Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Americans buying 5s : $199 w/ contract. Chinese buying 5s : $0 w/ contract
- Thread starter user-name-here
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Impossible to compare markets.
In the USA 60% or more customers are on family lines. Which offers significant savings. Verizon even stopped reporting "per line revenue" in 2012 because Americans are smarter than Europeans and Asians think.
The average revenue per line with Verizon (the last report when Verizon was still reporting it) was about $45-50 a line.
China probably doesn't offer family lines.
That's why we can't compare $0 vs $199.
Plus USA customers have access to discounts from 10%-28%.
Honestly 1-2 line customers in USA probably are getting ripped off by Verizon. But once you get to 4 lines going post paid makes sense with subsidies.
Why'd you split the paragraph? It goes on to say:
As to "thoughts" - not much to think with no information given regarding contract duration or cost. All carriers balance up-front price against contract duration and pricing within the market they serve.
As to "thoughts" - not much to think with no information given regarding contract duration or cost. All carriers balance up-front price against contract duration and pricing within the market they serve.
In the UK, we don't even understand why Apple can say in its keynote, that the new phone will cost $xxx with contract.
We're all sitting here thinking, 'yeah, but how much per month is that contract?'.....
In the UK, contract prices vary a huge amount, from £10 to £60.. And how much you pay for your phone depends upon the contract you take. You can get the phone for free, if you take a high-priced contract..
Or, if you pay the full-price (or bring your own SIM-free phone), you pay £10 a month.
We're all sitting here thinking, 'yeah, but how much per month is that contract?'.....
In the UK, contract prices vary a huge amount, from £10 to £60.. And how much you pay for your phone depends upon the contract you take. You can get the phone for free, if you take a high-priced contract..
Or, if you pay the full-price (or bring your own SIM-free phone), you pay £10 a month.
We think the same thing in the US... Apple is simply telling you the SUBSIDIZED cost of the handset on contract. They are never calculating what you are paying on the contract, because they don't care. EVERY on contract phone price is listed this way anywhere you go.
So you can take a $10 per month contract, and still just pay $199 for the iPhone 5s?
No. You're required to have a data plan when using a smartphone.