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I recently moved from a GS8 to an iPhone 8. Just yesterday I took delivery of an iPhone XR. I used Android from its inception with the HTC Magic and Dream. Nex

I recently moved from a GS8 to an iPhone 8. Just yesterday I took delivery of an iPhone XR. I used Android from its inception with the HTC Magic and Dream. Nexus One, Nexus 4, 5, 6p, GS2, GS3, GS8, Motorola Glide somewhere in there. Lots of devices, over every Android version. From a full financial cost perspective (e.g. lifetime cost and then value when retired if I were selling them) virtually all of them cost me more than the iPhone of the days. It was never about cost. Various platform benefits drew me, from a development perspective it enticed me, and it seemed right for the industry. Almost morally right. With recent iOS versions, however, Apple has stolen many of the best features of Android (the notification system, how multitasking operates, intents, etc), while at the same time improving on the benefits they already have (a higher quality platform, better security, a better app ecosystem). As Google started moving to their Pixel platform, continued to abandon 2 year old devices with disregard (my devices are always new, but from a utility perspective I like being able to safely give older devices to my children), Android lost me. Not to mention that it became the Samsung platform with a fringe of Google devices. I also seriously question Google's motives in providing a quality API for developers for things like computer learning and computational photography. So there's a counterpoint. These devices are so important for our lives now than $1000 a year seems entirely reasonable.

gwright 8y ago
Purchasing a new iPhone every year is not a necessity by almost any definition of "necessary". So you are more like $500/year or $333/year or even $250/year depending on how often you refresh. That isn't true with many Android devices because of the poor track record of OS upgrades and support.
- JimDabell 8y ago
  Even if you do upgrade every year, iPhones hold their value very well, so you can sell your old phone for a substantial proportion of what you paid for it and only pay a fraction of the cost of the new one.
pasta 8y ago
It totaly depends on how important you think a device is. I bought a $100 Motorola and plan to keep it until the battery isn't charging anymore. So if I can keep it for 5 years I think $20 per year is reasonable. Comparing this to the iPhone it will save me $980 a year. That's a nice holiday with my family...
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- brianwawok 8y ago
  Who is buying a new iPhone every year and trashing the old one? A $1000 iPhone you use 3 years is $333 a year. What is that, one days work as a developer?
  - pjmlp 8y ago
    Or a month salary in less fortunate regions.
    - brianwawok 8y ago
      Yah so you probably shouldn't spend $1000 on a phone if your yearly income is < $100k
  - shaklee3 8y ago
    A lot of people given that the major carriers have upgrade plans to trade in for the new one after one year.
- graeme 8y ago
  That device won't have security updates. So you just dismessed a major part of OP's reasoning: they don't want an insecure phone and don't want to hand one off to their kids. Maybe that's what you meant by important?
  - pasta 8y ago
    Most parts of Android can now be updated via the app store. So security is now a big issue anymore since Android 7
Retra 8y ago
I spend less than $20 per year on smart phones, and have had no complaints about them whatsoever. So maybe the marketing is just really working on you?
- endorphone 8y ago
  Not really. I work in technology. I have a family. This device is my communications platform, information conduit, photography device, GPS device, and on and on and on. This is the computing device I use for probably 50% of my time. I also don't have a junk laptop. The things that matter to me I'm willing to not cheap out on. Even if an alternative offered 80% of the utility for "$20 per year", the last 20% would be easily worth it.
  - Retra 8y ago
    And what's the difference? My phone provides the same things you want from yours. I use it all the time. Obviously if you can get the same thing at 1/8th the cost, it's probably not worth it to spend that extra money. The phone is not even a junk phone: https://www.motorola.com/us/products/moto-e-plus-gen-4 https://www.motorola.com/us/products/moto-e-plus-gen-4 It's just not a premium "luxury" phone. I spend $45 per month on service and $170 for the device. My fiancée's phone is a $1000 Pixel, and it offers almost nothing more. Nothing that she actually uses anyway.
    - thirdsun 8y ago
      You are making quite a lot of assumptions prematurely presented as facts, although they may not apply at all to the person you're talking to. Personally, while I don't doubt that the Motorola works fine for you, I wouldn't even consider it since it doesn't run iOS. Or likely any up to date OS in 3-4 years.
- ryanwaggoner 8y ago
  I really hate the “marketing doesn’t work on me” trope. Such a weird way to be condescending. It’s almost never true either.

gwright 8y ago

Purchasing a new iPhone every year is not a necessity by almost any definition of "necessary". So you are more like $500/year or $333/year or even $250/year depending on how often you refresh. That isn't true with many Android devices because of the poor track record of OS upgrades and support.

JimDabell 8y ago
Even if you do upgrade every year, iPhones hold their value very well, so you can sell your old phone for a substantial proportion of what you paid for it and only pay a fraction of the cost of the new one.

pasta 8y ago

It totaly depends on how important you think a device is. I bought a $100 Motorola and plan to keep it until the battery isn't charging anymore. So if I can keep it for 5 years I think $20 per year is reasonable. Comparing this to the iPhone it will save me $980 a year. That's a nice holiday with my family...

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
brianwawok 8y ago
Who is buying a new iPhone every year and trashing the old one? A $1000 iPhone you use 3 years is $333 a year. What is that, one days work as a developer?
- pjmlp 8y ago
  Or a month salary in less fortunate regions.
  - brianwawok 8y ago
    Yah so you probably shouldn't spend $1000 on a phone if your yearly income is < $100k
- shaklee3 8y ago
  A lot of people given that the major carriers have upgrade plans to trade in for the new one after one year.
graeme 8y ago
That device won't have security updates. So you just dismessed a major part of OP's reasoning: they don't want an insecure phone and don't want to hand one off to their kids. Maybe that's what you meant by important?
- pasta 8y ago
  Most parts of Android can now be updated via the app store. So security is now a big issue anymore since Android 7

Retra 8y ago

I spend less than $20 per year on smart phones, and have had no complaints about them whatsoever. So maybe the marketing is just really working on you?

endorphone 8y ago
Not really. I work in technology. I have a family. This device is my communications platform, information conduit, photography device, GPS device, and on and on and on. This is the computing device I use for probably 50% of my time. I also don't have a junk laptop. The things that matter to me I'm willing to not cheap out on. Even if an alternative offered 80% of the utility for "$20 per year", the last 20% would be easily worth it.
- Retra 8y ago
  And what's the difference? My phone provides the same things you want from yours. I use it all the time. Obviously if you can get the same thing at 1/8th the cost, it's probably not worth it to spend that extra money. The phone is not even a junk phone: https://www.motorola.com/us/products/moto-e-plus-gen-4 https://www.motorola.com/us/products/moto-e-plus-gen-4 It's just not a premium "luxury" phone. I spend $45 per month on service and $170 for the device. My fiancée's phone is a $1000 Pixel, and it offers almost nothing more. Nothing that she actually uses anyway.
  - thirdsun 8y ago
    You are making quite a lot of assumptions prematurely presented as facts, although they may not apply at all to the person you're talking to. Personally, while I don't doubt that the Motorola works fine for you, I wouldn't even consider it since it doesn't run iOS. Or likely any up to date OS in 3-4 years.
ryanwaggoner 8y ago
I really hate the “marketing doesn’t work on me” trope. Such a weird way to be condescending. It’s almost never true either.