Google bean counter: "Apple improved their margins by leaving out the charger? We have to do the same thing!"
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Google Announces Low-Cost 5G Pixel 5a Smartphone, Plans to Nix Chargers in Box Going Forward
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That SoC is more than enough for 99% of the usual tasks done in a smartphone. Sure the latest Apple Ax SoCs are beasts, and every new iteration is 500ms faster opening Instagram. But for the majority of non-tech-savvy mortals, they just want something that doesn't get in the way and has great battery life.
You do realize this is BECAUSE of Apple right? If they can get away with it and sell that many phones then why not do it too? The market will clearly bear that behavior.
It is like the big 200 table restaurant down the road stops giving free bread and people still flock there to eat. Not a shocker the busy restaurant with similar quality good food the next street over stops as well. Learn from customer behavior how much they will tolerate.
Saving a buck comes first in business if you can get away with it. No charger is cost savings, nothing more than that.
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Of course it is. The rabid fanboy types love to toss around A-numbers. A sad schlong measuring contest.
Conveniently forgetting that there are PLENTY (millions) of older iphones out there like the 6, 6S, and older SEs, still in service with much lower spec chips/clock speed/Geekbench than this.
99% of normal people phone buyers have no idea what any of the chip specs mean at all; or even what it is called. They could care about what size your member is here boasting about having the best chip today like some dumb tech nerd who spent 2-3 times that on a phone to open apps 1/2 second faster.
They want to spend the least money they can on something that works right now today and runs smooth.
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While it would depend some on your apps and how you use the phone. I use the same apps on both. Having a Pixel 3 and iPhone XS. Once I configured the Pixel to my liking. There isn't much difference between using the two. Especially with one button gestures in Android.
Just some differences in gestures and controls.
A13 for SE😉
also yeah I wouldn’t recommend getting this phone, not when pixel 6 has a custom google designed chip and will probably get more software updates than the 5/5a line
and a 6a lineup with the same tensor chip will blow the 5a away
If you want a huge forehead and chin from 2015, baby-size battery, and tiny 4.7" LCD, then sure....
The processor is the only arguable metric there. The rest is hilariously outdated.
It sold well because it is the cheapest Apple phone you can buy; if you wanted an Apple phone and didnt have a lot of money, that was it. Not because it was good "value" to anything comparable in the price range.
A huge percent of the world uses lower-spec processor phones just fine every day. Apple is around 1/4 worldwide market share and the VAST VAST majority of that 75% of phones sold are low to mid-rangers; not including the older iphones out there that fit into that and slower than 2021 Snapdragons/etc.
Data doesn't lie. The incredibly slim margin of people real-world care about processor specs.
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I wish that Apple would make the Mini or SE the same physical footprint of the 5/5s/1st gen SE. That was a perfect sized phone.
2014 not 2015😉
but the rest of your post though is true. The same method applied to the orifinal
HELL NO. Please.
Last thing I want to hear is the whining minority wanting the 4 inch same resolution iPhone back
it won’t happen and secondly if apple drops support for the SE and 7th gen iPod Touch at the same time because they are the last 4 inch screens left then that’s all but confirmed
Hey, I dont blame them. Recycle old parts they already have and make a buck selling them off. It's a cheap iPhone, that is about all you can say about it. The only small iphone argument doesn't even work anymore with the Mini.
But I'm not delusional that they're selling millions of them "because of the "SHHHHHHPECS!"" No one buying them cares one bit about the chip specs; it's the cheapest Apple phone they can afford. The specs are terrible besides the processor for the money compare to anything out there in the $400-500 range.
To pretend it is a better OVERALL VALUE (not just cherry-picking one part and the rest suck) than a current mid-ranger from anyone right now is laughable though. Mid-range phones are some damn good value right now if you don't care about bleeding edge; which is 99%+ of people out there.
This Pixel is DANG good value for a 6.3" AMOLED, decent processor, decent 6gb RAM, good 128gb base storage, water-resistant, great camera quality like all Pixels, and a whopping 4680mah battery for $450. And the scary part is there are even better phone out there around that $500 mark too (depending on what you want from a phone as you get more years of updates with Pixel and other benefits).
I dont even use Android and can acknowledge reality.
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I think it’s a reasonable move. More and more people likely have existing chargers from older phones, or have the option of purchasing a better charger than what is bundled with the phone. The ones provided by Apple at least is rarely ever the best for me and since they tend to sit unused in the box, it’s no real loss to me.
It's also a price-dependent argument. A $1000+ phone should have the option to get a charger if you need one. $450 is a very different price point and profit margin argument.
But you also have to look at pricing too. I'll steal a line from Flossy Carter, but the Fold this year has no charger but it's also $200 cheaper. So you can't really complain too much.
And at that, the 5a is $50 cheaper than the 4a 5G. So a tough argument there saving more than the brick is even worth.
They won't get a pass on the Pixel 6 if it turns out to be a premium-priced phone with no charger though.
I'm probably not one of those "non-tech-savvy mortals", since I'm on this website, but even for me the 700 series midrange Snapdragon chips are more than enough. Hell, I never had a problem with 600 series which is in the Pixel 3a. Guess what, that 2-year old midrange phone runs just fine, and the UI is as smooth as an iPhone.
No to mention that to match these $350(4a) - $450 Pixel cameras you'll have to pay Apple at least $750. And that's not going to change since Apple insists on clearly inferior cameras (in addition to ancient designs) for the SE line.
I’d love to say it was an environmental reason but the fact is being able to shove more iPhones in one lorry cuts Apple’s shipping costs and the fact I, along with millions of other people had to buy a new USBC charger to go with my new iPhone 11 means they raked in an extra $30 per user.
Sorry, I know we're on an Apple rumours fan-site, but $449 is not low-cost :)
Good point. Software optimizaton means a LOT too. Stock Android doesn't need bleeding-edge specs to run perfectly smoothly.
Same reasons iPhones don't need 12-16gb of RAM to run smoothly.
Sorry, I know we're on an Apple rumours fan-site, but $449 is not low-cost
Of course, this is in comparison to Apple products though. Context is everything. Considering people are complaining they can pay their rent and taking stimulus checks but have their relatively expensive to the global market iPhones says a lot about American culture.
I've never understood it but it's a fake status symbol to some. How much you give you a faceless big corporation on a disposable product to pad their CEOs is a baffing way to show one's status or wealth 🤷♂️
But this also isn't a budget phone but a mid-ranger for the US and Japan markets only.
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This looks intriguing. Since the regular pixel 5 doesn’t seem to be available as new, will the 5a support Calyx OS?
You have not used Android in some time have you. I love iOS and my Apple devices but Android 11 and now 12 run quite nice these days.
Smokes? Calm down. My Pixel 2 still out performs my iPhone 12 on a solid 7 out of 10 pictures.
Not only let them take the heat, but pile on! I very much remember Samsung commercials saying at least they had a 3.5mm headphone port on their Galaxy line…
Yeah wasn’t there that guy who had a “dual core” member so everyone is already outclassed !
BUt yeah chips these days are plenty powerful enough for everyday tasks. I can’t believe my 8+ is 4 years old now as it runs like new. It’s not like the days of 3GS, 4, 4S days where each chip was twice as fast as the previous.