3 ms·

Carmakers are moving to touchscreens because they don't have to custom design hard keys for each model and can just reuse the same design in every one, just twe

Carmakers are moving to touchscreens because they don't have to custom design hard keys for each model and can just reuse the same design in every one, just tweaking the software. It's pure cheapness, not an improvement in any way. Apple has been building the same home button for a decade. It's a simple, familiar interface. iPads cost hundreds of dollars. Engineering the cost of a button out of it at this point is pure greed.

alephnerd 2y ago
> is shaving pennies off the cost by removing physical buttons These are not pennies at scale. These are 9-10 figure costs at scale. Just using the iPhone 15 Max as an example [0], your BoM is around $550-650 (including labor), but sells for $1,200. 50% margins are not great, especially because the the BoM grew from $400-500 for the iPhone 14 Max (Edit: "The parts costs for the Max series ranged between $400 and $450 during the 2018 to 2021 period", not iPhone 14), which also sold for $1,200. A 50% decrease in margins on the flagship phone is a massive decrease in margins, and it's most likely similar across all Apple SKUs. Every single component if you're in the hardware space costs money and overhead to manage, and supply chain issues can push back releases. This is why companies are moving towards digital displays. It's the same principle why EVs can be more reliable than ICE vehicles due to less parts As an (I presume) Engineer drill the following mantra into your head: MARGINS, MARGINS, MARGINS. This is what gives you your paycheck in the environment we are in today. [0] - https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/iPhone-15-teardown-reveals-10-costlier-parts-than-2022-flagship https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/iPhone-15-teardo...