Try in half that time. I bought in 2014 and my home value is up almost exactly 80% in that period. Up 55% when accounting for inflation.
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Over The Last 14 Years, iPhone Prices Have Gone Up More Than 80%
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I'd also like to point out that even when your 2 year contract was up, carriers didn't lower the monthly charges. They still charged you the same amount which had the phone cost built in. So you in essence were still paying for the phone if you kept it more than two years.
iPhones cost more because they cost more to design and make.
That’s really all there is to it.
How could this be even remotely true? iPhone 6 was much more innovative and groundbreaking device at the time of introduction compared to iPhone 13. In fact, there is very little of innovation in the latter. It is heavier and larger in all dimensions than its predecessor, so its actually a huge step backwards, despite a few novelty "crumbs" they offered such as a higher refresh rate and extra modes for video recording. To me its more like one step forward two huge steps back. So, is this rubbish costing them suddenly "more to design" now? If so, there is just one possible explanation: there are now committees over committees deciding on everything, thus eating up all the innovative spirit and requiring hefty salaries for a whole lot more of extra people involved. If anything, the company was much more lean and mean when rolling out the 6, than it is now, it is quite evident. In order to make informed product comparisons one needs to look at the recent handsets from their competition, the likes of Samsung, Xiaomi and Huawei. While I can't name specific models as I wasn't involved in any kind of studies on the subject, I know that some of the features I saw on the competitors handsets were pretty impressive. This trend of innovation stifling actually applies to all of Apple's offerings of late: take their new laptops with only 8 gigs of ram in base configuration. 8 gigs of ram was relevant 10 years ago. Proof? Watch the rollout of the new MBPs next week: their *base* configurations will start at 16 gigs of ram.
I think at least some of the increase is from the cameras. Yes, typically technology gets cheaper because you can get more transistors at less cost. However high-end iPhones have gone from having one camera lens system to three and if you know anything about good optics, they aren’t cheap. It costs money for good precision ground lenses and the image stabilization hardware probably isn’t cheap either.
Fine! Once the likes of iFixit get to it, they'll tell us more about these triple cam systems, and so will know, that the price for them in industrial vertical directly from some Chinese manufacturer went up from like $4.99 a piece they were putting into the 6 to $13 nowadays, ok I give you the whole $18. So what?
You don’t maintain margins by only increasing the device price by the cost of a pricier component from year to year. Cameras are also not the only price difference. LCD to OLED over the years for instance. FaceID.
And yet Apple’s margins have remained steady (or even decreased slightly) despite iPhone pricing in design, and doing away with the charging brick (which I believe was done to lower the costs of the iPhone 12 and 13 while keeping the price the same). You also have the higher margin services helping to offset what would otherwise have been higher product pricing.
The newer iPhones have a new form factor, more premium build quality, sport 5g (which isn’t cheap thanks to Qualcomm licensing), OLED screens, and as technology matures, it costs more and more to eke out the incremental changes you see in the iPhone (law of diminishing marginal returns).
By themselves, none of those improvements are revolutionary. But it’s a solid list of year-over-year improvements, and the results show that consumers agree.
I don’t have all the numbers, but my advice with Apple is always to study it, understand it, describe it, and teach it, not deny that it’s happening.
Well, iPhone 6, or any handset of theirs at the time of the release sure did have a premium build quality just as well. The 6 in fact, to this very day looks and feels quite stellar, compared to the latest ones, that are larger and heavier. QC must have been much better back then as well, as the battery in mine, for example, still works just as well as when it was brand new, and that handset took quite a beating from me for at least two or three years. Sure, their sales are up now, but that's not telling you the whole story, especially about their hardware and how they keep pushing out same old again, every second they have a chance. No one is buying a phone because of a magical new chip inside, its the whole UI and the eco-system, which is, yes, a lot better than that of competitors. I don't know about 5G for example, I never felt like, uh, the internet on my iPhone is just sooo slow. I don't download movies on iPhone, maybe that's why, but how many people do? Maps and email and everything always worked super fast without the marketing gimmick called 5G.
That's fine! Newer tech always is at premium over older, but then it matures and becomes dirt cheap. FaceId is no longer new at all, just as Touch ID, which, while being older isn't new at all either. In fact, it existed for ages by the time that Apple took it to the next level by putting it into their handsets. Thats still no justification for Apple to squarely push up their pricing consistently into the stratosphere, right to the edge where people would be uncomfortable to purchase, which we already passed. To ease the transition, numerous schemes were deployed, including their renewal programs and the interest free financing for the handsets. These are extremely overpriced mobile phones, and if Apple stood as the leader in innovation once, they certainly changed that to become the leader in pushing out the most overpriced products ever.
The true beneficiaries of this phenomenon are: 1. Chinese factories that get these enormous purchase orders from Apple. 2. Apple's shareholders, and some employees. Apple consumers are not beneficiaries in this process. I don't feel that being an Apple consumer makes me a beneficiary of any kind, in fact, the opposite is true because I am the one to shoulder Apple's crazy appetite for $$$.
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Realistically though Apple’s prices have dropped for similar equipment over the past several years. Out of Apple’s 2021 lineup, the iPhone 13 is the closest thing to the iPhone, which is arguably when Apple’s pricing truly went into the stratosphere.
The iphone 1 and iphone 13 base model are nearly the same price. The upper end models, choice which didn't even exist in 2007, is in the stratosphere, but these aren't priced to be mainstream models.
I would be very comfortable purchasing the iphone 13 pro max 256gb. The price is within spitting distance of my xs max.
Overpriced is an individual judgement call. (But in that vein the entire fold lineup are overpriced). And well Apple does innovate, it's just that you are not interested in their innovations.
So if Chinese factories are the beneficiaries would you concede that Apples' hardware products sell like gangbusters? People are buying. Apple shareholders have been beneficiaries since the stock went public.
Judging by the sales revenue like what they see. So they most certainly are beneficiaries.
This is the type of comment where one politely asks: are you interested in android?
I usually get booed for this kind of comment, but I'll put it out there anyway. Apple's ecosystem is designed around people that easily spend money. It's a common trope around here that Apple gear is overpriced (which I disagree with) but given that, and their financials which are unlike any other comparable company, you can only conclude that Apple buyers spend money - a lot of it. I'm end-to-end Apple gear. A lot of the people around me are as well. I don't want to dick around with cobbling some system together, deal with any more accounts than I already have (200+ passwords in my 1Password - welcome to adulthood), or deal with security issues. I've worked hard and make decent money, and at this point in my life I want things to be easy more than I want them to be cheap.
I am Apple's target market. Is Apple Music lower quality or more expensive? I literally don't care. I just want to be able to pull up a song on my watch and stream it to my airpods no matter where I am. That's it. I'll pay more for it. I don't have to install an app. I don't need to enter my l/p. I can airplay it to damn near everything. This is what Apple does. They rarely beat competitors on the bullet list, but when it comes to 'look at your phone and all your stuff is unlocked', they are unbeatable. They play the system integration game better than anyone else, and if it costs a few bucks more, I'm happy to pay it.
That's a point well taken. A fair point. So then let's not pretend that the ecosystem is a mass market, it is, in a way a mass market above the mass market, an elitist ecosystem by design. Yet, that does not make anyone stop from being critical and examine carefully the hardware and software choices the behemoth of Apple is throwing at us. And it is then when I find myself quite underwhelmed quite often. Sure thing, streaming to anything from anything is nice, but its kind of an old news even for the rest of the tech market and I'd rather see stronger lead in innovation.
I realize this discussion is about 3-4 weeks old but just wanted to add that I also agree with those who feel that the "iPhone price have gone up more than 80%" headline is wrong/misleading.
When the original iPhone launched in 2007, the selling prices were $499 (4 GB) and $599 (8 GB) which required a 24 month AT&T contract. At that time, AT&T was discounting the retail prices of other phones by $150 when tied to a 24 month contract which means the true retail of the iPhones would've been $649 (4 GB) and $749 (8 GB). Today, the much improved iPhone 13 with significantly more capacity (128 GB) has a retail price of $799 and no contract required.
Also, plan costs for iPhones could be pricey in 2007. The cheapest plan (450 minutes weekday, 5000 minutes nights and weekends, 200 text, unlimited data) was $60/month, but plans could run over $200/month. Today, you can get AT&T plans with unlimited data but also unlimited talk and text for as little as $65/month.
Adjusting for inflation, an 8 GB iPhone would've been about $986 (based on $749 retail) and the cheapest plan would've been about $79/month.
Today's better phones and plans are bargains by comparison.
When the original iPhone launched in 2007, the selling prices were $499 (4 GB) and $599 (8 GB) which required a 24 month AT&T contract. At that time, AT&T was discounting the retail prices of other phones by $150 when tied to a 24 month contract which means the true retail of the iPhones would've been $649 (4 GB) and $749 (8 GB). Today, the much improved iPhone 13 with significantly more capacity (128 GB) has a retail price of $799 and no contract required.
Also, plan costs for iPhones could be pricey in 2007. The cheapest plan (450 minutes weekday, 5000 minutes nights and weekends, 200 text, unlimited data) was $60/month, but plans could run over $200/month. Today, you can get AT&T plans with unlimited data but also unlimited talk and text for as little as $65/month.
Adjusting for inflation, an 8 GB iPhone would've been about $986 (based on $749 retail) and the cheapest plan would've been about $79/month.
Today's better phones and plans are bargains by comparison.
What they are failing to account for here- and it's enormous- is currency fluctuations.
You've got fluctuation between the countries where the parts are made and against where the profit is taken so the US dollar.
If you look at the example they give:India, it's taken a massive hit against both the dollar and the renminbi over the last 10 years.
That alone would make the phone about 50% more expensive against GDP.
You've got fluctuation between the countries where the parts are made and against where the profit is taken so the US dollar.
If you look at the example they give:India, it's taken a massive hit against both the dollar and the renminbi over the last 10 years.
That alone would make the phone about 50% more expensive against GDP.
let me draw your attenion back to post #63... ;-)
Over The Last 14 Years, iPhone Prices Have Gone Up More Than 80%
A LOT of this is going to be true inflation related, and at least as international markets are concerned a lot is going to be currency exchange rate related. While the currency exchange of the USD with say the Euro, CAD, JPY, WEAKENED by at least 20% from 2007 through 2011, companies are often...
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