djsherly

Stumble said:

The reason I buy all Apple stuff is easy to explain... While my wife and I were in an Apple store buying new iPhones I just happen to ask if they had a replacement battery for my old laptop (about 7 years old at the time). The associate pulled one out of a drawer and rang us up. Shocking my wife since we had just come from ordering a handmade battery for her 3 year old Dell, because Dell no longer supported it.

In the 15 years I have bought almost exclusively Apple equipment it has always done what it advertised, worked well, and the OS while sometimes restrictive in what you can do, also prevents non-power users from screwing the whole thing up by accident. 

The way I figure it is I charge about $200/hr for my time. So not screwing around with drivers, compatibility errors, reboot issues, and all the other hardware-software conflict stuff on a PC saves me a huge amount of time, and thus money. If I save 10 minutes a week not having to support my hardware it saves me enough every year to more than pay for the premium for Apple stuff. 

claire1 said:

nunzy said:

Samsung has already copied taking away the home button. They have no shame..

Because the stupid USPTO puts patents of big companies up on public display. Samsung has been doing this for a decade.

StrangeDays said:

DESI DAAM said:

I am an Indian and I can tell you why Apple will never reach a double digit Market Share in India.

[...]

3. When I can buy a Monster with 3 GB RAM, massive 5.5 Inch screen, 32GB Internal and 128GB expandable storage, carved out of high grade Aluminium, having the latest processor and running the latest Nougat or Oreo at 1/3rd the Price(Rs 8000 or $116) of an Iphone(Rs 25000 or $365), Why should I buy an iphone which has 1GB Ram, is almost 3 years old, 4.7" screen with 32GB Storage and No external Storage at all?

Oh, specs! Sorry, but you don’t understand Apple at all or the product it’s selling. Hint, it has almost nothing to do with spec wars or keeping up with the Jones’ RAM. 

tmay said:

gatorguy said:

avon b7 said:

corrections said:

wizard69 said:

It is pretty delusional to believe that pricing isn't an issue.   It is pretty easy to argue that Apple could have sold a lot more iphones if they didn't price the things so high.

If you're going to participate in comments, don't just show up and throw out a shovel of ignorant, shallow garbage.

Apple set up a range of prices and the most popular weren't oriented to price, they were targeted at new styling and features. Surely you can piece that together.

Android offers tons of cheaper options, but those maker aren't earning any profits and will eventually go out of business just like Nokia, Motorola, HTC, HP, and all the other low end Android makers in China that have already failed. 

It's not clear Apple could build phones much faster than it currently is. If it lowered prices to boost demand, how would it build more at a lower price? Right now, Apple can afford to spend on advanced equipment and tooling and shipping to get products to market. How does it lower prices? Why should it? It's already neck and neck with the volume leader. Production has natural limits. 

But again, when you offer ideas, make sure they have some value beside cynical snark. And point to some company that's doing better. Google priced its phones very low and couldn't sell them. It then tried to sell phones like Apple, and couldn't sell them. It's not easy. 

His comment didn't need to go any deeper. 

The 8 and X series were released late last year. There are only two quarters of official results to go by and Apple doesn't break numbers down so no one knows what is really happening. That's where analysts jump in with their numbers (estimates).

Not long ago, analysts were claiming that the low end made up a sizeable chunk of Apple unit sales. More than 20%. That's for old hardware. Not shabby at all and while they may not be the 'most' popular, they seem to be popular nevertheless. Obviously price is a factor.

Apple's sales remain flat. They have been for a long while. That doesn't look like its changing.

People talk about Android discounting but I keep reading about Apple promotions for 2x1 8 series phones. I haven't seen one myself, though. I haven't seen a 2x1 flagship promo for Android flagships.

People talk about small Android handset makers going out of business. That's consolidation. It happens in every mature market. What people don't see so clearly is that there are an unthinkably large amount of those handset makers still in business!

So where are the sales of failed business going? To other handset makers. Android handset makers!

Last year Huawei moved into second spot in unit sales, overtaking Apple. Apple clawed that position back with its peak quarters on its annual release cycle. Last year Huawei shipped 153,000,000 units. This year, their own goal is 200,000,000 units. That is massive growth and will put them into second spot again if they realise that growth.

Widespread opinion places the P20 Pro as the best handset of 2018 at several hundred dollars cheaper than an iPhone X.

You say that Android handset makers aren't making any money but Huawei is selling millions of phones, making billions and producing high quality innovative products.

Rumours point to Apple reducing prices this year. If that happens you'll have to ask yourself why.

FWIW ATT already did an iPhone X BOGO months ago, as has Sprint. TMo did a buy one and get $700 off another. TMo also had equivalent deals for some of the latest LG's and Samsungs. Deals on even new flagships aren't at all uncommon, including Apple's top of the line. 

Were those Apple subsidized discounts and BOGO's?