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Apple iPhone Supplier Foxconn Planning Deep Cost Cuts
- tomglynch 8y agoBesides removing a few features, there's little difference between an iPhone 6 plus and the current model.
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago> there's little difference between an iPhone 6 plus and the current model Upgraded to XS after wading into a pool with my 6. Biggest hidden feature is the electronic SIM card. I can buy international data with GigSky for much cheaper than AT&T would let me.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- overcast 8y agoThe dual electronic SIM is awesome, I agree. I haven't used GigSky before, but their prices are super cheap in comparison. Definitely using that on my next trip overseas. How do you differentiate which data plan you'll use though?
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago> How do you differentiate which data plan you'll use though? I was in Iceland for a week, so 2GB for 15 days and $30 worked well. (I was on the fence about 5GB for 30 days and $50, but in the end didn’t need it.)
- overcast 8y agoNice! Meant more in the phone. How does the phone differentiate which data plan to use?
- tobyhinloopen 8y agoWhat feature is removed from the latest iPhones compared to the iPhone 6 plus, except for the 3.5mm port?
- raesene9 8y agoFor me the annoying one is the loss of TouchID. I find it a convenient system and I'm not super keen on the use of FaceID as a replacement. My hope is that now other phones have introduced touch sensors under their screens, that Apple will add that back in.
- matwood 8y agoI don't think that is going to happen. FaceId is so good on my X, I forget I have phone locking turned on at all. Now that they have it working in all orientations on the iPad, I assume the next iPhone will also work that way. Supposedly the iPad also unlocks in a wider field of view. Both of those items are the main complaints I see about FaceId. After using FaceId for over a year, going back to TouchId really does feel like a step backward anytime I have to use it on test devices or my iPad.
- wlesieutre 8y agoDoesn't seem likely, but expect FaceID to get faster and more reliable. The recent version of TouchID was much better than when it was first introduced.
- votepaunchy 8y ago> My hope is that now other phones have introduced touch sensors under their screens, that Apple will add that back in. Apple could have been first to support an in-screen fingerprint reader but stopped development when FaceID was greenlit. It's doubtful they would follow others in including a redundant, inferior technology (their perception).
- vezycash 8y ago>It's doubtful they would follow others in including a redundant, inferior technology (their perception). They said 4 inch was the perfect screen size. And now? They shunned wireless charging, dual sim, multi-tasking and many other things. Give it time. Apple will soon invent in-display finger print.
- chapium 8y agoThats kind of an odd statement. Its being criticized because its the same as the previous gen phone if you subtract what they added. Of course it is! What they took away from iphone 6 is interesting however. The home button, headphone jack, earpods, and rectangular display.
- robin_reala 8y agoEarpods are still included?
- ubernostrum 8y agoiPhones without headphone jacks still come with a pair of earbuds; they just have a Lightning connector on the end of the cable instead of a 3.5mm audio plug.
- ollie87 8y agoYeah, EarPods.
- danieldk 8y agoThere are a lot of differences (improved camera, edge-to-edge display, Face ID, much better SoC). However, SoCs and cameras are already so good that the average consumer does not notice the gaps as they did with e.g iPhone 3G -> iPhone 5. This will be a term problem for many phone manufacturers, the market does not grow as fast anymore + people keep their phones for more cycles. Anecdotically, many of my friends and family members would upgrade their iPhones every two years. Now most of them are still using the 6s, SE or even 5s.
- ramshanker 8y ago4 may be a small number when the TOTAL number of iphone suppliers considered.
- serg_chernata 8y agoHonest question, but wouldn't few reflect the demand of many?
- cm2187 8y agoNot if one of them is Foxconn
- forkLding 8y agoFoxconn produces at least half of the Iphones around the world, source: https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-factory-foxconn-china-photos-tour-2018-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-factory-foxconn... Lumentum etc. are also some of Apple's largest parts suppliers.
- nemacol 8y agoGuess apple will have to release some extra "security patches" to those older iPhones. Try to bump up those number for next year. Edit: Downvote all you want. Apple did this before, it is not hard to imagine that they would do it again. I am hardly crying wolf with my comment.
- prolikewh0a 8y agoNot sure why you're being downvoted for something that is very possibly going to happen. People hate hearing crony capitalist reality on HN and trust too much in large corporations that are solely there for profit to shareholders and will do so at any cost. Look at the dongle nonsense Apple has pulled on customers for profit. Look at their genius bar overcharing and lying to people about their broken devices (see: Louis Rossman https://youtu.be/o2_SZ4tfLns https://youtu.be/o2_SZ4tfLns).
- nkkollaw 8y agoWhat's even worse, every time I went to the Apple store in Italy there were customers complaining about their phone being slower, and the "genius" would always say something like "well, if you'd like to consider a newer model, we have..." like it was the only solution to the problem, taking advantage of the fact that some people think electronics wear down with use like tires. I bought used iPhone 4 phones 2-3 times, replaced the battery, and it was brand new.
- crististm 8y agoThe censoring on hacker news is starting to wear me down. Since someone else decided who am I allowed to talk to (rather NOT to talk to) I have no choice than to really consider why am I still around here.
- macintux 8y agoApple has made it clear they're aiming for longevity. iOS 12 actually improved performance for older phones. That's why you're being downvoted.
- nemacol 8y ago
- exabrial 8y agoIt's not really that hard: * Headphone jack * De-nerf NFC * Switch to usb-c * Send high res mms to non iPhones (this will also avoid regulatory trouble) I'm fed up with Google and Facebook and am ready to move, but the fact they can't get these simple things right is mind blowing.
- cm2187 8y agoIt may also be a warning sign of the slowdown in the chinese economy.
- eli 8y agoheadphone jack isn't coming back
- isostatic 8y agoIf there was a real demand, there would be a roaring trade in cases that reintroduce the jack without having to use a dongle.
- numbsafari 8y agoAgreed. To be honest, the disappearing headphone jack might be what finally helps me convince my wife to let me upgrade our car stereo to something with bluetooth support.
- rusk 8y agoYou'll be disappointed when you notice the degradation in sound quality. Anecdata: My Kenwood car stereo has both and the difference is immediately noticeable.
- Spivak 8y agoNot having a headphone jack isn't enough reason for someone to stop using their preferred device, but it seems overwhelmingly the userbase would prefer it. Trying to argue about demand when we're boiling frogs is pointless.
- ataturk 8y ago$1000+ phones are not sustainable when the average pay in the US is actually falling in real terms. Buying power and disposable income are being eaten up by taxes and high cost of healthcare.
- ed_blackburn 8y agoIn the UK a new iPhone is ~£1250 there are so many more things I would rather spend that money on. I spend so much time with my phone, I use it all day rely on it so much, it's the epicentre of my digital life. But still, I think it's too expensive. I think once you touch the £1,000 mark you have to start proving far more worth than polished marketing. My work thankfully proved an iPhone 8, otherwise, I was going to buy an iPhone 6 or 7 [0]. I just cannot justify the extra money for the difference in the product. [0] https://www.johnlewis.com/browse/electricals/mobile-phones-accessories/iphone/iphone-6/iphone-7/price=250-500/_/N-7bqwZ1z0jye4Z1z07s5bZ6ssu https://www.johnlewis.com/browse/electricals/mobile-phones-a...
- udp 8y agoAlso in the UK, and I can't remember the last time I actually bought a phone outright. I resigned myself years ago to paying ~£40/mo for a contract and insurance. Every 2 years I get an upgrade to the latest iPhone.
- arethuza 8y agoVodafone is also offering pretty decent trade-in deals - certainly better than my old phones sitting in a drawer!
- Nursie 8y agoI'm in the UK and I buy my phones outright, through my company. I pay about £15 pcm for unlimited data and more of everything else than I can use. I buy a phone when I feel like it, usually about every 18 months to two years. Currently very happy with my P20 Pro. Advantages (to me) are that I can switch network whenever I feel like it, and I own the phone from day 1.
- tigershark 8y agoHow do you pay 15£/month for unlimited data? Three had 17£/month (now 30GB for new clients) but I’ve never seen 15£/month for unlimited data.
- andrewgjohnson 8y agoI think the reason has nothing to do with the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, X, XR or XS. I think the reason has to do with 2 back-to-back iOS updates that didn't hugely slow down my iPhone 7 Plus. I'm used to really wanting the newer iPhone when I update iOS 12 months after buying but the last 2 updates haven't fit that mold.
- themagician 8y agoThere is also just a general kind of burn out. In phones, in social media, etc. Maginal utility from consumer tech is now so marginal that people are starting to not upgrade every year. It was bound to happen. I’m sure someone will come up with a more creative name for this when it starts to impact stock prices.
- matwood 8y agoiPhones and the iOS speed focused updates are really showing the longevity of the device. My wife has the 7+ she got when it came out. I got her the battery change out for $30, and the device is great. It got faster with iOS 12. She has no need for a better device. Upgrades now really are incremental, with much of the technology 'good enough'. I have the X. It works great. Nothing in the XS makes me want to upgrade. I would like the XS Max, but I'll just wait for next year. And next year, my wife will get my X which further extends its usefulness.
- tanilama 8y agoWell, right now for me, iPhone's biggest feature is its price tag, in which it is its own league. The rest of the package is lackluster
- tyingq 8y agoI wonder if there's a bit of the "end of Moore's law" in play as well. There appears to be a slump not just in iPhones, but in all smart phones: https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/22/gartner-reports-first-ever-global-decline-in-smartphone-sales/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/22/gartner-reports-first-ever... Basically, the delta in speed and functionality gains for new models isn't what it used to be, so people hang onto old phones longer. Personally, I buy ~$150 androids because I tend to drop them, and a $1k phone would be a bad idea for me. The end of "phone subsidies" probably also plays into this.
- izzydata 8y agoNear everybody who is going to have a smartphone already has one of some sort. That combined with people getting bored with the marginal increase of capabilities has killed hype for unnecessary upgrades.
- rusk 8y agoJust good old "Market Saturation" I'd say. Phones became about as good as people needed them to be in the last 5 years. Everything that's been added recently is just fluff and I'd say most people are just sticking with what they've got, or replacing with an established model where possible.
- zip1234 8y agoActually, the new A12 chips are considerably faster than the A11s. Apple's chips in general are much faster than their Android equivalents: https://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks https://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks https://browser.geekbench.com/android-benchmarks https://browser.geekbench.com/android-benchmarks
- tyingq 8y agoThe single core boost looks like ~11% or so. I don't own an iPhone, but that's not particularly compelling to me, if my current phone works fine. The iPhone 6 to iPhone 7 single core boost looks like ~40% for comparison.
- 8y ago
- jghn 8y agoFor me it is because they’ve become too large. Last year I got an 8 as I really needed a new device and the size is pushing it. The X models are larger still
- askaboutit 8y agoI’d jump on an Android phone if it had OSX. Google is a privacy nightmare.
- askaboutit 8y agoiOS
- wild_preference 8y agoYou can edit comments within an hour or so.
- helveticastand 8y agoThere's also LineageOS which is great when it comes to being in control of probably, but unfortunately not all phones have it supported officially.
- helveticastand 8y agoControl of privacy
- romanovcode 8y agoYou have problem installing popular apps with this option. Also flushing your phone on every major upgrade - no thank you.
- prolikewh0a 8y agoMaybe it's because I can get a modern Android One phone for $150 that will day-to-day perform right with an iPhone in normal use cases, with a headphone jack, notched IPS screen, IR blaster, FM radio, dual removable sim with SD storage to 256GB, 4000mAh battery that lasts 12 hours screen-on-time, camera that will compete with any modern mid range ~$400 phone, with full metal construction except for where RF needs to escape. Most people aren't playing PUBG or running CPU intensive tasks on their phones, they're texting, reading the news, watching twitch/youtube, or looking at instagram/facebook/slack/discord. $1000+ is absolute insanity. $749 for the XR is blatantly ripping you off.
- seddin 8y agoThis is good for the average consumer, people should not be buying very expensive devices with programmed obsolence!
- jillesvangurp 8y agoI'm guessing next year's refresh will feature a much lower price. I think Apple is finding out the hard way that increasing prices means lower volumes. They might even pull off a mid year price reduction. They've done that before. Despite not owning one, I believe Apple can easily fix most of their issues by simply reducing the price and growing volumes again. They are about to lose the teenage market. That's mostly a cost problem. For the past few years they've cashed in on their popularity by squeezing the high end of the market. Now that that is running dry, they need to pay attention to their bottom line again or they risk permanently alienating a new generation of users. My guess is that a 500$ base model that doesn't suck, would be quite popular. Of course their problem is that they have little to differentiate the 1200 $ model from that and that most of their competition is selling quite nice phones at or below that price.
- applecore 8y agoLikely, a smaller phone in the form factor of the (now discontinued) iPhone SE.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- rusk 8y agoThe original SE was released "out of cycle" so maybe the sequel will be too?
- ksec 8y agoWell the Se replaced the iPhone 5s at the time. But this time around there is no "replacement" to be made as they have discounted the SE.
- rusk 8y agoNo, the 6 replaced the 5s. The SE came a few months afterwards. That they didn't actually discontinue the 5s at the time is incidental. The point is, that they do release things out of cycle so just because they didn't do it at the usual time doesn't mean they won't.
- kylehotchkiss 8y agoMy iPhone 7s Plus with a LifeProof case is still going strong in nearly mint condition (despite the battery at about 85% capacity). Apple's building phones that last longer. Also, I can't think of too many new apps I've installed lately or performance issues with my current ones. Hopefully at some point, the market will reward Apple for building reliable phones (I say that knowing about all the repair bulletins they've released these past few months...)
- nicoburns 8y agoTo be fair, my Samsung S7 from the previous year is also still running completely fine. Apple's competition are also building reliable phones..
- chrischen 8y agoIPhone 7s is 2 years old now.
- outime 8y agoApple’s competition doesn’t provide phones with many years of official software updates. This may be just fine for many people, but if you care about security, features... then it’s not reliable enough.
- dethac 8y ago2 years OS, 3 years monthly security, 4 years quarterly security. Plus, app updates are not tied to OS updates, so vulnerabilities in the browser and other built-in apps can be more easily patched. Would 5 years of OS updates be appreciated? Of course! But 4 years of security updates isn't so bad.
- zeroego 8y agoYou should get your battery replaced before the end of the year! They have been running a special to do that swap for $29. I bought an iPhone 7 used last month and immediately went to an Apple store to have the battery swapped out. Went from a battery with 86% to 100%. Hopefully the phone itself will last 3-4 years.
- sundvor 8y agoThe largish one is ~$2150 AUD in Australia...
- lostgame 8y agoI’m disappointed by the discontinuation of the iPhone SE, and I’m not the only one. Frankly, all of Apple’s recently-introduces hardware options have a bad combination of being too expensive and simply not appealing enough, the lack of upgradeability on MacBook Pros being a major example.
- wingkongex 8y agoPersonally, I think they've become too big, too heavy and too expensive. The XR is honestly a huge misstep, IMO. It's bigger, heavier and dramatically more feature-less than its 2018 counterparts. Who is this phone for?
- TwoNineA 8y agoAs someone who switched from a Pixel XL to XR, I have to partially disagree. I don't have the telephoto camera nor the 4GB RAM (3GB on XR) of the XS line and the screen is not OLED. Having seen the screen quality first hand in store, I cancelled by Pixel 3 XL pre-order and got a XR, my first iPhone since 3GS. For me, the differences between XR and XS was not worth the extra 250$.
- matwood 8y agoThere was a YouTube video comparison with a 'blind' test comparing the XR screen to higher specced screens and the large majority of those tested picked the XR screen. The other thing the XR has is the longest battery life of all of the new iPhones.
- p49k 8y agoRelevant rebuttal regarding making conclusions based on supply chain rumors from AppleInsider: https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/11/19/poor-news-curation-at-bloomberg-cnbc-reuters-creating-misleading-iphone-supply-chain-panic https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/11/19/poor-news-curatio...
- dangoor 8y agoIt's possible that this turns out to be a real sign, and I think other commenters have some good reasons why it could be. That said, I have been an AAPL stock owner and watcher for a few years and have noticed a pattern. Every September, Apple introduces new iPhones. Later in the fall, the articles come out citing weak demand. 2017: "'Anemic' iPhone 8 demand drags Apple shares lower", https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-iphone/anemic-iphone-8-demand-drags-apple-shares-lower-idUSKBN1CO1E7 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-iphone/anemic-iphon... 2016: "Apple may be cutting iPhone 7 orders as demand falls", https://www.cultofmac.com/456431/apple-may-cutting-iphone-7-orders-demand-falls/ https://www.cultofmac.com/456431/apple-may-cutting-iphone-7-... 2015: "Apple stock slides on claims of slashed iPhone component orders, weak iPhone 6s demand", https://appleinsider.com/articles/15/12/01/apple-stock-slides-on-claims-of-slashed-iphone-component-orders-weak-iphone-6s-demand https://appleinsider.com/articles/15/12/01/apple-stock-slide... Note that there were articles in those years also suggesting high demand. My point being that articles suggesting soft demand happen every year. Except 2014 when the iPhone 6 came out. Everyone was in total agreement then that demand was insane (and that quarter proved to be very hot indeed for Apple). My point is that we won't truly know what demand looked like for the new iPhones until late January when Apple announces earnings.
- lbacaj 8y agoI completely agree with the sentiment. I see this as a strategy from Apple. Unfortunately for their supplier's Apple's strategy to destroy Android seems to be somewhat counterintuitive, it involves selling fewer iPhones. It involves doubling down on premium and having these older phones last far longer. By definition that will mean a bigger used market which Apple seems to be embracing especially with the recent iOS update to actually, for probably the first time, make older phones faster for a change rather than slow them down. I think they have realized that their eco-system is far more valuable and having android owners switch to older iphones which seem to be holding up almost as well as new android devices not only does not cheapen their brand but brings in droves to the eco-system which is the thing with the real value at the end of the day. May sound far-fetched but every step they have taken lately points to this strategy, dont be surprised when they post more record profits.
- LiterallyDoge 8y agoThe new phone offerings across the board are weak. It just feels like useless gadgetry now on the same candybar.
- rdschouw 8y agoThe increased pricing changed how I perceive replacing my X with a new one. I used to routinely upgrade yearly up to the SE. Now, I'll keep I plan to keep using it until it no longer functions. Similar to my laptop upgrade cycle which is every 3 years now. I think Apple is biting themselves in the foot with the increased pricing. I think it is significantly slowing down the replacement cycle. My dad typically buys my old phone and then his phone goes to my mom. Now, he replaced the batteries since no phone is coming his way through me. On the upside, it's better for the environment.
- scarface74 8y agoApple fully expects the replacement cycle to slow. They said that they are trying to make phones last longer. They are focusing on service revenue and accessories like the Watch.
- tonyedgecombe 8y agoWhich is a good thing, I can't see why these devices shouldn't last five years or more.
- scarface74 8y agoThe mobile phone cycle is just a redux of what happened with PCs until around 2007. Computers were getting a lot faster and software coming out actually demanded better computers. Honestly, around 2009 and the introduction of the Core 2 Duo, computers became good enough for most people. I just retired a circa 2009 Core 2 Duo 2.66Ghz Dell laptop with 8GB of RAM running Windows 10 with one of the last great 15 inch 1920x1200 displays (as opposed to the 1920x1080) as my Plex Server about two months ago. In day to day use, I couldn’t tell the difference between that and newer computers besides the spinning hard drive vs SSD. It has a gigabit Ethernet port and was wired into my network. It had just as much of RAM as most computers sold today, the hard drive was the same size (but much slower), the screen was better than what comes in many consumer laptops and most computers today don’t come with gigabit Ethernet. In 2009, a computer from 2000 would have been unusable. (http://www.topdesignmag.com/top-performance-computer-looked-the-year-2000/ http://www.topdesignmag.com/top-performance-computer-looked-...) Mobile processors are now getting that way. While an iPhone 5S from 2013 is perfectly usable running iOS 13, there is no way that an iPhone 3G from 2008 would have been something you wanted to use in 2013.
- dmitriid 8y agoWhy is it that when people talk about Foxconn, they only talk about Apple? Foxconn supplies everyone.
- matwood 8y agoFor the same reason this happens every year, Apple gets clicks. I don't think we have good Pixel 3 estimates yet, but earlier this year Apple was selling as many iPhones in a week as Google sold Pixel 2s all year. Outside of stock analysts, no one cares how many phones Google or Samsung sell. So if you want to generate clicks, you have to link it to Apple. Remember the compromised server article from not long ago?
- krmmalik 8y agoHere's something I received in my inbox a couple of days ago. (copied and pasted). --- October can be an unforgiving month. The terrible stock market crash that signaled the beginning of the Great Depression was in October of 1929. The stock market crash known as Black Monday was in October of 1987. In 1997, the Asian financial crisis sparked another stock market crash in… you guessed it—October. And back in 2007 at the height of the giant bubble that almost brought down the entire financial system, the stock market peaked once again in… October. It’s not that October is particular cursed. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. But I do find it strangely ominous that asset prices seemed to have peaked last month (October) and have been in decline ever since. Real estate prices are starting to show signs of strain; more than one-third of homes for sale had a large price cut in October-- the most discounting in the past eight years. Corporate and government bonds are falling. The S&P 500 is down 7%, and the big popular technology stocks that have been fueling the boom in stock prices for the past several years have been violently declining. Facebook is down 36% from its peak. Apple is down 18% (and down more today on news of production cuts for iPhones). Semiconductor giant NVIDIA is down 45%. Oh, it’s not just in the US either. Deutsche Bank says 89% of all asset classes it tracks are negative this year – the worst year since 1901. This is often how a big downturn begins: gradually, then suddenly. Asset prices stew and fester, slowly grinding downward for months while people maintain hope that prices will recover. I remember spending time in Florida back in 2007 when property prices had already started declining. All the real estate agents I met kept telling themselves ridiculous affirmations about how the market was going to come roaring back soon, and the good times would return. Less than a year later the worst financial panic since the Great Depression had set in. And it would be years before prices would finally recover. Remember—asset prices peaked in October 2007. But the giant financial crisis didn’t kick off for nearly a year, in September 2008. We might be in a similar situation today; it’s possible that markets peaked last month. And we’re now in the “stew and fester” phase where prices gradually decline while people keep hope that the boom times are coming just around the corner. And then, within a year or so, something sets off another huge crisis that pops the bubble once and for all… just like the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers did back in 2008. We won’t know what that event will be until after it happens. But what we do know for sure is that the last financial crisis was caused by too much idiotic debt in the system. Banks were lending money to legions of borrowers who had a history of not paying their debts… and then actually pretended like these toxic loans were great investments. Today, we’re seeing the same stupid debt work its way into the corporate and government sectors. Instead of giving million-dollar mortgages to unemployed borrowers with a history of default, investors are loaning billions of dollars to money-losing zombie businesses, or to governments that are already in debt up to their eyeballs, all while pretending these are safe, credible investments. Total global debt back in 2008 was about $173 trillion, worth about 280% of GDP. Today total global debt is $250 trillion, worth about 320% of GDP. It’s only gotten worse. This is the sequel of the same movie we saw ten years ago… and it would be pretty foolish to not expect the same ending." Proper preparation....
- curious_fella2 8y agoSince people seem to be talking about what this means for Apple stock... Apple's PE ratio is 15. For any given company this is a very good number. Add to this that Apple has the growth potential of a tech stock (e.g. Google has PE ratio of 40, people pay a premium for the stock because they expect it to grow). Certainly Apple is very undervalued?
- dwaite 8y agoIt used to be the P/E was low because people were nervous about Apple's future. Now people are nervous because they can't figure out how to evaluate the growth potential of a $1 tril+ company. To my limited sophistication as an investor (who owns some AAPL), it seems to me Cook has tried several things to increase stock stability. One is to make it look a bit more like a utility stock for those who wish to see it as one, such as by paying dividends. Another is to signal to the market they consider the stock to be undervalued via a their stock buyback program.
- JansjoFromIkea 8y agoI'm under the impression at least part of Apple's unusual behaviour this year (e.g. no longer reporting sales) is down to the XR. From what I can see, the XR (or its successors) are to occupy the role the SE previously had, and the iPhone 7 has now. It's a long game that plays out two years from now (by which point they couldn't abruptly introduce a one camera, 720p LCD screen without it looking very very much like the 5C). With a selling price of $800, I can't imagine they expected many people to buy it over (1) keeping their current phone or (2) paying a few hundred more for a flagship model. Once you go that high in price the difference makes less and less.
- themagician 8y agoI was the kind of person who would upgrade every year... and not just my phone, but a bunch of other tech. I currently have a 7+ and haven’t bothered to upgrade. The upgrades are so marginal and the time it takes to actually upgrade seems like a hassle these days. It takes me a good 8 hours of work to upgrade a device—transferring this and that, getting things set up, learning the new gestures (which don’t do anything fundamental new), moving over 2FA (even though Authy makes it a little easier, you still have to set up things like Mail, Gmail, etc.). If I buy a new iPhone tomorrow it will probably take me all day to have it be a clone of my current phone in every app and whatnot. Just not worth it. I’ll do it when the battery becomes insufferable, but the reality is that that new iPhone isn’t worth the hassle, despite how relatively hassle free iCloud makes it.
- tinus_hn 8y agoApple and just about every manufacturer supplier Foxconn [...]
- ksec 8y agoFoxconn assembles over 60% of the Smartphone worldwide, and it could very well be the rest of the Smartphone vendor are lowering their 2019 forecast. People in China is taking longer to buying new phone, mainly because their current one are already good enough for most of their purposes. Which is AliPay, WeChat and basic consumption activity. China is also tightening on Credit, which means BBK and Xiaomi can no longer flush with supply and figure out sales later, they have to be careful with their inventory. It could also very well be another power play from Foxconn, which is one of the largest private employers in the country.