So how did they spend billions on infrastructure while they subsidized the phones in the past? I suspect fewer consumer would be willing now to spend $850-1000 on a phone.
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Apple Unveils iPhone 7 With Water Resistance, A10 Fusion, New 'Jet Black' Color, Updated Cameras, No Headphone Jack, and More
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No I'm talking about all the extra functionality they proposed with the external cable.
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Nope, that's not what I'm picturing.
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They trivialized the word.
If it was up to customers the iPhone, iPad and MacBooks and mouse and USB and USB-c might not exist.
Which version of iPhone you have thought 4.7 or 5.5?? Meanwhile i am going for jet black iPhone 7
I don't even know how the term "subsidy" got attached to this practice. It was a "loan"
The carrier didn't sell a $649 phone for $199. That would be absurd.
Instead... you made a $199 down-payment... and a portion of your monthly bill paid for the remainder of the phone. YOU paid for it... it wasn't a gift from the carrier.
Good news! You don't have to spend $850-1000 on a phone.
The ill-named "subsidies" are gone... but they now offer payment plans.
Instead of dropping $850 on a phone... how about $35 a month? Does that sound better?
Everyone is different. I don't have revolutionary ideas. But with previous primary phone releases Apple has pushed the bar forward. I would have loved to see a phone that had higher resolution and more screen at the same size. If Samsung can do it with the Note 7, exploding batteries aside, Apple could have done it far better if desired. I really feel they held back for next year's 10th anniversary. And what is really new? Better yes. But better is very expensive when I expect next year is the gem.
You forgot speakers and Semi-water proofing...
Basically everything but the design has changed and you're calling it an iPhone 6SS?
I'd also add a vastly improved display, borrowing from the 9.7" iPad Pro, the one DisplayMate recently ranked at the top. And longer battery life on a charge.
Oh, and the A10 processor, now with four cores and much faster processing.
The piano black looks pretty cool. The new camera features also looked pretty nice. I might have to upgrade and then wait through a year of buyers remorse until the next iPhone comes out lol
(just using you and cowdog's exchange as a launching point but...)
pine for easier/faster & more complex (and far less explicit) communication between yourself and the computers.. on traditional computers, get rid of the keyboard and mouse.. they're both incredibly slow and inefficient.. instead, more gesture based stuff, predictive behavior, and even vocal commands..
pine for augmented reality.. one of the neatest ways i can think up which may be possible in the not too distant future would be similar to the watch/phone combo except instead of wearing the watch on your wrist, the phone is linked up to contact lenses which are providing the AR or other terminator style heads-up-display in a package that is entirely unobtrusive for the user..
(well, unobtrusive in the sense that current VR headsets or things like google glasses are very obtrusive.. physically/size/etc ..
i'm not completely thinking a majority of users would be o.k with using electronic contact lenses so this idea may also be too invasive for the user.. it's kind of cool to think about though
)I'm not seeing that the outrageously more expensive part.
The AT&T "subsidy" plan I had six years ago (2GB data) cost $2,239 for two years.
$85/month + $199 for the phone.
The comparable 2016 AT&T plan (3GB data) is $2,088 for two years.
$87/month (monthly phone cost included in that amount)
Old subsidy plan:
$40 - voice
$20 - unlimited SMS
$25 - 2GB data
--------
$85/month + $199 subsidy price for a new phone
$2,239 total
2016 plan:
$40 - unlimited voice/unlimited SMS + 3GB of data
$20 - access fee
$27 - monthly cost for a $649 phone
----------
$87/month
$2,088 total
I get that. To clarify: I understand that a portion of my monthly payment paid for it. Now it doesn't. Still, the monthly payment, as other have stated on this thread, will not be lowered.
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Well, it all depends on how you look at it. I have been grandfathered into AT&T's old plan. It gives me unlimited data, but I pay about the same as you are paying for your existing data plan. By the way, what's the access fee? Is that a one time fee, or it a monthly fee you must pay?
Access fee is charged for each phone that joins the plan, and it's paid monthly. If you didn't use much data, you could add a second line to this plan for just the cost of the access fee (and then share the 3GB of data between the two lines).
IMO, what AT&T's done to the grandfathered unlimited plan is effectively raise the price to what unlimited data goes for in 2016.
Cell service has absolutely gotten cheaper over time. I don't understand how you don't get this.
Yes it does.
You still pay one monthly fee to your carrier.
Some of that is for the phone... somewhere between $27 and $40 a month depending on the model.
And the rest of your bill is for the service: data, voice, texts, etc.
You still get one bill. Nothing has changed in that regard.
It's just that now you KNOW how much you're paying for the phone itself. It's no longer "hidden" behind a supposed "subsidy"
Now I'm lost. This is probably why I don't understand your position.
Why/when would the monthly payment be lowered?
Yes... I posted exactly that on page #34 of this thread showing phones/plans from 2011 compared to today. They are cheaper today.
But there are still people here who claim that owning a smartphone was cheaper under the old contracts/subsidies model. They are saying it's more expensive today.
So who's right?
Probably couldn't get on macrumor's to make negative comment, so had to just say it out loud. Look at it this way, you got a chance to see a troll live in person.
You clearly don't get it. I worked in the industry for many years and the term "subsidized" was specifically used to describe how and why we sold a user a $400 phone for $1.I don't even know how the term "subsidy" got attached to this practice. It was a "loan"
The carrier didn't sell a $649 phone for $199. That would be absurd.
Instead... you made a $199 down-payment... and a portion of your monthly bill paid for the remainder of the phone. YOU paid for it... it wasn't a gift from the carrier.
Good news! You don't have to spend $850-1000 on a phone.
The ill-named "subsidies" are gone... but they now offer payment plans.
Instead of dropping $850 on a phone... how about $35 a month? Does that sound better?
Somewhere you seem to have a lot of misinformation. You may just be too young to recall how it all worked prior to a few years ago.
Subsidies are NOT replaced by payment plans unless the equivalent rate plan is decreased by an equal value. It's simple math.
In the US? Seriously?
My local web apple store (sg) has the base model (32gb) at $100 higher.
Yes... I posted exactly that on page #34 of this thread showing phones/plans from 2011 compared to today. They are cheaper today.
But there are still people here who claim that owning a smartphone was cheaper under the old contracts/subsidies model. They are saying it's more expensive today.
So who's right?
No, you are comparing apples to oranges. Just stop.
If you want to talk a subsidized rate vs a non-subsidized rate you have to compare recent/similar plans. Posting plans from years ago is completely irrelevant and only proves your own point of services not reducing as technology ages/improves as completely wrong.