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Apple sold 2.2 billion iPhones and 360 million iPads before they stopped reporting numbers. Assume for every phone or iPad they sell, they average one extra ca
by OriginalPenguin 8y ago
Apple sold 2.2 billion iPhones and 360 million iPads before they stopped reporting numbers.
Assume for every phone or iPad they sell, they average one extra cable (for work, for the car, because it breaks, whatever..)
Apple charges $19 for an extra cable. Assume it costs them $2 to make the cable (and it probably costs much less).
That's 43.5 billion right there. Which even for Apple is not small potatoes. Especially because cables are probably their highest margin product.
- Phlarp 8y agoWho is buying $19 Apple branded charging cables? I guess if consumers want to lean into every minor expense it's hardly fair to blame the company for taking their money... Clearly they were eager to give it to someone in a hurry.
- Tempest1981 8y agoThe authentication chip inside each cable drives up the price, I suspect: https://www.extremetech.com/electronics/136947-apples-mega-complicated-lightning-connector-analyzed https://www.extremetech.com/electronics/136947-apples-mega-c... And the video dongles do transcoding, IIRC. https://panic.com/blog/the-lightning-digital-av-adapter-surprise/ https://panic.com/blog/the-lightning-digital-av-adapter-surp...
- neotek 8y ago>That's 43.5 billion right there. Apple's filings show that less than one half of one percent of their revenue comes from the entirety of the MFi program, which includes not just the first-party cables they make, but every single licensed iPhone-compatible accessory of any kind anywhere in the world. It seems silly to me to think that Apple would jeopardise the value of the number one consumer electronics product on the planet, the product that produces 60% of their revenue, by nickel-and-diming customers on cables.