clarker99

avon b7 said:

cgWerks said:

rogifan_new said:

Another thing about the days of the so-called subsidy: when the carriers were doing it the monthly amount you were being charged for the phone didn’t end when the phone was paid off. That’s one reason people upgraded every 2 years. Now once the phone is paid off the monthly charges go away and your bill goes down. So if the phone still works well for you you’re more likely to keep it then upgrade. Especially with smartphones being mature products and changes mostly incremental.

Except it probably goes down to what it used to cost back when the phone was included. Kind of like Internet access now costing more than the whole thing used to cost before 'cord cutting'.

avon b7 said:
2. Lacking compelling features? No. There are Android phones that do NOT lack compelling features to entice upgraders. Yes, and that is in a mature market. Features that will arrive on iPhones a full year (or two!) late.

This comment has me scratching my head. While I don't follow phones all that closely, I can't think of a feature I've heard anyone talking about that should make an iPhone user envious. You're not talking about something silly like foldable phones, are you?

avon b7 said:
4. One manufacturer has achieved MASSIVE growth and with virtually NO access to the second or third largest developed (and mature!) market on the planet, so please don't ramble on about that too much. Mature or not, 80% of that market is up for grabs to Apple.

Growth in unit numbers, or growth in actual profit? I don't think Apple is that interested, no matter the %, if there isn't a profit to be made. That said, I do think they could do more of both if they didn't increase the price quite so high to try and appease the silly stock market.

The compelling feature of 2018 on the camera side was the tri-camera and night mode with AIIS, allowing you to take handheld low light ultra high ISO shots at up to 8 seconds with outstanding results. The same technology also improved non-night mode photography. That was at the start of the year and also included x3 optical zoom allowing you to get great quality shots and x5 hybrid zoom with virtually no loss in detail. Later in the year ultra wide angle and super macro became available.

On the battery side Apple has never had anything compelling and is hampered by including a 5W charger in the box. Technologies like Supercharge and Supercharge 2 blast past the iPhone. At the end of last year we saw 40W chargers that charge so fast that you can watch the decimals move in real-time.

15W wireless charging. Reverse wireless charging. Live 3D object modelling. In screen fingerprint readers. Offline translations. Modems that are so fast that even Apple's latest 2019 are still behind, fastest wi-fi, dual frequency GPS etc - all on the same phone makes for a compelling device and cheaper than Apple's best offering.

Some of these features are rumoured for 2019 iPhones. Some for the 2020 iPhones.

All of the features I just mentioned were for 2018 phones. MWC in two weeks will see yet more advances and have them ship in a matter of weeks. That will extend the gap between those manufacturers and Apple still further. We can expect quad camera setups, possible liquid lens tech and more in the way of rear facing 3D systems. Of course higher storage capacities than on iPhones are a given.

Growth in unit numbers for some Android makers. Idem revenues and profits. Not everyone, as the market is consolidating but some are bucking the industry trend of contraction and even investing more in R&D than Apple.

Having the most profit is largely irrelevant for consumers unless it is put to profitable use. Apple had a cash hoard but did little with it. Others have made less profit but achieved more all the same. That is one of the reasons why competitors have been able to leapfrog Apple on iPhone.

Not everyone can have the 'most profits and Apple is ahead, thanks in part to increasing prices. It could be argued that charging more has brought in profits but at the cost of stalling or contracting sales. I think most people now believe that there is no more room for that particular strategy so I expect prices won't increase this year.

Depending on competition and actual sales going forward, we might even see a drop in iPhone prices.

bitmod said:

wood1208 said:

4 years replacement cycle sounds unreasonable. People go at most 2 1/2 to 3 years most.

Had an X - hated the .42 cent speaker they put in it so I went back to the far superior sounding iPhone 6. I miss the screen, camera and responsiveness of the X - but my 6 has higher quality audio and is fast enough for average use. Replaced the battery and now I’ll wait for Apple to get their heads out of their ass and release another quality phone at a reasonable price. I paid $200 for my 6. Paid $1800 for the X. I can’t stress enough how not worth the money the X is. Maybe at $600... but $1800... lol, never again.

ericthehalfbee said:

YP101 said:

ericthehalfbee said:

YP101 said:

This is simple fix for Apple. Next iOS 13 update, drop all hardware below A11 cpu. Also remove all code for older CPU support.

Force developer to update their apps.

Update all AppleTV, iPad, iPhone minimum A11 and above. Rest of previous model, flash sale before lunch.

Apple would never do that. I think it’s highly likely they will drop all devices prior to the A9 6S. The A9 was a huge jump from the A8 and also doubled the RAM to 2GB. A9 also introduced NVMe storage. This makes the A9 far more capable of running the latest version of iOS compared to the A7/A8. The A9 seems like the perfect “cut-off” point for iOS 13

You never know. All Android phone never support by manufacturer this long for OS. Typically 2 years are max for high end model.

If Apple keep able to sell record breaking iPhone year after year but with recent price hike and saturate market no longer guarantee that.

So Apple needs drastic meager on next release. Anyway next iPhone will have A13. A10-A13 is 4 years support.  A11-13 as 3 year support should be much easier.

Who cares about lousy Android support for devices? Apple sure doesn't. In case you forgot, iOS 12 brought significant performance improvements to older iPhones. It makes no sense for Apple to extend the life of older iPhones with iOS 12 and then turn around and cut them all off with iOS 13. A9-A13 stays with Apples 5 years of support without having to make any concessions in iOS 13 to get it to run on older 1GB RAM processors (A7/A8).

Apple doesn't need to do anything drastic - they're fine. All I expect them to do is a slight price adjustment (perhaps new iPhones will drop by $100 this year).

samian5747 said:

curtis hannah said:

I know I'm in that boat. I would have considered an upgrade at 3 years if prices were the same, but they aren't so I'm keeping my 6S+. Also with the news that 5g is around the corner in 2020, I might as well wait 5 years assuming it continues to run smooth.

This is True for me as well. My iPhone 8 works perfectly, it’s got a great camera, still gets upgrades, and current prices for iPhones are prohibitive with the  exchange rate.  I just got a new battery, giving the phone a new lease on life. 5G is just around the corner. I’m not sure why anybody would buy a new iPhone right now unless you have money to burn. Not that the new iPhones aren’t very nice, but there’s no compelling reason to buy one. Diminishing returns.