"High" is a relative measure, and "too high" would indicate a problem. Margin is certainly high compared to the various cohorts against which Apple is measured

"High" is a relative measure, and "too high" would indicate a problem. Margin is certainly high compared to the various cohorts against which Apple is measured -- that's obviously not a problem. It would only become a problem if competitors can somehow negatively affect Apple by delivering market-equivalent or better products and services while foregoing margin by living in that profit "shadow". Plenty of companies are doing the latter, but not while doing the former. Edit: As usms implies elsewhere in this thread, competitors can't simply decide to do both simultaneously, since Apple has an optimally efficient supply chain and massive economies of scale.