rare comment

ireland said:

At €879 for a 64 GB LCD iPhone, I'm going to say it does not bring value. What it does however it bring the price of iPhones higher than last year. Higher and higher. What Apple has actually done in the past two years is of benefit mostly to shareholders. And the spoiled kids of rich people.

Apple's obligation is to its shareholders (i.e., its owners). It makes no sense to criticize a company for benefiting its shareholders. More logical, if accurate, would be a criticism that price increases hurt shareholders by reducing profits.

The idea of lines having any predictive value became silly once reliable and easy pre-ordering became possible. It's like trying to figure out the popularity of a book by lines at bookstores. That said, I am intrigued by the multiple observations that the XR is a great deal relative to the XS because it is nearly the same at a much lower price. I'm not disagreeing (the XR is very similar and is attractively priced), I'm noting that, other than the no-bezel screen, the 8 was similar to the X. So this is not the first time Apple has released the same chip in two different phones with starkly different price points.

mjtomlin said:

Apple has been believed to be moving its devices away from Lightning to USB-C power cables. This month, the company released a USB-C version of its Apple Watch charger

It makes sense to move charging cables from USB-A to USB-C since all of Apple's desktops now use USB-C which can be used to charge iOS devices. That has nothing to do with replacing the Lightning port on iOS devices. What I think there's a misunderstanding - Apple is probably including a USB-C charger with an iOS device for the first time along with a Lightning to USB-C cable. This is a first step in removing support for USB-A type ports on all their devices and not removing support for Lightning.

Agree.  I think Apple is very supportive of USB-C but, "releasing a USB-C version of its Apple Watch charger" is NOT evidence of a move away from Lightning.  The Watch charger doesn't use Lightning today.  The release of the USB-C cable for the Watch is a continuing sign of support for USB-C.

I'm still bothered about losing the Edition versions. They were really distinctive and, because of their unique case material, felt like they delivered more than just a different band (although getting proprietary faces with the Hermes bands is neat). I would have really liked a link ceramic bracelet.

I have a mini 4 and it is by far my favorite Apple device (out of an X, HomePod, AppleTV, 8, AirPod and iPad Pro).  I like it so much that I was planning on buying a second mini 4 as a backup immediately upon any confirmation of the death of the mini line.  If this is true (that the mini is refreshed), that would be great news.  Even though it is old (it runs an A8!), the mini 4 still runs super fast, it weighs nothing, battery life is amazing, etc.  It's just a great blend of lots of things. Or, put otherwise, every device (even an XS) is a compromise in some dimension - the mini 4 feels like it balances qualities in a way to deliver the fewest possible compromises.