Is the iPhone 5S worth $650?

[pittpanthersfan]

Google subsidizes the Nexus 5 to hit that price point. There's a rumor that this will be the last Nexus device as selling as that price is not sustainable.

Unless you want a good camera or a fingerprint scanner, the Nexus 5 may make more sense here.

 

[I7guy]

I would rather pay apple 650( and I did) than google any amount. With apple I know exactly what my ownership experience is and a guide as to the expected resale value.

 

[nfl46]

There are also a group of vocal people on car forums who don't believe BMW vehicles are worth it. BMW had a banner year.

That is true. But for what it's worth, a $179 Moto G can do just about everything a $650 iPhone can do. I love my iPhone but "personally" there is no way on this earth I would even consider paying that price for smartphone...Regardless if I could afford it or not. To each its own.

 

[I7guy]

That is true. But for what it's worth, a $179 Moto G can do just about everything a $650 iPhone can do. I love my iPhone but "personally" there is no way on this earth I would even consider paying that price for smartphone...Regardless if I could afford it or not. To each its own.

It's not about comparing function to function. A Toyota corolla can do everything an Aston Martin can do, but not in the same style. In fact fiven the corollas fwd, you might argue it bests the Aston Martin in snowy conditions.

With apple, like Aston Martin, you are paying for the style of the journey. Don't believe the product is worth the price, vote with your dollars.

 

[EbookReader]

Google subsidizes the Nexus 5 to hit that price point. There's a rumor that this will be the last Nexus device as selling as that price is not sustainable.

Unless you want a good camera or a fingerprint scanner, the Nexus 5 may make more sense here.

Where is the evidence that Google subsidizes the Nexus 5? (subsidizes mean Google lose money on it right?)

It costs LG about $200-220 to make. Google sells it at $350. No marketing. No middle man (physical retailer) to take a cut.


Xiaomi Mi3 that has even better specs than the Nexus 5 is selling for $327 off-contract / unlocked in China.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core 2.3GHz CPU
Sharp/LG 5″ 1080P IPS display with ultra-sensitive touch (441 ppi)
2GB LPDDR3 RAM
16GB flash memory
SONY 13 MP Exmor RS CMOS back camera
2MP BSI front camera
NFC & 2.4/5G WiFi support
3050 mAh battery
Dimensions: 114mm×72mm×8.1mm
Weight: 145g

p.s. Would Apple make any profits selling the 16GB iphone 5S on its online store for $349 off contract?

Let's say it cost Apple $220 to make that phone. And it sells it at $349. No marketing. Online sales only.

or would $349 too low to break-even?

(this is a hypothetical since Apple will never do this).

 

[parseckadet]

It may be running iOS 7 but it has hardly any of the features of iOS 7 running on a 5S. And iOS 7 makes the 4 dead slow.

Damn just saw i'm reply to a months old post.

Not only did you reply to a post that was 4 months old, but you also missed the point. Yeah, the iPhone 4 running iOS 7 didn't have every feature available on a 5c or 5s. So what? My point was that the iPhone 4 was the only phone I'm aware of that was still receiving ANY updates 3.5 years after its original release. And oh yeah, it's STILL getting updated and will receive the 7.1 update as well. Meanwhile some Android phones stop being updated less than ONE year after they're released. It would have been very easy for Apple to not support the 4 in iOS 7, but they chose to do so anyway because it's important to them to stand behind their products well after the sale has been made.

Also, I sold that phone for $170. Name one other phone from 2010 that someone would be willing to pay even $50 for today.

 

[IFRIT]

Not only did you reply to a post that was 4 months old, but you also missed the point. Yeah, the iPhone 4 running iOS 7 didn't have every feature available on a 5c or 5s. So what? My point was that the iPhone 4 was the only phone I'm aware of that was still receiving ANY updates 3.5 years after its original release. And oh yeah, it's STILL getting updated and will receive the 7.1 update as well. Meanwhile some Android phones stop being updated less than ONE year after they're released. It would have been very easy for Apple to not support the 4 in iOS 7, but they chose to do so anyway because it's important to them to stand behind their products well after the sale has been made.

Also, I sold that phone for $170. Name one other phone from 2010 that someone would be willing to pay even $50 for today.

You missed my point, is it really worth having an update which slows the phone right down yet lacks alot of the new features. Part of me thinks that Apple push updates to models of phones that barely have the hardware capacity to handle it to make the phone sluggish and prompt people to upgrade.

 

[pittpanthersfan]

Where is the evidence that Google subsidizes the Nexus 5? (subsidizes mean Google lose money on it right?)

T-Mobile sells it at $450 and doesn't make a profit. Google sells it for $350 in its own Google Play store.

 

[I7guy]

You missed my point, is it really worth having an update which slows the phone right down yet lacks alot of the new features. Part of me thinks that Apple push updates to models of phones that barely have the hardware capacity to handle it to make the phone sluggish and prompt people to upgrade.

What are you talking about, slows the phone down.? I have not personally seen any performance issue with iOS 7 on any device.

 

[aneftp]

Where is the evidence that Google subsidizes the Nexus 5? (subsidizes mean Google lose money on it right?)

It costs LG about $200-220 to make. Google sells it at $350. No marketing. No middle man (physical retailer) to take a cut.


Xiaomi Mi3 that has even better specs than the Nexus 5 is selling for $327 off-contract / unlocked in China.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core 2.3GHz CPU
Sharp/LG 5″ 1080P IPS display with ultra-sensitive touch (441 ppi)
2GB LPDDR3 RAM
16GB flash memory
SONY 13 MP Exmor RS CMOS back camera
2MP BSI front camera
NFC & 2.4/5G WiFi support
3050 mAh battery
Dimensions: 114mm×72mm×8.1mm
Weight: 145g

Image




p.s. Would Apple make any profits selling the 16GB iphone 5S on its online store for $349 off contract?

Let's say it cost Apple $220 to make that phone. And it sells it at $349. No marketing. Online sales only.

or would $349 too low to break-even?

(this is a hypothetical since Apple will never do this).

Yes they still make profits. There's something called the Apple "App Store". You might have heard about it.

But that's not Apple's style. They like style plus profit margin.

 

[Prise]

Yes they still make profits. There's something called the Apple "App Store". You might have heard about it.

But that's not Apple's style. They like style plus profit margin.

Historically, Apple has always used the principle of Pareto Optimality to price their products. In other words, the ideal point to price a product is at the top of the parabolic curve, where if priced any lower, the increase in demand will result in overall lower profits due to the lower profit margins per unit, but any further increases in price, will raise net profit per unit, but also lower aggregate profits in decreased demand.

We don't know where that point is for Apple iPhones (or, smartphones in general), because subsidies have impeded the true forces of supply vs. demand from dictating this "true" price point.

 

[aneftp]

Historically, Apple has always used the principle of Pareto Optimality to price their products. In other words, the ideal point to price a product is at the top of the parabolic curve, where if priced any lower, the increase in demand will result in overall lower profits due to the lower profit margins per unit, but any further increases in price, will raise net profit per unit, but also lower aggregate profits in decreased demand.

We don't know where that point is for Apple iPhones (or, smartphones in general), because subsidies have impeded the true forces of supply vs. demand from dictating this "true" price point.

Only time will tell. Some products like the MacBook Air (which was deemed very expensive around the base $1799 range in 2008).

Now at $1099 the MacBook Air represent "value" in the ultra book market.

 

[parseckadet]

You missed my point, is it really worth having an update which slows the phone right down yet lacks alot of the new features. Part of me thinks that Apple push updates to models of phones that barely have the hardware capacity to handle it to make the phone sluggish and prompt people to upgrade.

Are you speaking from experience or are you just making stuff up? From what I remember, my wife's iPhone 4 was a tad faster after upgrading to iOS 7. I certainly didn't notice a degradation in performance. Obviously I can't comment on subsequent updates to the 4, since I've sold it. But my wife now has my old 4S, and its performance improved with iOS 7 as well.

The only issue I saw was that battery life was pretty poor, but that was the case under iOS 6 as well and I think that had more to do with the age of the battery and not the iOS update.

 

[IFRIT]

I'm not making anything up there are several threads about the the performance of iOS 7 on the iPhone 4.

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[I7guy]

I'm not making anything up there are several threads about the the performance of iOS 7 on the iPhone 4.

----------

There are several threads on everything iphone. For every person that says, "A" about the iphone, another says, "B", and another says, "C" and another says, "D".

 

[Retired Cat]

The frugal side of me says that $650 is an absurd price for a mobile phone, but Apple will continue to charge what they can get away with.

Personally, I'd feel more comfortable at the $500 unlocked level.

 

[EbookReader]

T-Mobile sells it at $450 and doesn't make a profit. Google sells it for $350 in its own Google Play store.

Where does it say that T-Mobile doesn't make a profit on it?

Here's what T-Mobile rep said:

The natural assumption, given this is a Google phone, is that T-Mobile is somehow generating a tidy profit on the highly coveted device. But that's not so, says T-Mobile. A representative confirmed to CNET that it pays full retail price when it purchases the phone from Google's manufacturing partner, LG.

T-Mobile said it doesn't generate a tidy profit on it. That's all. It doesn't say it is making a loss. As to what T-Mobile defines a "tidy profit" as, who know.

LG would be very LUCKY to sell the phone wholesale at $300 to T-Mobile. Though my instinct tell me that it is less than that. T-Mobile has physical retail stores (overhead). It has zero financing. That's why it can't price as competitive as an online store.


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If Xiaomi can sell a smartphone that has better hardware than the Nexus 5 at $327, it's easy to see that Google doesn't subsidize the Nexus 5.

Also, look at the specs of the Nexus 7 and it is selling for $229 at a lot of physical locations like Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart. These retailers make a profit selling this device. ASUS make a profit selling this device.

 

[I7guy]

Not only did you reply to a post that was 4 months old, but you also missed the point. Yeah, the iPhone 4 running iOS 7 didn't have every feature available on a 5c or 5s. So what? My point was that the iPhone 4 was the only phone I'm aware of that was still receiving ANY updates 3.5 years after its original release. And oh yeah, it's STILL getting updated and will receive the 7.1 update as well. Meanwhile some Android phones stop being updated less than ONE year after they're released. It would have been very easy for Apple to not support the 4 in iOS 7, but they chose to do so anyway because it's important to them to stand behind their products well after the sale has been made.

Also, I sold that phone for $170. Name one other phone from 2010 that someone would be willing to pay even $50 for today.

Exactly. A lot of people it seems are spec whores, that is throw more hardware it must be better. Apple makes a premium product that when they release have a long life cycle and the products generally last, barring some of the idiocy with product issues that that tends to get posted in forums.

This is reflected in the resale value. I'm sure a lot of people would like to see apple fail and they use the analogy it's easier to fall down the mountain than climb the mountain.

 

[pittpanthersfan]

Where does it say that T-Mobile doesn't make a profit on it?

It's in the subheading of the article, right beneath the headline...

T-Mobile confirmed that it does not make a profit on the phone, suggesting that Google helps out with a subsidy when purchased at Google Play.

 

[wordoflife]

I don't think any phone is worth nearly $700. That's insane.

That is true. But for what it's worth, a $179 Moto G can do just about everything a $650 iPhone can do. I love my iPhone but "personally" there is no way on this earth I would even consider paying that price for smartphone...Regardless if I could afford it or not. To each its own.

You're still paying the $700 or so dollars for the iPhone, it's just incorporated into your monthly bill via subsidy on some carriers. Other carriers will give you a cheaper bill if you get a less expensive phone depending on the carrier and plan.

 

[nfl46]

You're still paying the $700 or so dollars for the iPhone, it's just incorporated into your monthly bill via subsidy on some carriers. Other carriers will give you a cheaper bill if you get a less expensive phone depending on the carrier and plan.

I'm using Straight Talk. My bill is only $45 a month. I have no choice but to buy the phone outright but there are far better deals online for an iPhone 5S. You could easily find one for around $430 brand new instead of paying $650 through Apple.

 

[thehustleman]

It's in the subheading of the article, right beneath the headline...

T-Mobile confirmed that it does not make a profit on the phone, suggesting that Google helps out with a subsidy when purchased at Google Play.

I totally don't buy that. They just don't want to seem like they're hosing you

 

[Septembersrain]

I'm using Straight Talk. My bill is only $45 a month. I have no choice but to buy the phone outright but there are far better deals online for an iPhone 5S. You could easily find one for around $430 brand new instead of paying $650 through Apple.

$430?!? Find us a great deal like that. I've only seen prices that low on damaged or bad imei/activation locked 5s's. Hmm.

 

[numlock]

It's not about comparing function to function. A Toyota corolla can do everything an Aston Martin can do, but not in the same style. In fact fiven the corollas fwd, you might argue it bests the Aston Martin in snowy conditions.

With apple, like Aston Martin, you are paying for the style of the journey. Don't believe the product is worth the price, vote with your dollars.

now apple is an aston martin?

you really are a hoot

btw what is the equivalent of bad battery life, message database out of control, slowness on older devices etc etc in an aston martin?

 

[nfl46]

$430?!? Find us a great deal like that. I've only seen prices that low on damaged or bad imei/activation locked 5s's. Hmm.

Not everyone is tech savvy and know the true value of an iPhone 5S. And some are looking for a quick sale. It's all about bargaining. If you have sales experience then it's easy. I can't speak for everyone. But don't expect to go on a website and find a brand new 5S for 430ish without asking the person to bring the price down.