6 ms·

No man, you don't get it. MOST people in Russia really never buy expensive smartphones with subsidies. They actually pay the full price. My guess is, carriers t

• aetherson 13y ago
  No, man, I really do get it. I understand they pay full price. The point is, iPhones are a premium smartphone. They intrinsically cost more than many other smartphones. If you're looking at the (full) price of an iPhone versus the (full) price of a non-flagship Android phone, the (full) price of the non-flagship Android phone is typically hundreds of dollars less than the (full) price of the iPhone.
  • gambiting 13y ago
    Hang on, you lost me here - why would we compare the price of the flagship Apple phone to the price of a non-flagship Android phone?
    • semiel 13y ago
      Because there are no non-flagship Apple phones.
      • guiambros 13y ago
        What do you call the iPhone 4 or 4S then? Flagship-but-hundreds-of-dollars-less?
        • jarek 13y ago
          Last year's model.
          • guiambros 13y ago
            Exactly. And what's the difference between last year's model and non-flagship? Both have old-ish processor, old form factor. But recent software, and all the basic functionality -- just without the bells and whistles. The problem is that Apple doesn't have (yet) a portfolio strategy, so you still thinking in terms of when this product started to sell. Like cars. Or fashion. Despite if last year's model is better than yesterday's launch. Once they stop using sequential numbers and migrate to models - e.g., iPhone Pro, iPhone Air, iPhone Lite - you'll clearly understand what is flagship or non-flagship. But that's pure marketing/product positioning, nothing to do with the product itself. TL;DR: Apple already has a non-flagship product; it's just not clearly positioned as such. This is not a mistake; this is by design [1]. [1] http://www.asymco.com/2013/05/29/tim-cooks-answer-to-my-first-question/ http://www.asymco.com/2013/05/29/tim-cooks-answer-to-my-firs...
            • Steko 13y ago
              The 3 year old phone 4 still costs $450 off contract while a Nexus 4 is $299.
              • guiambros 13y ago
                But Nexus 4 is not an iPhone. No trolling. The "flagship" iPhone (5) costs between $650-850 + tax. The "non-flagship" is a couple of hundred bucks less, which is reasonable. Apple charges more, simply because they can. I'm not making a judgement call here. I personally wouldn't pay that much, but I'm not the target. In fact, I don't think any individual person is the target of non-flagship devices for Apple; their strategy has always been to sell locked devices to carriers in bulk, so they can offer "for free" to customers upgrading from a dumb phone -- in exchange of a 2 yr agreement, ETFs, and an outrageously expensive data plan. That's essentially my reading of Tim Cook's answer in the link above. If they can charge what they charge, why change? Of course this strategy won't work forever. Eventually they will have to migrate to a portfolio strategy, OR enter the race to the bottom with Samsung, HTC, et al (unlikely). The only question is when.
                • 13y ago
  • VladRussian2 13y ago
    >They intrinsically cost more than many other smartphones. that in the eyes of many Russians (like in any status symbol obsessed country) is the main advantage of iPhone :)
    • snogglethorpe 13y ago
      Now if only they'd release a diamond-encrusted model...
• jotm 13y ago
  Yes, and they don't buy it because they can compare the full price of the iPhone vs other flagships and see that they're getting much less for more money (i.e. being screwed over). Russians also seem pretty anti-Apple, thinking Macs and iPhones are a staple of the rich.
  • snitko 13y ago
    Haha, I'm not sure about that one. It's like everywhere: apple fanboys, anti-apple Android enthusiasts, then people who don't really care.
  • guard-of-terra 13y ago
    People buy iPhones. A lot. iPads too. Macs - not so much. It's not that russians are anti-Apple, it's Apple that neglected Russian market for a decade. iPhone got very popular anyway from the first days of American phones jailbreaks (even before apps, before that stuff, a lot of American phones were smuggled), iPod too (it's not so expensive anyway), but that's it. No hi-end gear.
  • PeterisP 13y ago
    There is a large market in Russia for premium products; large economic inequality means lots of poor people but also a lot very wealthy people in the major cities. They definitely have a market for full price iPhones, heck, there is a market for multiple companies selling gold-plated jewel-encrusted iPhones.