4 ms·

strange to me that people spend $1000+ on a phone when you can get another one that does 95% the same for $200-300. is that 5% really worth an extra $800+...

strange to me that people spend $1000+ on a phone when you can get another one that does 95% the same for $200-300. is that 5% really worth an extra $800+... the only big difference is if you care about resale value. trying to sell a used android/windows vs a used apple product is definitely an eye-opening experience.

msh 3y ago
I value a high end camera to take photos and videos of my kids growing up. I will not get that in a 200-300$ phone. I have for work a mid range android (Samsung a53). The camera is significantly worse than my iphone 12 pro max. So i have to get high end phones and then the extra money for a iphone is not much.
localplume 3y ago
[dead]
thebruce87m 3y ago
I buy second hand apple phones, so I spend £500 on last years model and still get the good resale value 3 years later. For me the long term updates and lack of maintenance are key factors - it’s been 15 years since I’ve had time to faff around with phones, I just need something that works and can easily transfer on to the next one.
mahathu 3y ago
Looked into this when my Huawei P20 died last year. In urban areas, used iPhones are a solid option since folks tend to upgrade annually or biennially. You can get a 1-2yo device in mint condition with software support for a few more years. I was prepared to drop another 80€ on a battery replacement which i thought would give me at least a few years worth of use out of that phone but so far it hasn't even been necessary yet (i'm using an iPhone 11 and don't feel like i'm missing out on much compared to newer models, even the camera is excellent)
ethanbond 3y ago
IMO even a modest improvement in a device that I use for several hours per day, every single day, is worth quite a lot of money.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
_aavaa_ 3y ago
I think your framing is wrong here. It’s not so much about what it can and cannot do, of which there are plenty (continuity camera is the best example for me, and that works right out of the box). It’s more about how well the two phones do similar things. Yes a 200$ phone takes photos and videos, but the image quality is worse and the files ironically tend to be bigger. Yes it will run all my apps, but they’ll be sluggish cause of bloat in the software stack. Same idea, but repeat it for everything else. Now, this may simply not matter to someone, and that’s great they get to save 800$. But to many others, myself included, it does matter.
dagmx 3y ago
What’s strange is that people still make this ridiculous comparison. Unless they’re severely out of touch with how the general populace think and what they value. Let’s talk phones, and just ignore the brand to start. Higher end devices often have better cameras, better support, better build quality. I’m sure you’ll find some random phone that competes with a flagship, but that’s irrelevant to the vast majority of users. Now start introducing brands to the mix. Each brand has value adds like platform specific apps and ecosystem integration. Samsung and Apple have a big ecosystem of products that they work with that other brands don’t. Even if the other brands work with them, many people prefer to stick with the single brand for support reasons. You’ll likely suggest alternative apps and products. Users don’t want that, they want a product that does what they need without being technically competent. Your problem is you’re looking at spec sheets and seeing equivalence in the things that matter to you. The things that matter to most people aren’t on the spec sheet. A spec sheet does not convey experience. By your same argument, why do people buy nicer cars? A fiat 500 is most of what I get with a ford f150 and a Lamborghini Aventador. Why do they buy nicer clothes? Fast fashion from H&M is the same from a utility perspective as a nice tailored suit from Armani. If your arguments start with random value segments and don’t take into account experience, nothing will ever make sense. The experience of a $200 Android phone is not the experience of a $1000 Android phone, let alone a $1000 iPhone. The experience of a $10k car is not the experience of a $80k or $400k car. The experience of a $20 shirt is not the same as the experience of a $180 shirt.
- blacksmith_tb 3y ago
  Not the OP, but presumably this is a diminishing returns argument? Clearly a Lambo is nicer than a Fiat, but most people can't or won't pay 10X more for it. The spread between, say, the iPhone 14 Pro at $999 and the Pixel 6a at $299 is a lot smaller, so the possibility that the 'returns' are still worth it to you doesn't seem so unbelievable to me, but I do see the point that the 6a is plenty good at the basics, and so spending 3X more is unnecessary. Of course as the article points out, most people aren't choosing at random, they're invested in one ecosystem or the other to a degree, and it may just be too painful to pull up those roots.
  - 3y ago
o1y32 3y ago
There is a huge difference between a $200 Android phone vs a $1000 iPhone, and why people choose the latter is easy to see. The line gets much blurrier after $500. I have a Samsung "flagship" that is near three years old but is still rocking. Performance is still good. It won't receive new OS upgrades but will continue to receive security updates for another year, when I'll be looking for a new phone. (Latest Samsung phones have a longer support timeframe.) I see people say an iPhone lasts many years but you need to get a new Android phone every 1-2 years. That hasn't been true for quite a while for middle- and high end phones. And I don't see myself paying more for an iPhone when I barely get any benefits.
- voidwtf 3y ago
  You hit the nail on the head with OS upgrades and longevity. Android consistently found a way to stop offering me OS updates. Whether it was the manufacturer, or the phone carrier, I would by a flagship phone and within 2 years stop receiving OS updates. Meanwhile, I switched to Apple and skip 2-4 generations at a time and hand down my phones to my kids, who still receive updates. It was only the end of last year that we phased the last iPhone 6 out of our family, a phone released September of 2015. A phone Apple replaced the battery in for $35 halfway through its lifetime. I’ll never own an Android phone as long as the carriers have any control over OS updates or baked in applications. Oh, and let’s not forget while phone backups automatically to the cloud. Every new phone I’ve purchased has continued on right where the last one left off. Settings and customizations I setup in 2015 are still working to this day on a phone that’s only a year old.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
stcroixx 3y ago
Status/bragging. Same reason people who rent or live in a tiny house in CA drive BMWs.
n8henrie 3y ago
I usually keep my iPhones for about 3 years and use them heavily. That's less than $0.75 per day difference in cost, and if the improved experience (which I get every day for the 3 years) translates directly to cost (admittedly a little silly), 5% of $200 is $10, so that seems worth it.
sgarland 3y ago
It’s not the cost for me, as I was previously using Pixels which weren’t tremendously far off in price. I’ve had a Mac since 2014, after years of complaining about them. Then the M1 came out, and I became a zealot, because my base-spec Air trounces my fully-spec’d i9 MBP that my work gave me. But the real trick that keeps people in is the ecosystem. I switched to an iPhone a couple of months ago. Other than some iOS complaints, the handoff and interplay between devices is incredible. Answer a phone call on the Mac? Sure. Copy a URL on the Mac, and then paste it on the iPhone? Yep, no problem. Apple solves small, annoying problems, and does so without friction. Things just work.
- itsokimbatman 3y ago
  > Apple solves small, annoying problems, and does so without friction. Things just work. This. I’ve tried Android a couple of times over the years, and every time there’s just little quirks and problems that drive me back to iOS. Same with Linux on a laptop. I actually prefer Linux as a dev environment, but I’ve never been able to get the same laptop experience as I can with a Mac. The quality of the touchpad, keyboard (the butterfly keys being the lone exception), display, weight, and form factor just can’t be touched.
triceratops 3y ago
> is that 5% really worth an extra $800+. Yes, yes it is. Some people value their time and energy really highly.

msh 3y ago

I value a high end camera to take photos and videos of my kids growing up. I will not get that in a 200-300$ phone. I have for work a mid range android (Samsung a53). The camera is significantly worse than my iphone 12 pro max. So i have to get high end phones and then the extra money for a iphone is not much.

localplume 3y ago

[dead]

thebruce87m 3y ago

I buy second hand apple phones, so I spend £500 on last years model and still get the good resale value 3 years later. For me the long term updates and lack of maintenance are key factors - it’s been 15 years since I’ve had time to faff around with phones, I just need something that works and can easily transfer on to the next one.

mahathu 3y ago

Looked into this when my Huawei P20 died last year. In urban areas, used iPhones are a solid option since folks tend to upgrade annually or biennially. You can get a 1-2yo device in mint condition with software support for a few more years. I was prepared to drop another 80€ on a battery replacement which i thought would give me at least a few years worth of use out of that phone but so far it hasn't even been necessary yet (i'm using an iPhone 11 and don't feel like i'm missing out on much compared to newer models, even the camera is excellent)

ethanbond 3y ago

IMO even a modest improvement in a device that I use for several hours per day, every single day, is worth quite a lot of money.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

_aavaa_ 3y ago

I think your framing is wrong here. It’s not so much about what it can and cannot do, of which there are plenty (continuity camera is the best example for me, and that works right out of the box). It’s more about how well the two phones do similar things. Yes a 200$ phone takes photos and videos, but the image quality is worse and the files ironically tend to be bigger. Yes it will run all my apps, but they’ll be sluggish cause of bloat in the software stack. Same idea, but repeat it for everything else. Now, this may simply not matter to someone, and that’s great they get to save 800$. But to many others, myself included, it does matter.

dagmx 3y ago

What’s strange is that people still make this ridiculous comparison. Unless they’re severely out of touch with how the general populace think and what they value. Let’s talk phones, and just ignore the brand to start. Higher end devices often have better cameras, better support, better build quality. I’m sure you’ll find some random phone that competes with a flagship, but that’s irrelevant to the vast majority of users. Now start introducing brands to the mix. Each brand has value adds like platform specific apps and ecosystem integration. Samsung and Apple have a big ecosystem of products that they work with that other brands don’t. Even if the other brands work with them, many people prefer to stick with the single brand for support reasons. You’ll likely suggest alternative apps and products. Users don’t want that, they want a product that does what they need without being technically competent. Your problem is you’re looking at spec sheets and seeing equivalence in the things that matter to you. The things that matter to most people aren’t on the spec sheet. A spec sheet does not convey experience. By your same argument, why do people buy nicer cars? A fiat 500 is most of what I get with a ford f150 and a Lamborghini Aventador. Why do they buy nicer clothes? Fast fashion from H&M is the same from a utility perspective as a nice tailored suit from Armani. If your arguments start with random value segments and don’t take into account experience, nothing will ever make sense. The experience of a $200 Android phone is not the experience of a $1000 Android phone, let alone a $1000 iPhone. The experience of a $10k car is not the experience of a $80k or $400k car. The experience of a $20 shirt is not the same as the experience of a $180 shirt.

blacksmith_tb 3y ago
Not the OP, but presumably this is a diminishing returns argument? Clearly a Lambo is nicer than a Fiat, but most people can't or won't pay 10X more for it. The spread between, say, the iPhone 14 Pro at $999 and the Pixel 6a at $299 is a lot smaller, so the possibility that the 'returns' are still worth it to you doesn't seem so unbelievable to me, but I do see the point that the 6a is plenty good at the basics, and so spending 3X more is unnecessary. Of course as the article points out, most people aren't choosing at random, they're invested in one ecosystem or the other to a degree, and it may just be too painful to pull up those roots.
- 3y ago

o1y32 3y ago

There is a huge difference between a $200 Android phone vs a $1000 iPhone, and why people choose the latter is easy to see. The line gets much blurrier after $500. I have a Samsung "flagship" that is near three years old but is still rocking. Performance is still good. It won't receive new OS upgrades but will continue to receive security updates for another year, when I'll be looking for a new phone. (Latest Samsung phones have a longer support timeframe.) I see people say an iPhone lasts many years but you need to get a new Android phone every 1-2 years. That hasn't been true for quite a while for middle- and high end phones. And I don't see myself paying more for an iPhone when I barely get any benefits.

voidwtf 3y ago
You hit the nail on the head with OS upgrades and longevity. Android consistently found a way to stop offering me OS updates. Whether it was the manufacturer, or the phone carrier, I would by a flagship phone and within 2 years stop receiving OS updates. Meanwhile, I switched to Apple and skip 2-4 generations at a time and hand down my phones to my kids, who still receive updates. It was only the end of last year that we phased the last iPhone 6 out of our family, a phone released September of 2015. A phone Apple replaced the battery in for $35 halfway through its lifetime. I’ll never own an Android phone as long as the carriers have any control over OS updates or baked in applications. Oh, and let’s not forget while phone backups automatically to the cloud. Every new phone I’ve purchased has continued on right where the last one left off. Settings and customizations I setup in 2015 are still working to this day on a phone that’s only a year old.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

stcroixx 3y ago

Status/bragging. Same reason people who rent or live in a tiny house in CA drive BMWs.

n8henrie 3y ago

I usually keep my iPhones for about 3 years and use them heavily. That's less than $0.75 per day difference in cost, and if the improved experience (which I get every day for the 3 years) translates directly to cost (admittedly a little silly), 5% of $200 is $10, so that seems worth it.

sgarland 3y ago

It’s not the cost for me, as I was previously using Pixels which weren’t tremendously far off in price. I’ve had a Mac since 2014, after years of complaining about them. Then the M1 came out, and I became a zealot, because my base-spec Air trounces my fully-spec’d i9 MBP that my work gave me. But the real trick that keeps people in is the ecosystem. I switched to an iPhone a couple of months ago. Other than some iOS complaints, the handoff and interplay between devices is incredible. Answer a phone call on the Mac? Sure. Copy a URL on the Mac, and then paste it on the iPhone? Yep, no problem. Apple solves small, annoying problems, and does so without friction. Things just work.

itsokimbatman 3y ago
> Apple solves small, annoying problems, and does so without friction. Things just work. This. I’ve tried Android a couple of times over the years, and every time there’s just little quirks and problems that drive me back to iOS. Same with Linux on a laptop. I actually prefer Linux as a dev environment, but I’ve never been able to get the same laptop experience as I can with a Mac. The quality of the touchpad, keyboard (the butterfly keys being the lone exception), display, weight, and form factor just can’t be touched.

triceratops 3y ago

> is that 5% really worth an extra $800+. Yes, yes it is. Some people value their time and energy really highly.