5 ms·

The people who can't afford food are not the same people buying the latest iPhone

by radicaldreamer 4y ago

parkingrift 4y ago
Doubt. iPhone 13 is $30/month. All too easy to get on the iPhone upgrade program and perpetually give Apple $30/month.
- yazaddaruvala 4y ago
  +1 as soon as you look at the costs per day, iPhones are cheap! At $1.5 per day for the latest iPhone+AppleCare, the upgrade program made me realize I get at least $5-$10 of value out of my phone daily. Even in just time saved on daily tasks e.g. banking, shopping, taxis, work (I don't have to walk to the "location" or even to my desktop).
  - throwaway_4ever 4y ago
    But why let Apple take all of that margin from you? This year my iPhone XS will depreciate like $100, costing me $0.30 / day to do the same tasks just as well.
    - gumby 4y ago
      Some people borrow money to buy a house or car and consider it a better deal than saving up. This calculation can make sense.
    - yazaddaruvala 4y ago
      Five reasons (probably bad reasons): Context: For a long time I stayed on my iPhone 6, trying to extract every last bit of value from it (replaced the screen 1x and the battery 2x) before it was no longer getting updates (I had it 6 years). 1. The cognitive overhead of trying to extract every last dollar is greater than $1 a day. In the back of my mind I kept going back and forth, do I upgrade the battery again, or switch to a newer $1000 phone? If I include the time and money ($100 every 2 years - $0.14 per day for the battery; $150 every 3 yeas - $0.14 per day for the screen) actually spent getting the phone fixed, then the upgrade program is a no brainer winner. 2. The improvements were noticeable! Significantly. When I got my iPhone 11 Pro after giving away my iPhone 6, my laptop usage reduced by 75% (I had been thinking of buying a new laptop - the iPhone purchase saved me money overall). 3. I stayed on my iPhone 6 because "I just didn't believe X, Y, or Z was actually worth the upgrade". For $1.5 per day (vs $0.3) for a tool able to save me $5-10 per day, every day, why ever lag behind? What if the 14 is able to save me $15 per day because of X, Y, or Z but "I just don't believe it" and miss out on years worth of "savings". 4. Even without everything I've said prior, I can afford the $1.5 per day, even for frivolous reasons. When my iPhone, a tool, costs the same as one bubble tea / fancy latte a week, I'd rather reduce my cafe visits slightly and use the best version of the tools that are known to improve my life. 5. There is still a lot more iPhones can improve on, and I would like them to improve. I specifically also buy the Pro because I view "giving Apple that margin" as a "vote with my wallet" that there is a market for a more feature-rich iPhone can do next year and the more my vote counts.
bpodgursky 4y ago
"afford" is an overloaded word I'm sure a lot of people are frustrated by food costs, and have adjusted their food purchasing decisions, while also buying new iPhones.
Barrin92 4y ago
if you've ever worked low income side jobs the amount of people you see with the newest airpods and iphone while living paycheck to paycheck is high. Of all the forms of conspicuous consumption that people get accused of, this is probably the most real one, with the exception of Jordans maybe
- HWR_14 4y ago
  I'm confused by why the people you're talking about cannot afford food? They're gainfully employed, even if at a low wage. And it makes sense, because an iPhone is a fairly inexpensive luxury good. Certainly, it's cheaper than a comparably high end purse, car or house. And, in the US, it's heavily subsidized by carriers.
  - dieselgate 4y ago
    Gainfully employed is probably not the type of employment you mean. Smart phones and stuff typically come with a payment plan so they’re rarely bought with a lump sum
  - fastball 4y ago
    Are they really subsidized by carriers? Yes you pay less upfront, but in exchange for paying more on your monthly phone bill. Less of a subsidy and more of a payment plan.
    - HWR_14 4y ago
      Yes, they are. In the US, at least. There's also the carrier financed phone you're talking about, but I've had good luck when switching carriers. The free phones aren't going to be the latest generation, but they often have partial subsidization when you switch, like maybe half the cost.
  - tedunangst 4y ago
    Credit cards mean a lot of people can run negative budgets for quite a while before they can't eat. And a lot of people have inconsistent income. Afford an iPhone one month, can't afford groceries the next.
dieselgate 4y ago
chuckling because there was a point when I had an iPhone but could barely afford to eat (and couldn’t afford to live in a house). But yeah it was not the latest iPhone

The people who can't afford food are not the same people buying the latest iPhone

parkingrift 4y ago

Doubt. iPhone 13 is $30/month. All too easy to get on the iPhone upgrade program and perpetually give Apple $30/month.

yazaddaruvala 4y ago
+1 as soon as you look at the costs per day, iPhones are cheap! At $1.5 per day for the latest iPhone+AppleCare, the upgrade program made me realize I get at least $5-$10 of value out of my phone daily. Even in just time saved on daily tasks e.g. banking, shopping, taxis, work (I don't have to walk to the "location" or even to my desktop).
- throwaway_4ever 4y ago
  But why let Apple take all of that margin from you? This year my iPhone XS will depreciate like $100, costing me $0.30 / day to do the same tasks just as well.
  - gumby 4y ago
    Some people borrow money to buy a house or car and consider it a better deal than saving up. This calculation can make sense.
  - yazaddaruvala 4y ago
    Five reasons (probably bad reasons): Context: For a long time I stayed on my iPhone 6, trying to extract every last bit of value from it (replaced the screen 1x and the battery 2x) before it was no longer getting updates (I had it 6 years). 1. The cognitive overhead of trying to extract every last dollar is greater than $1 a day. In the back of my mind I kept going back and forth, do I upgrade the battery again, or switch to a newer $1000 phone? If I include the time and money ($100 every 2 years - $0.14 per day for the battery; $150 every 3 yeas - $0.14 per day for the screen) actually spent getting the phone fixed, then the upgrade program is a no brainer winner. 2. The improvements were noticeable! Significantly. When I got my iPhone 11 Pro after giving away my iPhone 6, my laptop usage reduced by 75% (I had been thinking of buying a new laptop - the iPhone purchase saved me money overall). 3. I stayed on my iPhone 6 because "I just didn't believe X, Y, or Z was actually worth the upgrade". For $1.5 per day (vs $0.3) for a tool able to save me $5-10 per day, every day, why ever lag behind? What if the 14 is able to save me $15 per day because of X, Y, or Z but "I just don't believe it" and miss out on years worth of "savings". 4. Even without everything I've said prior, I can afford the $1.5 per day, even for frivolous reasons. When my iPhone, a tool, costs the same as one bubble tea / fancy latte a week, I'd rather reduce my cafe visits slightly and use the best version of the tools that are known to improve my life. 5. There is still a lot more iPhones can improve on, and I would like them to improve. I specifically also buy the Pro because I view "giving Apple that margin" as a "vote with my wallet" that there is a market for a more feature-rich iPhone can do next year and the more my vote counts.

bpodgursky 4y ago

"afford" is an overloaded word I'm sure a lot of people are frustrated by food costs, and have adjusted their food purchasing decisions, while also buying new iPhones.

Barrin92 4y ago

if you've ever worked low income side jobs the amount of people you see with the newest airpods and iphone while living paycheck to paycheck is high. Of all the forms of conspicuous consumption that people get accused of, this is probably the most real one, with the exception of Jordans maybe

HWR_14 4y ago
I'm confused by why the people you're talking about cannot afford food? They're gainfully employed, even if at a low wage. And it makes sense, because an iPhone is a fairly inexpensive luxury good. Certainly, it's cheaper than a comparably high end purse, car or house. And, in the US, it's heavily subsidized by carriers.
- dieselgate 4y ago
  Gainfully employed is probably not the type of employment you mean. Smart phones and stuff typically come with a payment plan so they’re rarely bought with a lump sum
- fastball 4y ago
  Are they really subsidized by carriers? Yes you pay less upfront, but in exchange for paying more on your monthly phone bill. Less of a subsidy and more of a payment plan.
  - HWR_14 4y ago
    Yes, they are. In the US, at least. There's also the carrier financed phone you're talking about, but I've had good luck when switching carriers. The free phones aren't going to be the latest generation, but they often have partial subsidization when you switch, like maybe half the cost.
- tedunangst 4y ago
  Credit cards mean a lot of people can run negative budgets for quite a while before they can't eat. And a lot of people have inconsistent income. Afford an iPhone one month, can't afford groceries the next.

dieselgate 4y ago

chuckling because there was a point when I had an iPhone but could barely afford to eat (and couldn’t afford to live in a house). But yeah it was not the latest iPhone