable" electronic device tends after a few years to cost less (in absolute price). The iPhone is an exception as the good Apple guys managed - one way or the other - to keep the price constant or nearly constant. Of course it remains clear that - say - US$ 1,000 15 years ago were "more" than US$ 1,000 today.
koffiezet 8y ago
Yeah, my P910i was pretty damn expensive back in the day. It showed the potential of smartphones, but never really materialized. I did have a 3rd party GPS app with external bluetooth GPS dongle - which worked pretty well, but the resistive touch-screen, memory limits, generic slowness, no WiFi, and lack of software updates and maintenance made it a "too soon" device.
IkmoIkmo 8y ago
Of course it applies, you're just describing the outcome of an even stronger effect counteracting inflation. Inflation simply means an inflation of the money supply. If you give everyone 1 trillion dollars tomorrow, hypothetically speaking, prices of all electronics would surely go up. Similarly, if there was no technological advancement in the past 20 years, prices of flatscreen TV's would also have gone up in nominal terms due to an increasing money supply. Instead, technology moved much faster to lower production costs than an increase in the money supply increased nominal prices. Doesn't mean there was no inflation or that it magically didn't apply. As for your example of a Sony Ericsson, did you miss half of my post where I explain it's an apples/oranges comparison, or that better smartphones than the P800 sell for $100 (like the Moto G5, infinitely more value than the P800).