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I have a feeling that this 'allows' Bose and Sony to raise their prices causing everything to normalize around $500 price range. Remember the original pixel (or

I have a feeling that this 'allows' Bose and Sony to raise their prices causing everything to normalize around $500 price range. Remember the original pixel (or nexus)? they were priced around $350-$400 and look where they are now ($700).

delecti 6y ago
I think you're right, but your example is faulty. The Nexus line started at $530. It was only a few of the later models that were budget. The successor Pixel line launched at $650.
hocuspocus 6y ago
I don't really see how that would work. The Sony XM3 and Bose QC35 II were regularly under €180 (VAT included) in the past days. Who's going to suddenly pay more than twice for the same? And the original Nexus was expensive. So was the original Pixel. You can't really draw any conclusions from Google's inconsistent smartphone lineup and pricing over the past decade. Cheap Nexus phones: 4, 5, maybe the 5X if you waited a bit. Expensive Nexus phones: 1, S, Galaxy, 6, 6P. Expensive Pixel phones: all of them except the 'a' line, sometimes ridiculously so given the poor experience.
- 0x008 6y ago
  Bose launched new headphones at $400 and sell the old ones (3year old tech) at $180. So they will launch a „new improved“ line to compete at the $500 price bracket.
- parineum 6y ago
  > maybe the 5X if you waited a bit. Even the expensive pixels are cheap if you wait.
  - SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago
    Did that and got a second hand pixel 2. Battery needed replacing which is next to impossible without smashing the screen. USB port was struggling to hold on to the cable and google cut off software updates for it.
jayd16 6y ago
So true. The WH-1000MXs are quite nice and at $350 new and $180 for last year's model/refurbs. I expect these numbers to bump up, sadly.
- Hamuko 6y ago
  You can actually get a new pair of XM4s for $278 from Amazon. It's so much cheaper than the AirPods Max that you can buy a pair of AirPods Pro to go along with them and still have money left over. And I doubt this is just any special price. The XM3s were always below MSRP.
bagacrap 6y ago
Fact check: the cheapest original pixel was $650. The newest iterations, pixel 5 and 4a, are 700 and 350 respectively. A pixel 5 with 128gb storage is 700 whereas the original pixel with 128gb storage was 750. Not bothering to look up nexus phones because they're from a different lineage than pixels, hence the different branding.
- BoorishBears 6y ago
  > Not bothering to look up nexus phones because they're from a different lineage than pixels, hence the different branding You're just taking advantage of semantics then. Anyone who's followed the Nexus line knows exactly what their wording meant, since Nexus devices did give way to the Pixel and did follow the price normalization this person mentions. Iirc the Nexus 6 Or 6P was the start of rise in prices They might be misremembering exact prices but I distinctly remember the backlash as Nexus devices went from strong values as dev phones to premium smartphones, then the Pixel dropped and solidified that
  - bagacrap 6y ago
    what is the strongest value in smartphones today? Pixel 4a, hands down.
    - BoorishBears 6y ago
      I'd definitely say iPhone SE 2... Which captures the original poster's point pretty perfectly: the Pixel line did completely abandon those value root until "budget flashship variant" recently became a thing throughout the industry... which was mostly lead by Apple and the Xr (and no, I'm not saying Apple made the first budget smartphone, they just popularized the idea of making a budget variant of a 12 hundred dollar phone and marketing them alongside one another)
    - Tepix 6y ago
      The Xiaomi and Huawei phones offer much better values than the Pixel 4a, unless you put an enormous value on the software update situation (which of course is perfectly reasonable).
OkGoDoIt 6y ago
Likewise, smart watches used to cost in the neighborhood of $100 until Apple Watch came on the scene and now everyone thinks it’s normal to pay $300 for a smart watch. It was ridiculously overpriced when it started, and it’s still ridiculous now
- samatman 6y ago
  And they used a bit of textbook marketing magic to do it. Remember the Apple Watch Edition? The one with a gold case that cost 17 grand? The point wasn't to sell it, although there's a stratum of customer who always get the most expensive version of whatever they're getting. The point was to make the entry-level price look reasonable, and it worked.
  - jeanjogr 6y ago
    More than make the price reasonable, I would wager it was to anchor the Apple Watch in the "watch" category, rather than the "electronic gadget" category in people's mind. It's not some $XXX toy for notifications and whatever. Much like watches, it is as much about functionality as it about style. Much like watches, it both exists in a expensive, luxury form and in an everyday form. You're buying a Swatch, with Rolex available if you want - not a fitibit.
    - jiveturkey 6y ago
      on top of that, they created their own gold alloy for it. One that allowed them to use less gold at the same karat weight! For that, you paid a premium. Genius.
      - sneak 6y ago
        The melt value of the gold was well under $3000, for a $17000 watch. Even it it had been solid 24k 99.9 fine (I believe it was 14k gold), it would have been a small fraction of the cost, and a low volume item to boot. I doubt the custom alloy contributed significantly to their margin. IIRC most gold watches are 12-14k for durability.
grishka 6y ago
The pixel 4a is 350$ and it's basically a modernized version of the once very popular nexus 5.

delecti 6y ago

I think you're right, but your example is faulty. The Nexus line started at $530. It was only a few of the later models that were budget. The successor Pixel line launched at $650.

hocuspocus 6y ago

I don't really see how that would work. The Sony XM3 and Bose QC35 II were regularly under €180 (VAT included) in the past days. Who's going to suddenly pay more than twice for the same? And the original Nexus was expensive. So was the original Pixel. You can't really draw any conclusions from Google's inconsistent smartphone lineup and pricing over the past decade. Cheap Nexus phones: 4, 5, maybe the 5X if you waited a bit. Expensive Nexus phones: 1, S, Galaxy, 6, 6P. Expensive Pixel phones: all of them except the 'a' line, sometimes ridiculously so given the poor experience.

0x008 6y ago
Bose launched new headphones at $400 and sell the old ones (3year old tech) at $180. So they will launch a „new improved“ line to compete at the $500 price bracket.
parineum 6y ago
> maybe the 5X if you waited a bit. Even the expensive pixels are cheap if you wait.
- SulfurHexaFluri 6y ago
  Did that and got a second hand pixel 2. Battery needed replacing which is next to impossible without smashing the screen. USB port was struggling to hold on to the cable and google cut off software updates for it.

jayd16 6y ago

So true. The WH-1000MXs are quite nice and at $350 new and $180 for last year's model/refurbs. I expect these numbers to bump up, sadly.

Hamuko 6y ago
You can actually get a new pair of XM4s for $278 from Amazon. It's so much cheaper than the AirPods Max that you can buy a pair of AirPods Pro to go along with them and still have money left over. And I doubt this is just any special price. The XM3s were always below MSRP.

bagacrap 6y ago

Fact check: the cheapest original pixel was $650. The newest iterations, pixel 5 and 4a, are 700 and 350 respectively. A pixel 5 with 128gb storage is 700 whereas the original pixel with 128gb storage was 750. Not bothering to look up nexus phones because they're from a different lineage than pixels, hence the different branding.

BoorishBears 6y ago
> Not bothering to look up nexus phones because they're from a different lineage than pixels, hence the different branding You're just taking advantage of semantics then. Anyone who's followed the Nexus line knows exactly what their wording meant, since Nexus devices did give way to the Pixel and did follow the price normalization this person mentions. Iirc the Nexus 6 Or 6P was the start of rise in prices They might be misremembering exact prices but I distinctly remember the backlash as Nexus devices went from strong values as dev phones to premium smartphones, then the Pixel dropped and solidified that
- bagacrap 6y ago
  what is the strongest value in smartphones today? Pixel 4a, hands down.
  - BoorishBears 6y ago
    I'd definitely say iPhone SE 2... Which captures the original poster's point pretty perfectly: the Pixel line did completely abandon those value root until "budget flashship variant" recently became a thing throughout the industry... which was mostly lead by Apple and the Xr (and no, I'm not saying Apple made the first budget smartphone, they just popularized the idea of making a budget variant of a 12 hundred dollar phone and marketing them alongside one another)
  - Tepix 6y ago
    The Xiaomi and Huawei phones offer much better values than the Pixel 4a, unless you put an enormous value on the software update situation (which of course is perfectly reasonable).

OkGoDoIt 6y ago

Likewise, smart watches used to cost in the neighborhood of $100 until Apple Watch came on the scene and now everyone thinks it’s normal to pay $300 for a smart watch. It was ridiculously overpriced when it started, and it’s still ridiculous now

samatman 6y ago
And they used a bit of textbook marketing magic to do it. Remember the Apple Watch Edition? The one with a gold case that cost 17 grand? The point wasn't to sell it, although there's a stratum of customer who always get the most expensive version of whatever they're getting. The point was to make the entry-level price look reasonable, and it worked.
- jeanjogr 6y ago
  More than make the price reasonable, I would wager it was to anchor the Apple Watch in the "watch" category, rather than the "electronic gadget" category in people's mind. It's not some $XXX toy for notifications and whatever. Much like watches, it is as much about functionality as it about style. Much like watches, it both exists in a expensive, luxury form and in an everyday form. You're buying a Swatch, with Rolex available if you want - not a fitibit.
  - jiveturkey 6y ago
    on top of that, they created their own gold alloy for it. One that allowed them to use less gold at the same karat weight! For that, you paid a premium. Genius.
    - sneak 6y ago
      The melt value of the gold was well under $3000, for a $17000 watch. Even it it had been solid 24k 99.9 fine (I believe it was 14k gold), it would have been a small fraction of the cost, and a low volume item to boot. I doubt the custom alloy contributed significantly to their margin. IIRC most gold watches are 12-14k for durability.

grishka 6y ago

The pixel 4a is 350$ and it's basically a modernized version of the once very popular nexus 5.