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Hieveryone

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 11, 2014
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Future proofing.

Think it about it folks. Every year we get a new iPhone with more features. And yet the price stays exactly the same.

How can Apple afford to do this?

Well they started at $999 knowing that years down the line they would be offering us more for the same price.

Thats also why the upgrades are minimal as of late.
 
Agreed. They knew their next few phones would be very similar so by charging almost double they still make their money when people don’t upgrade as much.
 
Agreed. They knew their next few phones would be very similar so by charging almost double they still make their money when people don’t upgrade as much.
The only thing that interests me in the next iPhone 12 is the ToF sensor! Kinda sucks that we have to pay so much every year just for a small upgrade here to there. I don't care about RAM, CPU, etc. upgrades because I never felt the difference really.
 
i could agree with this post, i went from iphone 8 to pro11 and other than a better display and benchmarks showing the pro11 is faster I notice very little difference in day to day use between the two
 
The only thing that interests me in the next iPhone 12 is the ToF sensor! Kinda sucks that we have to pay so much every year just for a small upgrade here to there. I don't care about RAM, CPU, etc. upgrades because I never felt the difference really.

You don’t have to pay every year. These phones aren’t really made in mind for people updating every year. More every 3-4 years now I’d say.
 
Also because they know their phones will last longer in terms of performance. I can see the newer iPhones going beyond 5 years now.
 
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The updates are minimal in many areas because the technology has plateaued. And that was what most people were expecting at that stage.

Prices are higher as sales have plateaued as well.

There is no greater care given to future proofing but only to profits and shareholder value.
 
Well they started at $999 knowing that years down the line they would be offering us more for the same price.

That makes no sense at all. Companies don't raise the price today of a product because they'll be improving it more in future iterations.

Apple raised the price, simply because they felt that consumers would be willing to pay that, and without new markets to tap they're looking at having existing customers dig deeper
 
The only thing that interests me in the next iPhone 12 is the ToF sensor! Kinda sucks that we have to pay so much every year just for a small upgrade here to there. I don't care about RAM, CPU, etc. upgrades because I never felt the difference really.
iPhone is not designed and intended to be replaced every single year.
2 or even 3 years are its typic life cycle.

BTW you don’t care about RAM and SoC but you want a ToF sensor... to do exactly what ?
So far ToF implementations weren‘t exactly game changers...
[automerge]1577720159[/automerge]
That makes no sense at all. Companies don't raise the price today of a product because they'll be improving it more in future iterations.

Apple raised the price, simply because they felt that consumers would be willing to pay that, and without new markets to tap they're looking at having existing customers dig deeper
Apple raised the price for just one reason: iPhone X was more expensive to build compared to previous iPhone.
 
R&D costs are mostly Apple employee salaries. They get paid their salaries whether a new iPhone is in development or not. The "cost" of developing a new product for the most part really is more of a money shifting endeavor done on a spreadsheet
 
That makes no sense at all. Companies don't raise the price today of a product because they'll be improving it more in future iterations.

Apple raised the price, simply because they felt that consumers would be willing to pay that, and without new markets to tap they're looking at having existing customers dig deeper

What I’m saying though is this.

iPhone X has 2 camera for example. Cost $999.

So wouldn’t it make sense that iPhone 11 Pro with more camera would cost more money?

How come it’s still $999?

Because we’re really paying iPhone 11 Pro prices for the iPhone X’s because Apple knows they’re going to keep the price the same but offer more
 
Camera module is the cheapest part of iphone. Look at Xiaomi with 6 cameras...
How can be ip11 cheaper than XR (in launch) if have one more lens and be better in whole specs ?
 
This really makes no sense at all. Components become cheaper to manufacture over time, and yield increases as well. We've had the same Face ID module for 3 years now. Same stainless steel frame. Slight increases in OLED display quality YoY, which are designed by Apple and purchased from LG/Samsung as their supplier manufacturing costs go down. They use the money saved from cheaper manufacturing to add new features to iPhone yearly, therefore keeping the same price.

Apple saw people holding on to their phones longer, and developed a higher-end model. Margins are the same percentage (~40%) but contribute higher amounts.

Hell the iPhone 11 margins are probably 50%. That design has been around forever with minimal adjustments (6000 Al vs 7000 Al & glass back for Qi). Face ID manufacture costs dropping heavily contributed to the new $699 price point. This new price point was especially important with services growing at a rapid pace.

Also, processors developed on smaller manufacturing nodes are cheaper.
 
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The iPhone X was born because Apple wanted to see how a more expensive iPhone would be received by the market. It had appeal and continues to with the following two iterations.

However, they needed the iPhone 8, XR, and now 11 as this is the most appealing device for the mass market as they have enough premium features without the eye watering price tag. It’s a difficult market to read these days as less people are upgrading as often. Apple knew those buying the iPhone X would most likely not be annual upgraders too.
 
But credit to Apple and his faceId that no one copy this technology in the same way (who know how much spend to programming and developing)
 
iPhone is not designed and intended to be replaced every single year.
2 or even 3 years are its typic life cycle.

BTW you don’t care about RAM and SoC but you want a ToF sensor... to do exactly what ?
So far ToF implementations weren‘t exactly game changers...
[automerge]1577720159[/automerge]

Apple raised the price for just one reason: iPhone X was more expensive to build compared to previous iPhone.
I need the ToF sensor to be able to focus on a subject and make the background black and white or other effects like it is possible with the Note 10. This is a video I made with my previous Note 10+, that's the only feature I miss:
 
Future proofing.

Think it about it folks. Every year we get a new iPhone with more features. And yet the price stays exactly the same.

How can Apple afford to do this?

I don’t think iPhone X price has much to do with “future proofing”, besides Apple continuously increased the iPhone prices over the years under different excuses (bigger storage space, screen size, more cameras, etc.). You also need to consider that Apple can get a really good price on their components due to a sheer volume of their orders.

iPhone X was just quite a big step from 6-8 generation, so my guess is Apple simply tried to see how hard they could push the envelope price-wise and quite a few people bought into it. Because of this Apple’s prices will now most likely fluctuate along these lines:

Entry iPhones - iPhone SE, 8, SE 2 (orc whatever they call it) - around 400-450$

Mid-tier iPhones - iPhone XR and 11 - 600-700$

High end iPhones (the current Pro range) - iPhone 11 Pro/Pro Max - 999$ and above.
 
Future proofing.

Think it about it folks. Every year we get a new iPhone with more features. And yet the price stays exactly the same.

How can Apple afford to do this?

Well they started at $999 knowing that years down the line they would be offering us more for the same price.

Thats also why the upgrades are minimal as of late.

Eh they did it because they could. Obviously that bet worked in their favor.
 
iPhone is not designed and intended to be replaced every single year.
2 or even 3 years are its typic life cycle.

BTW you don’t care about RAM and SoC but you want a ToF sensor... to do exactly what ?
So far ToF implementations weren‘t exactly game changers...
[automerge]1577720159[/automerge]

Apple raised the price for just one reason: iPhone X was more expensive to build compared to previous iPhone.

Any phone isn’t made to be upgraded annually. They are built to last a few years. Even if your Android device doesn’t get 3 years of OS updates doesn’t meant it’s a dead phone that can’t work or be slow. The Samsung Galaxy note 8 even though won’t get Android 10 doesn’t make it slow or bad.
 
This really makes no sense at all. Components become cheaper to manufacture over time, and yield increases as well. We've had the same Face ID module for 3 years now. Same stainless steel frame. Slight increases in OLED display quality YoY, which are designed by Apple and purchased from LG/Samsung as their supplier manufacturing costs go down. They use the money saved from cheaper manufacturing to add new features to iPhone yearly, therefore keeping the same price.

Apple saw people holding on to their phones longer, and developed a higher-end model. Margins are the same percentage (~40%) but contribute higher amounts.

Hell the iPhone 11 margins are probably 50%. That design has been around forever with minimal adjustments (6000 Al vs 7000 Al & glass back for Qi). Face ID manufacture costs dropping heavily contributed to the new $699 price point. This new price point was especially important with services growing at a rapid pace.

Also, processors developed on smaller manufacturing nodes are cheaper.

Actually isn’t all displays still from Samsung despite the rumors of going with LG?
 
What I’m saying though is this.

iPhone X has 2 camera for example. Cost $999.

So wouldn’t it make sense that iPhone 11 Pro with more camera would cost more money?

How come it’s still $999?

Because we’re really paying iPhone 11 Pro prices for the iPhone X’s because Apple knows they’re going to keep the price the same but offer more

Don’t give them ideas lol
 
Any phone isn’t made to be upgraded annually. They are built to last a few years. Even if your Android device doesn’t get 3 years of OS updates doesn’t meant it’s a dead phone that can’t work or be slow. The Samsung Galaxy note 8 even though won’t get Android 10 doesn’t make it slow or bad.
I beg to differ.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 not receiving Android 10 is a shame...
It was priced very high in quite a lot of money ($929) in 2017 and it is not even receiving a 2019 upgrade...
 
I beg to differ.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 not receiving Android 10 is a shame...
It was priced very high in quite a lot of money ($929) in 2017 and it is not even receiving a 2019 upgrade...

As I said will that phone not work or be slow ? It will get security updates but it still is a fine phone. People need to stop complaining and enjoy life.
 
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