Hacker News Reader

Comment by pxeboot | Hacker News Reader

I know it doesn't apply to most HN readers, but iPhone pricing has really gotten out of reach to most of the world. Doesn't seem surprising that sales have begun to stagnate.

View on HN

Phones have hit what PCs hit 10 years ago — there just isn’t any real need to upgrade them anymore. 5 year old phones do the basic phone functions great (texting / selfies / Candy Crush) so the market will have to shrink.

And I think particularly worrisome for Apple is the parts that are potentially innovating rapidly are data-driven AI and ML where Google is better (think Google Assistant vs. Siri and the Pixel's low-light camera features).

While i could easily afford the latest Phone, i can simply no longer justify the price to myself any longer. I was a big iPhone user ever since the iPhone 4 came out, but last month i got my very first Android. A Xiaomi A2 for $200, that is roughly $600 less than the XR.

Needless to say the latest iPhones (8, XR, XS) outperform this device in every aspect, but the Xiaomi A2 really is top bang for the buck. As for the other money saved, thats $600 more for my kids education fund.

I don’t know. In the US, the cheapest brand new iPhone (7) is $449. I think it’s just more that Apple has heavily expanded their offering upmarket.

There is a problem with perception, though. For $449 you get a phone that, by Apple's own marketing, is 4 generations behind. Subjectively it's a much less appealing product but still almost $500.

iPhone 7 is only two generations behind and a very capable device. I use one and it probably has at least another 2 years of good life left.

Actually, reading your comment made me realize that perhaps one thing that is making people less likely to upgrade is that there are now so many versions and models that it's not readily visible how "old" your phone is, so there is less status-climbing pressure to upgrade.

I mean, when I read your comment, I couldn't remember how old the iPhone 7 actually was - I had to Google it. The iPhone XR, XS Max, XS, X, 8 Plus, 8, 7 Plus and 7 were all released in a span of just over 2 years. With so many different models, I think there is probably less social pressure to upgrade because it's no longer like "OMG, why do you have the 3-year old iPhone?!" when no one can remember when all the jumble of versions came out anyway.

You may have a point there

After the 7 is the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X. And now there is the iPhone XR and iPhone XS. So there are quite a few "better" phones above the 7.

My wife still has has 6S and it's more the capable. But if you were going to buy and "new" iPhone today the perception is that the 7 is actually quite "old".

The other commenter makes a great point about the sheer number of phones released in a short time span.

Current generation Android's like the OnePlus 6t cost the same as an iPhone 7 in India. Apple may be ahead in some areas, but getting a device 3-4 years newer for the same price is a big deal.

iPhone 7 came out two years ago.

It seems most discussion on HN centers around full retail price of new phones. Don’t most people finance them through their plans? I see AT&T offering an IPhone XS for $36 a month with a 30 month contract. How is that unaffordable?

Actually, again, unlike in the US, most people in the world don't do that and have to pay the full price at the time of buying the phone.

Perhaps they should finance it some other way. I assume credit cards or lines of credit are available in the rest of the world? Many people managed to buy desktop computers when they cost $2000. I don’t consider the utility of a portable computer/GPS/video player/camera/communicator to be unaffordable at $40 a month.

Yes, of course, installment (EMI) payments are available, but then that's the case for anything (doesn't make that an easy buy). In my part of the world fathers still save for a long time to buy their kids a computer so that they can advance in their studies etc.. But a computer (now mostly laptops) is a necessity, and works for many more years than a phone - especially an iPhone which is mostly still considered a luxury.

So we are talking about the economics of non-western countries?

Presently, I use my phone about 8 times as much as my laptop. Maybe 16 times as much.

Yes, I do realize that we use our phones much more than laptops. But again, everything that the iPhone does a cheaper phone does too, may be crappily, but that's all they can afford and it works for their needs. You can't solve every problem with financing because eventually you have to pay that.

This is somewhat invalidated by the sales of older iPhones.

I bought a $40 Kyocera one time. I suffered through a terrible camera, lousy software, slow everything, surely insecure software, lack of updates, and more. Later I realized I could have bought an iPhone 4s for $50 and been much, much better off. Currently I use an iPhone 6 that I purchased with no contract for $180.

I suppose you could buy older Android phones too, but I think they stop getting updates sooner than iPhones. I've been impressed with how long Apple supports their old hardware.

Those same folks also do the math of 36*30 and decide that $1000+ is too much to commit to. It is not necessarily a problem of affordability as in, not having $1000 in the bank.

It is a valid point that it does not really do anything at that a phone half the cost doesn’t.

My problem with the price is that I don’t want to drop or lose something that costs $1400.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com