Apple: Our stores are your 'town square' and a $1,000 iPhone is your 'future' Apple has summoned friendly press to its new Cupertino campus to christen the Steve Jobs Theater with the introduction of a new set of products to hit the shelves this Fall. CEO Tim Cook used the occasion to showcase updates to the AppleTV and Watch lines, while a new, eye-wateringly expensive iPhone model stole the show. …
This has been rumored for two years, before anyone else was shipping bezel-less phones. Not saying others copied Apple rumors but clearly this began the design process before any bezel-less Android phone shipped. Besides, it was a pretty obvious evolution after thinness and screen size had pretty much run their course.
"clearly this began the design process before any bezel-less Android phone shipped."
Because android phones don't go through a design process before going into production and being shipped?
Or are you suggesting that Apple take so long to design and build something that other companies can do it in a fraction of the time?
"Not saying others copied Apple rumors but clearly this began the design process before any bezel-less Android phone shipped."
"Clearly"??? Not to me. You obviously have inside info on ALL of the major manufacturers design processes so that you can make this "CLEAR" conclusion. But, Apple fanboi, let me say this: the bezel-less design is an obvious goal, just as it was for monitors and TVs. OBVIOUS!
You know, you might be on to something there... There is zero chance I am paying over a grand for a *phone*. If I wanted to do that, I'd be running about with a Vertu, *not* an Apple.
*looks at and cradles iPhone 6s* Don't quit on me. Not for another 4 years. Please?
This post has been deleted by its author
A bit bizzare,. If you buy an iPhone 8, you are buying the new phone instantly obsoleted by the iPhone 10.
If you buy the iPhone 10, you have to suffer no home button and a slow and frustrating Face unlock and a phone you can't hold without obscuring parts of the screen...
iPhone 8 is iPhone 7 + android catch-up features from 2015
iPhone 10 is Form over function.
But all of the is apple all over. The first hundred thousand devices of course will be handed out as freebies to press, media influencers, and celebrities, to ensure its success, and all the plebs that buy one with real money will foot the bill. This is how it has always worked for Apple.
On my iphone 7 I hold it at bottom and my thumb sits near the home button on the bezel, rather than the screen, same on my 6, the 4S I had years ago, and the android phones I've had inbetween.
I would guess what he means is that on the iPhoneX, your thumb would be on the screen.
On my iphone 7 I hold it at bottom and my thumb sits near the home button on the bezel, rather than the screen, same on my 6, the 4S I had years ago, and the android phones I've had inbetween.
I would guess what he means is that on the iPhoneX, your thumb would be on the screen.
Well then you are holding it wrong ;)
But for an iPhone 7, exactly the same as any other touch slab you can just cradle it.
Then when you want to touch the home button, touch it than move your thumb away again.
In fact, just trying it out now, in the right hand the thumb naturally goes close to the power button on the side.
If the phone it touch screen you have to move at least one digit over the screen to operate within apps anyway. I see no issue with all screen phones.
> This has been rumored for two years, before anyone else was shipping bezel-less phones.
Sharp have had bezel-less phones for quite a few years now, though in small quantities - almost more an advertisement for their screen technology. I will take your wider point, that the lead time to develop a product means that the iPhone X is not directly influenced by the Mii Mix or Rubin Essential phone.
and it looks like Apple prices are *still* headed the wrong way
Certainly are. In strategic terms, Apple are treating their business as a cash cow - maximise profit by charging as much as they can, rather than offer real innovation because (in developed markets) they've accepted that they have reached near enough their maximum market share. For a cash cow business, growth can only be in dollars, not physical market share. Traditionally a cash cow faces a declining market, I suspect that with Apple, this cash cow will endure for a very long time.
Wall Street hoped that Apple would announce some fantastic "augmented reality" product to reignite growth, with Apple encouraging them that this is in the pipeline. I'm sure the iPhone X will fly off the shelves, but AR? Have these people no common sense? Google Glass was a form of AR, and that sank without much trace. Pokemon Go was a form of AR, and that was nothing more than a childish fad. AR is a bit like VR, AI and all the rest - hypeware that is being pushed because the makers hope they can sell it, in the face of a market that really isn't asking for it.
IMHO, the only medium term growth possibility for Apple is China, but it is not clear whether China will ever really embrace Apple in the same highly profitable way that the UK and US have. The Chinese domestic market is very different, and they've got some excellent handset manufacturers, producing beautiful, well made devices at a fraction of the cost of Apple's product. Even if China does start buying more iPhones, expect very different pricing and much lower pricing, accompanied by unbelievably rigorous region controls to stop a grey market in cheaper Apple devices cannibalising the Western markets willing to pay £1,000 a phone.
If people buy the X for £1,000 to £1,100, then you can be sure that Apple will be thinking that in a year to eighteen months they can announce an iPhone X-and-a-bit costing £1,400. Apple's innovation is now solely in demanding outlandish prices, and getting the iPhone addicts to pay for them.
Recommend OnePlus. Under half the price of an iPhone X, with dual SIM, 6GB of RAM, 80% charge in half an hour (of a battery that lasts all day anyway), 126GB storage.
The question Apple has to answer (and the tech press would ask it if they were journalists) is: what is the iPhone X doing that's worth the other £650?
"what is the iPhone X doing that's worth the other £650?"
Obviously it is giving the user the ability to show off how wealthy, important, stylish, sexy and macho he is. It is peacocking. iPhones are Veblen goods like Rolexes and Rolls-Royces.
Being "high" in Society is important to some. Important to sufficient numbers for Apple, Rolls and Rolex to stay in business. Them and all the other "designer brands".
"Have sex with me, I have a new iPhone" works. It always has. It always will. So Apple can never fail.
"My wife is currently looking to replace her iphone 5. Looks like she'll be getting an Android phone, because an iphone price drop is long overdue, and it looks like Apple prices are *still* headed the wrong way".
How about taking a look at something like the OnePlus 3 which is functional, looks good and is much cheaper?
My wife is currently looking to replace her iphone 5.
That's the thing. I have an iPhone 6. It works. It's paid for.
Do I really want to pay $45 a month to get an 8Plus? Err... no, not really.
Do I want to pay 1/7th the value of my car to buy a new iPhone X? Err..no.
Bezel-less screens, wireless charging and on screen home buttons. Wow, that's so innovative - where do they get their ideas from?
To be fair, during the presentation they didn't claim to be first with any of those things (even though the X doesn't have an on-screen home button).
There is a solid chance this blows up in their face. I can see Apple people moving based on a $1,000 plus price tag. I bet they will take the price down after a few months. They probably know that there are a few million people who will pay whatever is asked to be the first group with the new iPhone. Then they take it down for the broad base of people with iPhones next year. Could be wrong though, this may just be a "pay $1,000 plus or go get an Android" situation.
If they have limited production - and it is obvious they do given how the X won't ship until early November - then a higher price makes sense to steer some people towards the less expensive 8/8 plus that they're able to make more of. If they priced the X the same as the 8, how many would choose the 8?
Given that Samsung is selling the Note 8 for $929, Apple selling the X for $999 isn't that crazy. Why should people quibble over another $70? Yeah, I know people will say the Note 8's screen is bigger, it has a pen, etc. but the iPhone has things the Note doesn't have like double the CPU speed and 3D facial scan.
People are happily paying $929 to get the Note 8, and will happily pay $999 to get the X. The way I look at it, given the hours per day I'm using my phone and all the things I use it for, it doesn't look as expensive as it would have back when I only used a cell phone to make calls. Just like if you had to spend 8 hours a day driving, you'd probably buy a nicer car than if you only drove to the grocery store twice a week.
Oh, the ones who drank the Kool-Aid are screaming "gimme! gimme!!!" all over Facebook. Sadly, I have several close acquaintances who are doing just that, yet they are the same ones who complain about how high rent in the LA area is, and how health insurance is difficult to get.
But new $1,100 iPhone X? Yeah, gimme! GIMME NOW! *head in hands*
It really isn't. I have to use Android all the time and it's shit. It's shit because it's a generic OS and a lot of the versions out there have been horribly fucked around with. iOS doesn't have that problem at all, it runs a strict set of known devices. I guess it's possible that Android on Pixel is as robust as iOS on iPhone, but Android on a £150 unbranded phone is going to start bad and grind to a halt within a couple of months.
For example, my current Android phone was £200, has 8 cores, 62 gigs of storage, 3gigs of ram but runs loads slower than it did when I bought it six months ago, hangs intermittently and occasional decides that drawing the touch keyboard is too much bother (it puts up a white rectangle which does work as a keyboard but it's pretty random what you type). That's the reality of Android for most users. It's not fanboyism to want a working operating system.
Sony fixed it, apple emergency licensed it, when they were halfway down a road with a dead end (under screen fingerprint sensor).
https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/26/sony-to-demo-3d-face-biometric-running-on-xperia-smartphone/
Don't worry though, next year's model will obsolete the iPhone X and include all the stuff that wasn't ready in time, and you won't have to worry about people unlocking your phone just by pointing it at you...
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
