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I genuinely think smartphone hype of years past is gone. Not only are we getting mostly iterative updates, they’re also getting crazy expensive. I can see the average person holding onto their phone for a few years at this point.

I only upgraded from my iPhone 4 (admittedly, very dated) to an iPhone 6 last year, and I'm perfectly happy.

The only reason I've upgraded previously was due to iOS upgrades resulting in degraded performance (likely due to increased memory requirements?). If I stay on the original iOS as long as possible (i.e. until apps / services discontinue support) then I'm good to sit out 2 or 3 iPhone generations.
 
I genuinely think smartphone hype of years past is gone. Not only are we getting mostly iterative updates, they’re also getting crazy expensive. I can see the average person holding onto their phone for a few years at this point.

Speaking for myself and my family... THIS, combined with deciding that it's stupid to spend so much money on the latest bleeding edge hardware when one or two generations back will still do the job well - and for a significantly lower price.

Obviously there are always people who will pay lots of money for the latest new shiny - whether it's an iPhone, a Pixel, a Galaxy... but some of us believe, with smartphones, we're basically dealing with a commodity product nowadays.
 
Apple should have put the dual camera on the smaller iPhone 8. Most of us on 6s would have upgraded, but without that dual camera we are sticking with our 6s. Apple's bad for not including it.
so with your logic Chrysler should include the Hemi in the standard version chargers
 
The difference between Apple's US and Canadian pricing always causes me to hesitate. I want to buy an iPhone 8+, but Apple is charging six percent above the foreign exchange rate. Just can't see the justification for that, so am waiting for the company to adjust its Canadian prices.
 
The horrible iOS 11 has finally gotten to them. When you buy a new 8 and it feels just as slow as the 7 you left you return it and go back to the 7 and tell 5 friends. iOS 11 has been that level of bad.
 
The iPhone 8 isn’t supposed to be the high-demand phone. It’s replacing the 6S and 7 as the future lower priced counterparts to the flagship. Why did anybody expect otherwise?
 
Do we think this is due to hold-outs for 10/27 or is it that the phone market has saturated enough, and the thrill of ANOTHER new iPhone has waned? I can't imagine after years of crazy numbers of upgrade(rs) for the NEXT new iPhone, that all of a sudden people are just not upgrading. I feel like the $1149 price is not stopping people from wanting the X...therefore, I think it may be really hard to get one. But, I know I'M sure gonna try! :)
 
I love the optimism that everyone is just waiting for the iPhone X. Whereas pretty much everyone I’ve spoken to just isn’t interested anymore.

My view is Apple screwed up this cycle and handed the market to Samsung.
 
"The iPhone X price point is about 75 percent higher than the iPhone 7. So it's a very expensive device," he said,referring to the device's $1319 starting price in Canada"
Exactly what I have been saying if the customers don't get help from the carriers (rebates, installment, etc) Apple could be in trouble even matching last year's numbers. The number of folks outside the US able to outright purchase $1000-1500 phones its likely small or not the size Apple is expecting.

That's hopefully the case, seeing it's absurd that the iPhone 8 (64 GB) will cost you $980 USD here in Scandinavia. That's including tax and Apples arbitrary markup. Hopefully people have had enough and it will act as a clear signal to Apple that they're overpriced.
 
As an iPhone 8 (plus) owner, yeah I totally understand it. I got here after owning an iPhone 6 since that launched, and even when buying it from the Apple Store (a couple of times because I was foolish and thought the 64gb would cover me) the employees told me they're all sticking with their 7's.

It's a funny situation really. It's currently, and if the X specs are identical will remain so, the most powerful iPhone. The camera is phenomenal. I'm an SLR user and this feature really blew me away. However it's only slightly better than an iPhone 7.

So I guess that's it. It's the best one there is, but it's not a huge leap ahead of its predecessor. I gotta say though the wireless charging has become so useful - now I can keep my iPhone on a stand that I modified and outfitted with a wireless charging module myself, facing me always charging. No thought being put into how I place it down. That feature combined with only using BT headphones means they can seal up that charge port now.

But eh. If wireless charging doesn't bother you then there's no need to upgrade and as far as I can tell that seems to be a massively shared opinion.
 
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Obviously there are always people who will pay lots of money for the latest new shiny - whether it's an iPhone, a Pixel, a Galaxy... but some of us believe, with smartphones, we're basically dealing with a commodity product nowadays.

Regardless, you have already pre-established that you don't need to upgrade to the latest iPhone or features because you're content with your current iPhone. The iPhone is a commodity, but so are many other tech items as well. But it's Apples end goal to sell the consumer on why they would want to upgrade to the latest device and for what reasons. So if somebody justifies the reason for upgrading their device For whatever Reasons, they value the iPhone more than they do the term commodity. So the argument goes both ways pending their reasoning.
 
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Funny, focusing on the iPhone 8 and X launches were Rogers excuse for not supporting the AW3 launch....hmm.
But, we all hate the carriers up here....with the lack of competition.

I was happy with my 6s until Apple destroyed my car connectivity with iOS 11. :( So, now I'm going to replace my receiver for one with CarPlay. *sigh*

With AC+ and HST, the iPhone X 64GB is almost $1800 CDN. (well worth a road trip to Delaware to save about 20% if you knew they would have stock).
 
If the demand is so anemic, why are certain models so difficult to obtain? Been looking for a 64GB space gray T-mobile model for 3 weeks.
I can buy a SIM free 8 Plus SG 64GB through the App Store App for in-store pickup today. Not too difficult...
 
Keep those margins up Apple so fanboys can compensate less sales, they love it.

The margins are necessary to continue funding the company and future development. I have no problem with them insisting on healthy margins. It's good business.

Secondly, the iPhone X has such advanced technology in it, competition won't be able to match it. We'll see another round of "good-enough" devices from the competition at price points closer to what consumers can afford.

I think we're going to see a noticeable drop iPhone sales for this quarter compared to the year-ago, but it will balance itself out in the long run. The cost of the technology will come down, and the healthy margins will still keep Apple making the most money in the industry, regardless of units sold.
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Phones are getting so powerful and expensive I think people are starting to keep them much longer. The annual upgrade cycle is collapsing.

Which also explains why Apple is very aggressively building out their "Services" revenue category in order to keep the money flowing.
 
If the demand is so anemic, why are certain models so difficult to obtain? Been looking for a 64GB space gray T-mobile model for 3 weeks.

Why don’t you just order the unlocked model from Apple? I checked and it’s scheduled to be shipped out toward the end of this month.
 
Of course they say demand is low. Aside from the fact that Rogers contracts are pretty damn expensive, Apple in Canada sells the phones unlocked now. I upgraded from a 5S and I'm on Rogers, but there's no way I was gonna get stuck on a carrier contract. I got the 8+ direct from Apple.
 
Not sure how this makes Apple "bad." I do understand that you would appreciate the dual camera on the 4.7 iPhone model, but I also understand Apples method here to include it on the Plus model, because they want consumers to upgrade to the more expensive model that has those premium features with the 8 Plus and X.
Right, but if they upgrade to the Plus to get the better camera they also get a behemoth of a phablet that barely qualifies as a mobile phone. I’m referring to my 6s Plus, and the 8 Plus is even heavier.

Google had no problem putting identical cameras in Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. The only key differences are screen size and battery capacity, both of which are natural and logical consequences of making one version larger than the other.

What’s Apple’s excuse? None. Just greed. That unique kind of predatory, gluttonous ubergreed that has become their trademark. They just can’t let it be a simple, decent exchange along the lines of “you pay premium price, we give you a premium product”. They always have to slip in that one thing that leaves a sour taste. Skimp on something. Save a quarter. Make you buy an adapter. Make you pay extra for way too much storage capacity because there’s always a gaping hole in the lineup where the sweet spot offering should be.
 
It anemic for Rogers because more and more people are being smart with how they handle business with the 3 major carriers in Canada. Many now are grandfathered into a cheap plan no longer offered and buy at full price instead.
 
What I ponder is if we are going to see a big dip in iPhone sales this quarter. Lackluster demand for the iPhone 8 (due to the incremental updates as well as people holding out for the X), as well as limited supply for the iPhone X could lead to lower than anticipated sales for the quarter.

And, something else that I don't think many people have considered -- how many folks are going to skip the iPhone X outright, due to it's price? The sample group here on the MacRumors forums isn't indicative of the rest of the buying public's purchase behavior. Only time will tell. Will be interested to see how this pans out.


While the iPhone X is nice, folks that get it will be beta testers. Not many apps will be ready for the resolution or design at launch. Next year will be the time to jump on that ship as developers will have many apps ready for it.
 
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