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I'm not saying all phones should be cheap. The market for premium phones has and will continue to exist. And who's to say finding ways to reduce the cost to pro
by throwaway48476 2y ago
I'm not saying all phones should be cheap. The market for premium phones has and will continue to exist. And who's to say finding ways to reduce the cost to produce phones isn't innovation?
I find that markets that are financialized where the price of the good is obfuscated are less efficient. This is because efficient markets rely on price discovery. Healthcare is an excellent example of this.
- MichaelZuo 2y agoI think it's impossible to buy a phone from any of the major carriers online without seeing the full upfront price at least a few times on screen. And in store there's clearly the price tag right beside the demo model. So hard to see how its obsfucated like healthcare.
- throwaway48476 2y agoI buy cheap phones for projects so have experienced exactly this. If you go on any prepaid WISP site and look at their device selection ordered by lowest price there's always an asterisk and the quoted price is based on some kind of contract.
- MichaelZuo 2y agoThe prepaid phone models available are usually the cheaper phones? Or is there some carrier that sells the expensive $1000+ phones on prepaid plans?
- throwaway48476 2y agoTypically the $1000+ premium phone market is for unlocked phones sold directly from the manufacturer. The locked phones are usually sub $250 and have some kind of finacial gimmick to get the sticker price lower. Often it will be some carrier specific model name. Just sort by price low to high and you'll find them.
- MichaelZuo 2y agoHuh? I'm talking about the US? ATT, Verizon, and Tmobile are selling many many expensive phones, locked, on 24 momth payment plans, literally hundreds of possible configurations of dozens of models.