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Apple's Lower-Cost iPhone As a 'Mid-End' Device
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I totally agree! I'm sick and tired of these big phone companies dangling these pretty devices in front of people, spending billions on advertising convincing them their lives are pointless without them, and then binding them up in a multi-year contract that they have no escape from.
Apple should just sell all their products without any carrier. Screw the phone companies!
Skype offers a service where you get a phone number others can call you on: http://www.skype.com/en/features/online-number/
You could easily drop your cell contract, get a skype number and then use your iPad mini is a super-large phablet. Cheaper too, I'd guess.
EDIT: ThunderSkunk beat me to it.
nice.. Europe will enjoy the new cheap iPhone
Emerging Markets, isn't that China, India and africa,
Europe is not some assbackwards hicksville you know.
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Going off the iPad mini and iPods a "low end" iPhone will probably fall in at around $75 - $100 cheaper than the cheapest "regular" iPhone model, thus tempting people to dig "just a little deeper" and spend more for the higher ticket item
That's what I've viewed as their "mid-end" iPhone. The iPhone 4 or 4S is much more affordable than the 5. I don't understand why they have to create an entirely new device when their last-generation device can fill that niche.
Perhaps Apple plans to stop selling older devices, so that all currently-selling phones have the same tech.
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You have no idea what you're talking about. Cook is not an accountant or finance guy. He got his bachelors in industrial engineering. He's a supply chain expert. You must have him confused with somebody else.
Not too bad Apple. $349 is about the upper limit that I would consider for a phone without a contract. Flagship phone prices are crazy to begin with.
They are not going to sell these at cost. Not even close.
I think it's essential for Apple to hit the middle end market better... it's where they're loosing ground... all this junk about Android vs iOS is just techies being techies and forgetting that most average consumers don't care... they just want a smart phone that works. From what I've seen, most people buy what is pushed at the store and what they can afford... or not afford!
I'm guessing they'll take the older models off the market. They haven't been good for Apples margins, since it still requires very precise and expensive manufacturing for the stainless steel and glass enclosure. Then again, maybe they could do something similar like they did with the iPad, keep the iPad 2 at 399 (and not the iPad 3), and priced Mini below. So maybe this new phone will be replacing the iPhone 4, and the 4S will still stay in the lineup.
Idk, I'm just guessing that iPhone 4/4S continued strong sales have not been good to margins because it is likely still expensive to build the enclosure. Precision metal fabrication does not get significantly cheaper over time like components do.
This is so stupid. It's like, "People are not buying a lot of phones in the $425-450 price range. Therefor, there's a great untapped market of people with $425-450 in their pocket who want to buy phones at that price range! DEPLOY THE CHEAP iPHONE!!!"
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could be because the mid-market is where the growth will likely occur in the upcoming years. That is, the higher end market growth is slowing.
I think I read that around 48% of iPhones sold last quarter was the latest version, vs 73% the previous year, meaning that there is growing domestic demand for the mid-market device (iPhone 4/4S, at this time). I'm sure they've done alot more research, but they prob found alot of people switching from feature phones want to pay $0 (subsidized) for a latest model.
In China, India, etc, it's wide open still, it's where the real huge growth is happening (on all markets). But it probably makes the more sense to get the 'mid-market' before trying to market a low-end device.
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I am pretty sure iPhone 4 will support iOS 7...that being said I'f I'm thinking like apple...they will/can make the iPhone 4 the LOW end iPhone as its already their most popular model to date. Also without having to create a new one especially since their cost on the iPhone 4 is now LOWER THAN EVER! year after year we get these stup*d rumors. Same goes for the iPad mini...people are talking about a <$250 priced iPad...well guess what $329-$100 = $229....since apple always drops the price of the previous gen by $100 and refurbs of Mini....well probably will cost $175-$200 once iPad Mini 2nd gen is released.
Its annoying when people spread senseless rumors...
Its annoying when people spread senseless rumors...
If you've never seen today's true LOW-end smartphones, let me just say... wow. Yes, they have a data plan, a touchscreen, and an app-capable OS (Android on the ones I've seen). But they are shockingly bad. Badly designed, cheaply made, dog slow toys. The carriers (regional ones?) give them out like candy to snare contracts.
There is NO way Apple would ever try to make junk. Lower-end than they now make? Sure, they might do that; and larger screens some day. The market is growing and there's room to carefully diversify and add more product lines. Just as happened with all-in-ones and laptops.
There is NO way Apple would ever try to make junk. Lower-end than they now make? Sure, they might do that; and larger screens some day. The market is growing and there's room to carefully diversify and add more product lines. Just as happened with all-in-ones and laptops.
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champ01
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I don't get it.
Yes a crappier (cheaper) phone will boost sales. But its not like Apple need it.
I can see this only going down hill from now.
Quality, Being the Best, Performance, Pride, Thinking out of the box.
Tell me when the real Apple is back. Cause **** all these iToys if nothing better is coming!
Yes a crappier (cheaper) phone will boost sales. But its not like Apple need it.
I can see this only going down hill from now.
Quality, Being the Best, Performance, Pride, Thinking out of the box.
Tell me when the real Apple is back. Cause **** all these iToys if nothing better is coming!
I'm thinking like Millah is. It's nice for Apple that the older processors get cheaper, but yeah, I'm thinking that making an iPhone 4 today isn't THAT much cheaper than it was in 2011.
They're probably after something that's significantly cheaper for them to make, so even if they sell a new "cheap phone" for the same price they used to sell the "2 year old phone" for, they'd still be coming out ahead.
(Plus, then you can do stuff like put new dock connectors on it and make 16x9 screens...even if they're not retina quality to make them cheaper...you can make the ratio match so that developers have an easier time making stuff look the same everywhere. These are advantages over selling 2 year old designs. You can update some features like ports while leaving other features retro, like memory.)
The profit margins on the previous generation phones is very small. This is what killed them in their earnings report last week. More people are buying the previous generation phone than anytime in their history. By building a new phone from ground up with cost in mind, they can keep their profit margin higher.
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If they are truly building a low cost phone for emerging markets, then it is not designed for the US. That means even $350 would be too high. All of these rumors are very confusing because none of them agree on what direction Apple is trying to go in with a low cost iPhone.