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It is just Apple's general problem isn't it?

The cheaper phones are really good now. And if you are asking a premium you need to be significant better.

As I see it iPhone 4 was a lot better than the competition where as the current lineup is not.

Simply relying on expanding the market (selling more in China + other emerging markets) won't do the trick as they are not going to sell with their old big margins unless they are a lot better than the competition.

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People have been saying that about the Mac since the 1980s. Consistently high quality and premium features and services sell product.

Apple doesn't need to 'rely' on selling more into China. If they end up locked out of the China market completely, they'll still do fine. As it is, they have a I've premium niche over there and will do just fine.

And marketing. Leave a TV on between shows, and an Apple ad is likely to crop up more often than not.

This is advertising, not marketing.

Marketing, specifically understanding the market for their products, is something Apple does insanely well compared to other companies.

Yep, it's a similar problem in a lot of fronts- most of the time $200+ isn't worth a 5% increase in quality.

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