CarmB

What would be helpful is if Apple offered to bundle let's say any three services of the user's choice at a discount. There would be many takers. Maybe tier it, as in, one price for a three-service bundle, a bit more for a four-service bundle and so on. If you could get what you wanted at a discount, what's not to like. Instead we are faced with paying for services we might not need in order to receive a discount on ones we want. If I could bundle Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple News, and Apple Fitness, I would give that consideration. 

In the first place, you can't just impose a special tariff on one specific company. In the second place, even with such a tariff, it would still be cheaper to assemble iPhones abroad. This is more silliness from Trump but what matters here is that this silliness is no joke. Do it long enough, and Trump seems intent on doing it for a while, and it will have a negative impact on the economy. There has never been a more anti-business president than Trump 2.0. He's acting as if companies like Apple and Walmart are to do his bidding. That's not how it has worked and nor should it. Really, though, it's not that Trump can force Walmart to set prices to Trump's liking or just slap a tax on Apple because he doesn't like where they're making their product. It's that Trump is doing everything possible to disrupt economic activity. He wants headlines and says or posts  whatever he thinks will generate media attention. When that's the norm, doing business is turned into an ordeal. That will have real consequences and with Trump being as overbearing as he is being, trying to blame it on the Democrats just isn't going to work. Trump now gets everything he wants from the Republican Party and, often it seems, the Supreme Court. If the economy stumbles, he'll own it. Period. Honestly, I don't see how the US economy can do anything but stumble the way Trump is operating. It may take a few more months for many Americans to start feeling the impact of his incompetence but feel it they will. 

How many consumers have expressed dismay over the thickness of current iPhone models? Why is making the iPhone thinner a thing?

Trump can spin this all he likes but it hardly matters. What matters is just how much his embarrassing mismanagement will impact the lives of individual voters. Trump seems to think this is about convincing folks to let him do what he wants because they believe that's a good thing. Ironically, the more freedom he has, the deeper the hole he will dig for the country. At some point, the Republican Party will pay a price. His truly dedicated supporters will never abandon him. Yet they do not represent a majority. Democrats and swing voters will certainly be turned off by where this is headed. As well, some of his base will waver when their lives are directly impacted. Trump can certainly do this as he sees fit but it will get ugly simply because the economy faltering and inflation gaining traction is bound to come with consequences. That's especially the case when much of what Trump suggests will be the positive impact of his approach turns out to be so much nonsense. Oversimplifying everything may be effective when doing a political campaign. Voters love an easy-to-digest message. Yet it's a whole other matter to expect complex scenarios to conform to the stripped-down, shallow version of reality you are selling. Trump appears to be of the view that life is what he says it is and he makes stuff happen just because that's the way he wants it. The Ukraine conflict ended in one day? Of course. Lowering taxes and ending deficits. Sure. Absolutely. Stuff made in America like in the good old days. Well, heck, why not. Lowering prices? Sure. Add that one in. Banish all the undocumented asylum alumni and hardened criminals. Done. Believing this baloney? Priceless. To be fair, I doubt many of his supporters think everything will happen as he says it will. Yet they do seem to be of the view that Trump is fiscally competent, that he's playing some form of clever chess. It seems that many swing voters and the like picked Trump because they figured he'd tame inflation. If they really thought that, they must be wondering just how they could have gotten it so wrong. Inflation, it turns out, isn't something a man born into wealth loses much sleep over. 

danox said:

A M2 MacBook Pro plus a R1 SOC, Lidar sensor plus 6 other sensors, 13 cameras, 2 Micro‑OLED screens no the Vision Pro is not going to be less 2 thousand dollars anytime soon… Most have unrealistic expectations that also applies to expecting AI to be Robbie the robot (permanently tied to Google’s super computers back home undercover except Google won’t be forth with with that fact)….

https://www.apple.com/apple-vision-pro/specs/ Note: the next generation probably will have a Apple C1 or C2 modem too.

There is a way to lower cost and weight. Develop a version that is tethered to an Apple device like a MacBook or desktop Mac, of which there are millions in use. Put this less expensive version out not to replace the untethered Vision Pro but to provide a more affordable compliment. For one thing, Apple has decided to call the current version the Apple Vision Pro and not the Apple Vision. So the next Vision Pro continues at a high niche price point and Apple launches a tethered Vision, minus the Pro, for the masses. To continue on the basis of a standalone device requires substantial compromises in order to check in at more palatable price. As such requiring an external Apple device for such a product makes more sense.