Debate: How much should a flagship phone cost?

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Nostromo79
Nostromo79
Arena Apprentice
• 1y ago
↵Crispin_Gatieza said:

Wow, either people have totally forgotten the way things were or everyone here is under 30. In 2008 I was torn between a Palm Treo Pro 850 or an HP iPAQ 910c. Both were WinMo 6.1, both had physical keyboards and both had 2.5” resistive touchscreens with toothpick stylii. They both also shared a $699 price. Those of us who owned a car also remember the summer of ‘08 when gas was over $5 in some places so it’s not like the price of some things have changed that dramatically.


For what you get today in terms of hardware and software, battery life, cameras and general user experience, you CANNOT complain about the cost of phones compared to 15 years ago. The fully loaded ‘06 Mustang I bought for my wife in 2005 was $18,000. That same car will set you back $35,000 today. Let’s not even talk about real estate, I can almost retire with the equity I have in my house.

I was on the edge of my seat (figuratively speaking) reading your recollections. I remember that era you're citing. I was still using my Motorola RAZR in '08. The Treo 650 I once used had to be mothballed once my fiancee and I left Sprint in November 2006. Until recently, that RAZR had been my personal longevity champion; used it for 33 months or so. Now I've been using my venerable Note20 Ultra for the past 37 months. I keep thinking that my latest smartphone, a Galaxy S23 Ultra, might be my last superphone. But that remains to be seen. I've only used it sparingly since I bought it several months ago.

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Rocket
Rocket
Arena Apprentice
• 1y ago

Top of the line no more than $995, plus models $895 and regular versions $795 or less.

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TTGypsy
TTGypsy
Arena Apprentice
• 1y ago
↵ErikOiseaux said:

The way the market works and survives - is that and particular item will and should cost based on what masses are willing to pay for. Especially if it’s not a necessity.


it also has to be easily profitable or these products would not exist. Dictating what each device should cost either based on component cost, on what society can afford for flagships is borderline socialism.


yes phones are a necessity today to be able to function and be productive member of society, but a flagship with all the bells and whistles is not a necessity. You can easily get by with a $150 android or old iPhone model.


let the companies set their prices and you vote with your wallet.

Most people forget a simple piece of math. How long will the non user replaceable battery last? So what's the cost per annum of the phone usage. Can your budget sustain this annually? Something one should think about.

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Renardoy
Renardoy
Arena Apprentice
• 1y ago

6158944667

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stferrari
stferrari
Arena Apprentice
• 1y agoedited
↵Bebochek said:

This all started with Apple when they increased the price of the iPhone 10 by $200. I told my friend at the time that it will make all other phones go up in price, and it did. I put it down to Apple company greed, they knew they had enough zombies to get away with it. Smart phones have almost become necessary and I believe will become totally necessary in the next few years. Banks and governments are moving in that direction.

I think an iPhone Pro Max cost about $400 to build, added cost for iPhone propaganda which is big in the US. That can only add $100 to $150 a phone. Tim Cook when asked why he thought $1000 for an iPhone was good and people would buy them, he said, "Most people buy them on credit, and payments are spread over two years"

I think Tim Cook getting bonuses of $1 billion dollars is excessive.

All depends on what you believe a reasonable profit margin should be. Spent 30+ years in the computer OEM industry. 25 point (percent) gross margins were always considered very good. Most products struggled to get 15 to 20 points. But for purposes of argument lets say we can run the company with a decent profit after R and D and advertising costs with a 25 point gross margin. That would mean at a $500 build cost (all parts plus assembly labor), your selling price would be $667. A 50 point margin would be $1000. Any company that could get a 50 point margin in my carrier years would have been unheard of. Of course you may have variables like import fees and licensing fees etc. that need to be factored in but i think a 25 to 30 point margin should allow a company to show a good profit after funding all of their operational costs.

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shalila
shalila
Arena Apprentice
• 1y ago

the prices increased while the upgrades of the phones were smaller and smaller each year so the price-quality value decreased a lot.

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Damato
Damato
Arena Apprentice
• 1y ago

Max 1500€ then we speak top foldable Samsung the new Iphone 15 pro is a disaster use it as a oven insted of a smartphone total disapoint i keep for day use s23 Ultra and Fold 4 this 15 Pro im getting rid of this week what a gip !

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Damato
Damato
Arena Apprentice
• 1y ago
↵Nostromo79 said:

Ten years ago a Note 3 ran $300 when I bought it from Verizon; my first Note. I evaluated that Note 3 for two months before buying one for my fiancee for Christmas 2013. The Note 3 has a flat screen that so nicely accommodates a tempered glass screen protector. With the screen off the effect is that of a depthless pool.

Note series was my favorite i had most of em now Ultra & Fold Mac laptop and a satelite phone for travel

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ArdmAnn
ArdmAnn
Arena Apprentice
• 1y ago
↵Bebochek said:

This all started with Apple when they increased the price of the iPhone 10 by $200. I told my friend at the time that it will make all other phones go up in price, and it did. I put it down to Apple company greed, they knew they had enough zombies to get away with it. Smart phones have almost become necessary and I believe will become totally necessary in the next few years. Banks and governments are moving in that direction.

I think an iPhone Pro Max cost about $400 to build, added cost for iPhone propaganda which is big in the US. That can only add $100 to $150 a phone. Tim Cook when asked why he thought $1000 for an iPhone was good and people would buy them, he said, "Most people buy them on credit, and payments are spread over two years"

I think Tim Cook getting bonuses of $1 billion dollars is excessive.

Apple company greed, yeah i agree 💯% to this article you wrote. Smartphone prices are getting out of hands and it so bad and stupid many will break their savings or take credits just to buy the latest expensive flagship phone 📱.

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CEDEOTB
CEDEOTB
Arena Master
• 1y ago

As MKBHD said before "cheap phones are getting good, and good phones are getting cheap". Aside from that I think the best value goes to the Pixel 7a, S23 FE and iPhone SE. Why do people even need so much phone.

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