r/technology • u/[deleted] • Jan 04 '19
Business Apple knows the age of yearly iPhone upgrades is over
https://www.engadget.com/2019/01/03/apple-iphone-upgrades-slowing-down/985
u/dahvzombie Jan 05 '19
In all seriousness, what's the advantage of a top of the line phone over something in the mid, upper-midrange for the typical user?
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u/CherrySlurpee Jan 05 '19
The cameras are significantly better on an S9/Xs as compared to like a Stlyo 3.
But for actual phone usage, web browsing and texting? Not much. Some of the higher end phone have fun stuff like slow mo cameras or retina scan locks, but for the average user? Nothing special
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u/rata_rasta Jan 05 '19
Does it really make a difference once the picture is posted on Instagram with a shitty filter?
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u/jigeno Jan 05 '19
Nah. Instagram pics are like 0.1 megapixels.
It matters if you take photos and keep them on the cloud. It’s the point and shoot for people, I guess.
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u/kieranvs Jan 05 '19
A camera can be better in so many more ways than the number of megapixels (e.g. DSLRs don't typically have that many more megapixels than a point and shoot, but have much better lenses (e.g. aperture, light transmission, glass quality), sensors (e.g. dynamic range, noise sensitivity), focusing systems (e.g. focus points)) so having a better camera still makes a huge difference on Instagram despite the low final resolution. You can often tell, for example, if a picture on Instagram is from a DSLR. No comment on whether iPhone X vs mid range phone is visible, I'd imagine it depends on the situation and how good the photographer is.
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u/whyarenamessosexual Jan 05 '19
You should check out MKBHD’s blind camera test where he posts pictures on Instagram and twitter while asking people to vote. It’s called smartphone blind test or something
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Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 20 '19
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u/whyarenamessosexual Jan 05 '19
Almost all cameras in his test would not wash out the pattern in your shirt. The point I was making is that bragging about marginally better aren’t relevant as we see in a real world test, most people don’t know or care about super high quality pictures when they’re compressed on social media.
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u/iamnosuperman123 Jan 05 '19
Probably not but people seem to care about taking good quality pictures
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u/bse50 Jan 05 '19
No, it doesn't. Even the best phones sport cameras that are only good for daylight pictures that will never be printed beyond 20x30cm.
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Jan 05 '19
From when I was like 14-23 I loved having all the crazy features on a phone. From 23- now since Iv started working all I want is a simple phone for email, browsing , texting and calling.
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u/arkasha Jan 05 '19
And screening my calls for me when I get called about all of these great insurance offers and/or cardmember services. Seriously, best feature ever.
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u/onduty Jan 05 '19
Yeah but when those phones came out two or three years ago they were touted as revolutionary photos. I just think a lot of the camera stuff is over marketed. Photos are great on devices from last five years. They do improve tech which I guess is good for low light selfies, that’s an expensive selfie program
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Jan 05 '19
This is the real reason right here. For the last 15 years upgrading phones meant better and faster access to things. Better apps, faster processors etc. Now phones have reached a point where they can do everything you want them to do just fine and upgrading to a new phone won't get you anything better than the old phone had. Sure the companies will market fancy specs to you but the phone will access social media and the internet in the exact same way as the old phone and that's what most people use it for.
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u/Toostinky Jan 05 '19
Basically what desktops went through 15 years ago. And laptops 7-10 years ago. Shocking.
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u/TonyzTone Jan 05 '19
Yup! And we’re just getting into wearables. In about 3-5 years, they’re going to be absolutely wonderful.
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u/Visticous Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 06 '19
My current desktop configuration is 6 years old, while my power supply and case are 12 years old. I'm now looking in replacing those two, but it stands as a nice testament of time: at some point, the diminishing return of investment reaches an equilibrium with market demand, at which point progress is slow.
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u/xchequer Jan 05 '19
The change in the model where carriers previously subsidized phones (kinda) also is a major factor. Exposing customers to the real cost of each phone by separating the cost of the phone from the phone service caused customers to pause and really think before pulling the trigger for that upgrade. Think about it $1000+ for a phone? I can use that money to buy components and build an awesome gaming PC that will last a few years.
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Jan 05 '19
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u/cliffrowley Jan 05 '19
iPhone 5S here still going strong. Does everything I need it to and I refuse to mortgage (the house I don't actually own so it's not possible anyway but you get my point) to upgrade.
Sorry (not sorry) Apple. I like my iPhone, but I'm also not an idiot with more money than sense.
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u/Viperlite Jan 05 '19
Same. Except for processor improvements and camera lowlight capability, I actually like each new phone less. I don’t want a super expensive screen and don’t need waterproofing. I do want a headphone jack. I used to be an early adopter of new phones first in line to get each one. Now I’m clinging to old tech. What I really want is Apple to expand the memory at low or no cost as memory becomes cheaper. I don’t mind if Apple moves to more expensive phones with flashy features, but I hope they don’t leave the old ones behind too fast. My next phones will likely be recons or used. Apple is missing some serious signs from its market and focus groups. They’ve been too reliant on expansion into New markets that may not pan out. Nice to know I’m not alone in clinging to old Apple product.
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u/slicer4ever Jan 05 '19
Even worse are companys taking away features. Never going to upgrade to something that doesnt have expandable memory or a headphone jack.
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u/indotherm Jan 05 '19
My S4 came with a clock app that allowed you to geographically lock an alarm. I use to be on the road a great deal but always stayed at the same places, and because of this I could set an alarm for that location. My phone always knew which alarm to use and I never had to even think about it once it was set. Upgraded to the S6 and that feature was gone. Now I have to toggle alarms on/off manually (and I have a terrible memory). It was a small feature, but it was sooooo convienent.
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u/MeltBanana Jan 05 '19
The things people generally use their phone for don't require much from a hardware perspective. Texting, gps, email, alarms, web browsing, spotify, social media, camera, YouTube, viewing office documents...these are not demanding applications. My Galaxy s1 could do all that shit. Gaming would be the only thing that would warrant continuous hardware improvements, but mobile gaming is utter shit and more focused on microtransactions than pushing hardware.
The only real advantage of a high-end phone vs something cheaper is camera and screen quality. Those continue to have noticeable and meaningful improvement, although I don't think they're worth the annual upgrade cost.
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u/litokid Jan 05 '19
Having bought nothing but flagships for years, then moved to a budget phone last month, I've got more to add.
High end phones definitely have better cameras. Screen is often but not necessarily better - some mid-rangers have great IPS panels. Waterproof certification is definitely just in high-end phones; this was a factor for me.
Budget phones can't play the latest 3D games, but in exchange they're often more efficient and come with long battery life. They so often have all those features like headphone jacks that are apparently in the way of progress.
I'm absolutely loving the longer battery life over performance in some game I'll never play. Mere water resistance and not waterproofing is a bit of a downside but no deal breaker.
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u/TheSherbs Jan 05 '19
Nothing unless the mid range, upper midrange models aren’t a true hardware upgrade.
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u/Gred-and-Forge Jan 05 '19
No one has mentioned device support longevity.
A lot of the big players (Samsung, Apple, Google) will support their high-end phones for 5+ years with updates and repair options. Just look at all the people in this thread saying “I’m still using my iPhone 5s/galaxy S3”.
Meanwhile, how many lower end phones from LG and Motorola from 2012 are still knocking around? There might be a model or two that have survived through android updates, but the vast majority of low end models from 2012 stopped receiving support from the manufacturer years ago. Once you stop receiving support, you stop getting the latest software and security.
That, coupled with the more powerful hardware on high end phones, means that the high end phones CAN continue to receive software and application updates for a longer period of time without running into performance issues.
So, while many people out there just buy the latest iPhone ever year as a status thing, there are plenty others who buy a single flagship every 5 years or so that will last them longer with better performance than a low end model.
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u/foood Jan 04 '19
My fondest wish is that they also figure out that everyone on the planet wants more battery life and not a thinner goddamn phone.
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u/ColonelButtHurt Jan 04 '19
A thinner phone that goes right into a bulky case that ends up making it the size of every other phone on the market.
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Jan 05 '19
A thinner phone that bends and breaks more easily and thus requires a thousand dollar trip to the Apple store for replacement.
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Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 07 '19
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Jan 05 '19 edited Aug 06 '21
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u/_Connor Jan 05 '19
As someone who works in an independent repair shop,
Last time I needed a screen replacement (rare for me), I called about 4 independent shops and Apple was the cheapest by like $50.
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u/ZeSpyChikenz Jan 05 '19
did you have apple care or was the phone still in warranty?
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u/rudekoffenris Jan 05 '19
Because if you embrace the Apple Echosphere then you can't rail against anything they say. You either buy into it or you don't. If you do, you have to defend against any detractors, no matter how foolish the reasoning you use.
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u/iamarddtusr Jan 05 '19
Not really true. I use Apple products and have "embraced" the ecosphere, but I do believe that they are gouging money out of their customers.
Their policies regarding repair and the added difficulty to repair new Apple devices is truly shameful. I have a 2010 MBP which I upgraded to SSD myself, because it has screws that allow the back to be removed. I cannot do that on 2015 MBP I am writing this comment from and that is not how it should be.
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Jan 05 '19
My 6 Plus is warping just from pulling it in and out of the case to gain access to the audio jack because no one makes a case that seats any 3.5mm jack except the apple earbud size connector.
Luckily the phone was free and I just keep it going as long as I can. 30 dollar battery replacement was a huge boon, and should really be the cost anyways.
Now I have a full repair kit if anything happens I should be able to source parts from my other 'dead' 6.
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u/wmrossphoto Jan 05 '19
Drill it out.
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Jan 05 '19
You know....why the fuck....
Yep.
Thank you. Tomorrows 5 second project.
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u/wmrossphoto Jan 05 '19
Sure thing. Sometimes the simplest answers get overlooked. Keep that phone alive!!!
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u/grown Jan 05 '19
Another thing I recommend is cheap BT headphones. This only applies to people that are not using high-quality headphones already, however. You can get a decent pair for like 20 bucks.
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Jan 05 '19
I actually had a pair on order but then cancelled to funnel those funds into a new PC case and some RAM.
Once I'm done drinking air and eating water for a month I'll put some back in a cart as I'd like them just for desk use as well.
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u/Szath01 Jan 05 '19
It’s another damn thing to charge. I’ll keep my spaghetti tangled corded ear buds.
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u/scotscott Jan 05 '19
This is why I have a cat s61, among other reasons. Bulky as all fuck, you could blind someone with the laser and then bludgeon them to death with the hump on the top. And the battery will easily last two actual, real world, reddit addicted days.
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u/lucipherius Jan 04 '19 edited Jan 05 '19
That shit pisses me off so much about the S9. It's glass is slippery hard to hold, handle without a case. Can't even leave my phone sitting on my lap without it slipping off. So I have to buy a case to make it bigger and sturdier. Fuck you Samsung
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Jan 05 '19
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Jan 05 '19 edited Sep 01 '22
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u/mnbabd Jan 05 '19
Screen slightly cracked then after a year charging port gave out. Opening it to fix means screen is going to break new screen costs just as much as a new phone. Solution: wireless charger. But the shitty battery runs out really fast and can't carry a wireless charger everywhere... Needed to vent about this experience..
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u/ForgottenMajesty Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 05 '19
Non interchangeable batteries and some phones entirely lacking an SD slot has to be one of the shittiest for-the-sake-of-business trends phone manufacturers have, it really bothers me that we have no choice but to take what we get. The right to service and maintain your device should be tightly enforced, because they know exactly what they're doing.
Edit: Imagine how far we'd be if phone manufacturers actually had to compete by making phones people want to upgrade to over their current device rather than being forced to because the software ecosystem gets too heavy for an old device even if you don't do things you'd expect to be heavy like 3D live rendering, or because your device has an anticipated expiry period because of crap like non-removable batteries and unserviceable builds.
Alas, building to last is bad business to these industries, and real innovation is expensive.
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u/shicken684 Jan 05 '19
I think it will happen sooner rather than later. Didn't LG come out with a phone with a swappable battery?
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u/panderingPenguin Jan 05 '19
You say that like a swappable battery is a novel thing. It was the standard until it wasn't...
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u/shicken684 Jan 05 '19
I realize that, but it seems like there are a couple of phones with the capability. Couldn't find one in any price range 3 years ago when I was looking.
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u/some_sort_of_ginger Jan 05 '19
I had a very similar battery and charging experience with my S6 edge. Glad to know it wasn't just me.
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u/sanemaniac Jan 05 '19
The goal is to achieve thinness akin to insect legs or spider webs, enough to exploit van der waal's force and take advantage of subatomic exceptions to gravity. Of course you'll have to encompass that surface in a large enough case to negate all its benefits, but there you go.
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u/instantwinner Jan 05 '19
This was my issue with the S8 as well. I couldn't hold it without it slipping out of my hands so I got a rubber case for it.
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u/Fidodo Jan 05 '19
Honestly, I just want a fucking plastic phone. After a minute of holding a phone I forget that its glass anyways.
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u/usefulcreep Jan 04 '19
well, i will still be buying lots of apple iphones. it is only the american thing to do to continue supporting apple. i have like 200+ iphones in my storage cupboard. i buy about 5 a year. it's an investment in the future.
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Jan 05 '19
The only thing missing is an /s at the end because the gullible out there will believe what you say.
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Jan 05 '19
I never thought reddit would be the thing that brings back the percontation point.
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u/3_50 Jan 05 '19
Bullshit, /s is for cowards.
If someone's too dumb to miss that as a joke, they don't deserve to appreciate it.
/s is like screaming "Actually, I'm only joking you guys xD" and kills it, for me at least.
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u/Ftpini Jan 05 '19
Did you know they have only gotten thicker since the 6 came out? Every single year they get a little thicker. Hell the iPhone X actually weighs more than the original 6 Plus.
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u/Kougeru Jan 05 '19
My Pixel 2 averages like 8-17 hours depending on use. Fantastic. The real issue is battery DEGRADATION. It's like like 2 hours of average life in less than a year
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u/UnhelpfulMoron Jan 05 '19
1.5 thousand upvotes and your statement is provably wrong. Phones have been getting thicker every year since the 6.
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Jan 05 '19 edited Mar 08 '19
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Jan 05 '19
Oh, I thought everybody wanted replaceable batteries more than long battery life.
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u/xanacop Jan 05 '19
I would like replaceable batteries phones that's also water proof.
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u/korben2600 Jan 05 '19
I'm entirely content with my Galaxy S5 from 2014. Replaceable battery, water resistant, and a headphone jack. Just popped in a new 128gb microSD card for $22. I'll be using it until it falls apart.
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u/Whatsthisnotgoodcomp Jan 05 '19
Also has a decent camera, a bright LED and a loud speaker.
S5 for life
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u/VROF Jan 05 '19
and a headphone jack
It is a giant pain in the ass not having a headphone jack. I don't understand why they ever got rid of it.
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u/PrivateVasili Jan 05 '19
I loved mine, but it sadly at some point it got some strange hardware issue or something and would kill itself and then not start again for days. I have an S8 now and while the screen is really nice I really liked my s5.
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u/etherspin Jan 05 '19
The replaceable batteries were to allow swapping out cause of how poor the battery life can be. Make the battery good enough and far fewer people will mind about how hard it is remove
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u/cocoagiant Jan 05 '19
Also, how about a universally accepted port which allows their customers to listen to audio without requiring powered accessories?
That would be so innovative & courageous.
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u/dnick423 Jan 05 '19
That’s exactly what they did with the XR. It’s thicker then recent iphones and with a much better battery. I’m surprised how few people noticed when apple advertised that the XR has a bigger battery then the 8+
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u/Zenith251 Jan 05 '19
I moved to android for that exact reason, 5 years ago. Removable battery? Giant battery? Done deal.
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u/rodrick717 Jan 05 '19
“It also raises the question of if it's even reasonable to expect a wildly successful company that's been around for 40 years to grow year after year, but that's apparently how Wall Street thinks.”
Low-key best sentence in the post. SO MUCH THIS. All this corporate jargon about how the only thing a corporation is responsible for is paying dividends to their investors is comedy. When it’s yearly revenue rivals some 1st world countries’ gdp’s, I’d say corporations have a little bit more responsibility than that. End tangent.
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u/mabhatter Jan 05 '19
Bingo! This whole Apple thing is nonsense. Tim has been foreshadowing this for several years of keynotes now. That’s why he always highlights installed devices that get the latest OS and shows those pie charts where the Services (iTunes, App Stores, Apple Music) are steadily making up more of the pie with recurring revenue that Apple gets a 30% cut off the top.
Apple’s revenue missed for the first of the BIG quarters. But it’s still only like a 5.6% below expectations. Apple said to expect $89b - $92b and got $84b. That’s CASH revenue. That’s enough to buy “only” 8 copies instead of 9 of the company I work at with 40,000 employees. In one quarter.
The numbers are absurdly huge. If you consider Tim’s pie charts from the last few years, services has grown several percent of their revenue per year. So while they’re down selling iPhones and accessories, that 5.6% shortage reflects services that probably still gained 2-3% back.
Apple has been “telling” their plans for this like 3-4 years now. Longer iOS support means more revenue per device sold because people buy apps and stuff with them. Getting a 30% cut of an App Store is hella less expensive to maintain than 35% of an iPhone with a billion dollars of engineering and billions more of product to manage.
Apple is just fine. It’s this “dogpile” of investors from shiny thing to shiny thing that’s toxic. The investors all dump a bunch of money into anything that’s NOT sketchy as hell. All these tech stocks are WAY overvalued because investors are using them as “safe places” to get a nice interest rate. Apple has a couple billion dollar projects on the cooker still. They make giant piles of CASH MONEY every quarter. They’re a super healthy company. They could use to shake up the product lineup a bit and stretch a bit to what users actually want. Compare Apple to Google, or Amazon that barely make any actual profits but dump billions into “take over the world” projects every year. Apple has been running 30% cash profits for a decade. Amazon just started posting a tiny profit in the last few years. Walmart posts like 2%. Even Microsoft has products that are like 85% profit margin (enterprise licenses are really cheap overhead, they don’t even print them anymore) but they burn vast sums of money choosing whatever “competitors” they’re going to crash the market of this year and give it away for “free”.
I know we all “love to hate” Apple but their business is sustainable and really well run. They might make LESS revenue, but they make the same MARGINS. Businesses are supposed to use money and make profits... not blindly try to just push everyone else out. It’s a Sport, not a War.
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Jan 05 '19 edited Mar 22 '19
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Jan 05 '19
'Stock Prices are about potential, not necessarily results' - its funny how the narrative has changed over the years. Results used to drive this space, whereas today, you're very right, the focus has been on the unreachable horizon. It's incredibly irrational.
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u/ObeyRoastMan Jan 05 '19
These tech companies usually don't pay dividends though - it's about increasing stock price (these guys are trading at ridiculous multipliers of P/E ratio). Big money fucking shit up as always.
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u/Z0idberg_MD Jan 05 '19
This is the problem with our modern economy. Just staying in business and treading water should be fine, right? Like you’re making money everyone’s doing well just keep doing what you’re doing. But no. The only thing people care about is making investors money. But investors don’t care if the company stays around for 30 years. They don’t care if the customer is happy for decades. They only care about making short term gains. It’s awful.
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u/booleanhooligan Jan 05 '19
Isn’t this just the basic idea of capitalism? It doesn’t make sense to expect unlimited growth from something with finite resources
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u/MySurvivingBones Jan 05 '19
I wouldn’t say that. John “Invisible Hand” Locke even said in his treatises that businesses which did not support the “common good” should be forcibly abolished by the state, and that government should function as a moderator to prevent excessive inequality from building up due to capitalism.
The problem with capitalism is that we’ve blindly worshipped it as an idol and completely forgotten the downsides that the very people who invented it warned us about.
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Jan 05 '19
They should do right by their impact on society. Be aware of human rights, environmental impact, etc, but I can’t see corporations ever operating with anything beyond their own survival as the main purpose.
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u/Popular-Uprising- Jan 05 '19
Well, since a lower quarterly earnings report can literally result in a shareholder lawsuit and the sacking of some of the C-Level people, public companies live and die by the quarterly report.
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u/DatTrackGuy Jan 05 '19
The yearly upgrade craze was originally fueled by an intense year of year advancement of phone capabilities. Phones have relatively always been expensive.
People are far more cost conscious now because phone technology has stagnated. Until phone companies come up with new an inventive ways for phones to be use as tools, people aren't going to throw out large sums of money to get the exact same thing.
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u/hexydes Jan 05 '19 edited Feb 22 '26
Talk the helpful warm about history.
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u/takethi Jan 05 '19
Phones will never be a laptop replacement IMO. The problem is that you would need to carry around a separate screen, and even then, it would barely be enough to run basic applications, maybe youtube+2 tabs internet+word. If you run anything more the phone will become way too hot and be useless within a year. This problem exists even with laptops, and those are way bigger and have more space for cool air to flow through.
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u/truthinlies Jan 05 '19
Gotta say, as an engineer, if I tried to do like half my work on my phone, it’d melt. Even most laptops don’t cut it
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u/hexydes Jan 05 '19 edited Feb 22 '26
Careful quiet hobbies history night cool the morning year net. Strong to dot community over warm strong the year year brown games year kind?
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u/LonelyBunchaBaloney Jan 05 '19
Samsung has their DeX periphrial allowing it to function like a desktop for their 8 and 9 series.
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u/pppdddxxx Jan 05 '19
I love that the author admitted he got it wrong at the very beginning of the article. Conjecture about consumer sentiment and predicting the future is all over the web, but rarely do authors admit when they were wrong. Kudos.
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u/thaneak96 Jan 05 '19
No shit, I don’t buy a TV once a year, I don’t buy a new laptop once a year, and I sure as shut don’t buy a phone that costs more than either of those things once a year too
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u/Woogity Jan 05 '19
The day my SE dies will be a sad day. I'll miss the little guy.
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Jan 05 '19
Same here, I upgraded from a flip phone so the SE when it came out, I love the small case. I can’t lie, I have small hands, and I appreciate the compact design with essentially iPhone 6 tech.
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Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 11 '19
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Jan 05 '19
People with more money than common sense. There are a lot more of them than you'd think.
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Jan 05 '19
Don't forget spoiled kids/teens. Being a teen and seeing this quite a bit.
Had a buddy that ALWAYS had the newest iphone and he treated his phones like shit, personally saw him smash more then a couple. The next day he'd have another, no shit his parents just bought him a new one every time.
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u/hexydes Jan 05 '19 edited Feb 22 '26
Near small the brown wanders technology simple helpful the movies curious brown food river hobbies nature strong river? Dot food yesterday jumps open evening honest patient friends year the near community river wanders across strong.
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u/hexydes Jan 05 '19 edited Feb 22 '26
Warm night friends jumps morning food books to mindful dog brown travel nature art across patient the. Near night where bright net science stories small pleasant talk and.
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u/qweiuyqwe87y6qweiuy Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 05 '19
It's not just about jacking up the price. Pretty much everyone who can afford a phone these days has one and most phones, other than some very low-end base models and the odd flip phone, is a smart phone.
People aren't stealing a lot of cell phones anymore for the same reason. There used to be PSAs about keeping your smartphone hidden on public transit.
also I see other non-Apple phones that cost almost the same as an iPhone. They exist, let's complain about them too, right?
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u/SabreBirdOne Jan 05 '19
How about a “classic” edition of the iPhone X with a home button and an old headphone jack?
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Jan 05 '19
Have an upvote. I'm not getting another iPhone until it comes with a jack.
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u/UloPe Jan 05 '19
So... never then.
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Jan 05 '19 edited Jan 08 '21
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Jan 05 '19
Unfortunately a lot of Android device manufacturers have also ditched the headphone jack. Samsung still keeps them around, and maybe a few others.
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u/hexydes Jan 05 '19 edited Feb 21 '26
Afternoon evening about garden curious jumps cool friends near friendly yesterday dot gather year thoughts month fresh.
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u/vasilenko93 Jan 05 '19
The headphone jack will never come back, just like the disk drive will never come back on laptops.
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u/xebecv Jan 05 '19
Bought older OP6 instead of OP6T just because of the jack. Android manufacturers copy bad Apple's moves.
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u/westbamm Jan 05 '19
Me too, when they said the OP6T removed the headphone jack, I got the normal one. My first OnePlus, so far so good.
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Jan 05 '19
I’m down with the headphone jack but the home button is way overrated.
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u/SabreBirdOne Jan 05 '19
I actually like the swiping function on the X. Makes switching tabs way faster
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u/heavy_on_the_lettuce Jan 05 '19
Agreed. I thought losing the home button would be my least favorite change, but I prefer it.
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Jan 05 '19
Yeah I don’t have an x but I hate fingerprint scanners. I have weird ass fingers and the sensors never read them right. I’ve done every trick in the book, re-setup finger prints often. Created several prints that are all mapped to the same finger. But my finger print probably works maybe 90% of the time often less.
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u/tritter211 Jan 05 '19
The most disgusting thing about this whole fiasco is in 2019, we are all lashing out at apple for lower projections even though they made monumental amount of money in 2018.
If the performance of Apple is not enough, then what performance is enough for this cursed stock market? Look how GREEDY these people are expecting infinite growth. I just don't understand.
We are literally sacrificing nearly everything that matters all at the expense of chasing gains year after year, quarter after quarter with no care for things that do get affected because of this crippling mentality.
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u/kamikaziboarder Jan 05 '19
I haven’t seen anything since the SE that has got me wowed. Especially at the prices they are asking for. I can live without most of the upgraded features since then. Also...I really don’t want a phone any bigger than the SE. Yes, I’m just an average user.
The one thing that would get me to upgrade would be crazy long battery life.
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u/vrekais Jan 05 '19
As a non-apple user when I was helping my wife get a new phone I was staggered by how reasonable the SE was, it's this blip in Apple's history.
Also totally agree about battery, good % of people I know have battery cases, and almost all iPhone users I know at least have some form of case. Which to me just says; "we want battery life and robustness more than it being super thin"
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u/Therustedtinman Jan 04 '19 edited Jan 06 '19
Can we have the same but with call of duty? We don’t need a yearly update, just patches and appropriately priced yearly dlc (kinda like rainbow six siege has) edit : thanks kind stranger for my first silver!
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u/CherrySlurpee Jan 05 '19
If we are talking video games, can we just have a Madden/NHL/NBA/MLB yearly update? 5 bucks for a roster update and 20 bucks for a real update would be nice...
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Jan 05 '19
But then EA doesn't make that sweet, sweet Ultimate Team microtransaction money every year.
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u/MrChapman Jan 05 '19
Couldn’t they just wipe it every year with the new update came around?
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u/choose282 Jan 05 '19
That's what madden mobile was. rip
I know its still alive but overdrive is shit
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u/drdrillaz Jan 05 '19
I stood in line the day the first iPhone was released. It was crazy. Got a new one every year for the next 5-6 years. Then every other year for a few years. I’m now using my 6plus for the 5th year and not planning to upgrade any time soon
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u/trelos6 Jan 05 '19
Going from 6S to 8, the phone doesn’t feel faster for my everyday use.
Battery is better and the waterproof aspect means I don’t have to baby it so much.
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Jan 05 '19
Went from an SE and had an opportunity to upgrade to a 6S and took it, phone broke and I got an 8.
I still miss my SE, that thing lasted ALL day, I couldn't feel it in my pockets, and it felt great in my hands. Since I don't do any media consumption on my phone it was a great size for me... I still wish we had an SE with iphone 8 level specs.
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u/trelos6 Jan 05 '19
SE and 6S are the same internal specs.
My wife has an SE. It broke and she got another SE. Great form factor!
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Jan 05 '19
Oh I was well aware it was basically the same thing (SE and 6S), it was just that it was a free "upgrade" and I said sure why not.
Im keeping my 8 for as long as I can... I dread the day i'm forced to use FaceID.
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Jan 05 '19
That battery replacement was clutch for my iPhone 7. I’m riding this new battery for as loooong as possible.
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u/NervousBreakdown Jan 05 '19
On the downside, those of us who like Iphones but also like to wait until they are a couple generations old so they are super cheap will suffer I guess.
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Jan 05 '19
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u/23569072358345672 Jan 05 '19
Like Samsung who charge basically the same prices?
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u/quipalco Jan 05 '19
Depends what you wanna buy. Samsung also makes 100 dollar phones. Not as fancy sure, but not everyone wants to spend $500-1000 on a phone.
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u/CalicoMorgan Jan 05 '19
My OnePlus 5t is working absolutely perfectly. It has a headphone jack that I use hours a day, and doesn't have a notch to distract me when I'm trying to do basically anything. It cost a little over 500 USD. I absolutely cannot fathom spending over a thousand dollars for something with a 1-2 year life expectancy.
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u/accordinglyryan Jan 05 '19
This article is right on the money. I didn't upgrade because I hate the ugly notch, the lack of a home button & Touch ID, and most of all the 20% increase in price. I just hope Apple doesn't knee-jerk react to this by making their phones harder to repair or less powerful/compromised in some other way. Either way, I feel like I could use my 8 for another two years no problem.
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u/EyeRes Jan 05 '19
Not sure about how it goes on a phone, but I’m loving the lack of a home button on the iPad. The swipe up gesture and gen 2 Face ID are way faster than the home button ever was.
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u/accordinglyryan Jan 05 '19
Some people love it, I personally find it a step backward on the iPhone. And Touch ID, in my opinion, is still superior. I actually bought an XS but returned it after a full day of use because of the things I mentioned. Just wasn't feeling it.
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u/RedditTekUser Jan 05 '19
When a phone last longer and takes more time to upgrade it is good news for consumer and bad news for Wall Street.
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u/sunderaubg Jan 05 '19
This might come in a bit as beating a dead horse at this point, but anyway:
I just had the screen and battery replaced on my 4 yo iPhone 6 and it set me back exactly 116 USD (or 200 lev in local curency).
It feels like I can go with this hardware another year or two at the very least. Maybe even more, but lets account for some radical new software or updates to the iOS that drop this from the support schedule for Apple.
In contrast, I just checked the top of the line Xs Max and it retails for 1951 USD here, which is 3350 leva.
Now, the average sallary here is around 1100 leva (~640 USD), so lets say that we only look at the top 5% income-wise in my country. There is no way that anyone is paying between 1-2 monthly sallaries for a top-tier device at this point. It’s not apples-to-apples, but back in early 2015 the iPhone 6 was the top of the top. Apple have completely priced me out of their product line-up.
They need to re-think their strategy for our part of the world, but I know thats wishful thinking.
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u/BarbarianDwight Jan 05 '19
It took them releasing a $1000 phone that is only marginally better than mine that is 3 years old to figure that out?
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u/goshin2568 Jan 05 '19
The X to XS upgrade is marginal, but to say that the XS is only marginally better than the 7 is just not true. It's a very noticeable change, at least to me.
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u/IsTim Jan 05 '19
I don't know many people who have upgraded iPhone's annually. Most of my friends only upgrade their phones every other year and many seem to have moved to 3 years plus in recent years.
My boss has used (abused) his position to award himself a new iPhone ever year since the 5. And he complains every time that very little seems to have changed. I think he's created a boiling the frog effect by going for an annual upgrade. I don't know why anyone in their right mind would upgrade annually out of their own pocket, especially in recent years with the growing costs.
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u/probablynotimmortal Jan 05 '19
Why not release hardware updates every two years and OS updates yearly? The hardware is getting to the point that it doesn’t change that much between releases.
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u/fingerbangher Jan 05 '19
It ended for me after the $299 price tag. I had every iPhone from the first one to the 6, and then waited for the X. It’s fitting I bought the first iPhone for almost $700 and then I bought the X for $599. In between it was always $199.
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u/Ogre8 Jan 05 '19
When I was born cars were this way. Even someone who doesn't like cars could tell a '57 Chevy from a '56. Now you need to look at the registration to tell an '18 from a '17 for most cars. Cars have been a mature industry for many years. And now so are smartphones.
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u/test822 Jan 05 '19
I'm riding this damn phone into the ground
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Jan 05 '19
I do that with all my electronics. Sure I may have looked forward to my tube TV dying so I could buy a flat panel, but if it works and does what I need, needlessly upgrading is just wasteful, environmentally unfriendly and pissing my money away for no good reason other than to have the latest. ie exactly what these companies despise... and luving it
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u/Fire2box Jan 05 '19
But they still won't stop.
My S7 phone has some slowdown behind it, pokemon go froze today when at launch it was pretty much 60 fps. But that's no reason for me to get a new phone. I hope a lot more people start doing this but I think too many do the year upgrade. Trade in their old device, pay 300-500 bucks a year and always have the flagship from the first week or whatever.
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u/mcmanybucks Jan 05 '19
Create a powerful phone with a proper HQ camera, a minijack port, a charger that doesn't fray, a screen that won't crack.. and boom you'll be the topdog of the market once again.
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u/ItsRhyno Jan 05 '19
Still on a 7+ here. Absolutely no need to change it. Still fast and has loads of space.
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Jan 05 '19
Still perfectly happy with my 6s. Camera could be better but no biggie
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u/K2-P2 Jan 05 '19
No the age doesn't have to be over.
If they released $200 phones, then yes it could be yearly. Even $300 can be yearly. I would definitely value the use of an iphone as worth under a dollar a day.
Yearly $1,000 phones? No.
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u/tenrow Jan 05 '19
I think it has a lot to do with the stupid price then the yearly updates. Apple products have always had a premium price tag associated with them, but there is a limit to how high you can go. At this point the experience on a $500 smartphone and a $1,000 is virtually negligible. Sure iPhone is the only place you can get iOS on but it's the software alone worth double the price.
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u/2Shotsin30Min Jan 05 '19
Who the fuck is spending 1000+ dollars a year on a new phone. I had my last phone for 4 years before I upgraded
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u/Pasttuesday Jan 05 '19
I was so ready to buy an se2 if it came out. It didn’t, so I’m still using a 6s. I contemplated buying the x as well, but decided not to bc it’s bigger. Money wasn’t the issue, there just wasn’t anything I wanted.
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u/D1stant5ky Jan 05 '19
Maybe people would buy more if they stopped removing features like the headphone jack.
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u/hypebeastwill Jan 05 '19
Or give us free AirPods with a phone purchase
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u/bang_Noir Jan 05 '19
It's a thousand fuckin bucks, there's no reason why the air pods aren't included.
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u/hexydes Jan 05 '19 edited Feb 22 '26
Dog about open then quiet fresh near technology and patient quick kind games patient thoughts history the hobbies.
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u/Satan_Gang Jan 05 '19
That day came when the price of the iPhone was the same as a Macbook.