back to article Apple in XS new sensation: Latest iPhone carries XS-sive price tag

Apple on Wednesday held its annual mobile device pageant at its Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino to acquaint the fascinated with its latest fondleslabs, phones and wrist wraps. Despite the secrecy – which failed after developer Steve Troughton-Smith found Apple's products listed in an XML file on the company's website – and the …

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  1. David 132 Silver badge

    "911? Help, I've been hurt in a fall"

    "I have severe injuries to my face and back, and I've lost a crown.

    Oh, and the meatsack who wears me might be injured, but who cares, AppleCare(TM) only applies to me..."

    1. Korev Silver badge
      Terminator

      Re: "911? Help, I've been hurt in a fall"

      When they studied the falls were they fake ones onto a crash mat or were they real ones with video or some kind of validation? Also, were they young or old people falling?

      I've been involved in clinical trials with accelerometers and detecting falls is very hard; not to mention the liability from missed falls and also false alarms.

      1. Eddy Ito

        Re: "911? Help, I've been hurt in a fall"

        It will be interesting to see what the percentage of false alarms turns out to be as well as other statistics such as whether it can detect car crashes and the number of people who party a little too hard and pass out.

        Siri, how many folks are passed out at the pub this evening?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      “It looks like you’ve had a bad fall!”

      “Apple advises you not to read our price list whilst standing up.”

  2. anothercynic Silver badge

    Let's see...

    ... How many iPhone 7s, iPhone 8s and iPhone Xs end up on Fleabay and/or how much some phone vendors will discount the old models...

    *looks at trusty old iPhone 6s whose battery apparently needs replacing*

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      Re: Let's see...

      Cost of iPhone battery replacement for 6+ is £25. Just do that.

      1. ridley

        Re: Let's see...

        "Cost of iPhone battery replacement for 6+ is £25. Just do that."

        Who gives a downvote on that?

        1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge

          Re: Let's see...

          Someone who has brought into the you must throw it away and buy a new one philosophy

      2. anothercynic Silver badge
        Facepalm

        Re: Let's see...

        @tea hound,

        True, but you have to send it in, and Apple don't guarantee that you get your own phone back (they tell you that you must back it up in its entirety and then factory reset it and turn 'Find my iDevice' off).

        Given that I have some items in the secure enclave on the phone that I *really* *really* don't want to have to reset, I am loathe to swap the phone unless it's an upgrade. :-/

        Call me a... What exactly do you call someone like me? ;-)

        1. BrownishMonstr

          Re: Let's see...

          Resetting the device might be policy. When we had to send our Samsung Tab A in for repair under warranty they did the same stating privacy reasons.

    2. Eddy Ito

      Re: Let's see...

      Apple still lists the iPhone 7 for [$,£]450 so I imagine it shouldn't be too hard to pick one up for about [$,£]350.

  3. Barry Rueger

    Yawn....

    Surely I'm not the only person underwhelmed by this? The only one that looks at this and sees nothing more than incremental change?

    The whole smartphone market really has reached the point where it's flat, dull, and stable - which has to pose a problem when you're trying to shift phones at $1000+ a pop.

    1. bazza Silver badge

      Re: Yawn....

      The BBC is, as usual, fawning all over Apple at this exciting time...

      I see they've stayed true to the notch. It's moderately interesting, but only in a omg-I-can't-believe-Apple-are-still-fresh-out-of-good-ideas (aka omgicbaasfoogi) kind of way.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Yawn....

        Yep, it's boring, but that's not a bad thing. It's the difficulty in bringing anything radically new to a pocket device (size and power constraints) that forces designers to look at the small details. Polishing away lots of little niggles can lead to a markedly better user experience over time. Or in Apple's case, include long missing g features such as waterproofing, wireless charging and multiple SIM support (this isn't a jibe, Apple have done done things first too, and often find them very well. I don't see value in being first for the sake of being first, but some features were long overdue).

        Look at Samsung - very little difference between the S8 and S9 other than the finger print sensor has been made slightly less awkward. Otherwise it's just a slightly better screen, slightly faster processor, slightly this, slightly that. And that's okay.

        If you want a crazy radical phone, wait til next year when Samsung and some if their Chinese partners roll out some phones with flexible displays. But the first generation with likely be clunky, poorly supported in software and not proven to be durable. I'll take boring.

        1. Warm Braw

          Re: Yawn....

          a pocket device

          Increasingly hard on the pocket in more than one sense...

          1. Dave 126 Silver badge

            Re: Yawn....

            > Increasingly hard on the pocket in more than one sense...

            Sad to see Apple discontinuing the iPhone SE. Here's hoping that a successor is announced in a Winter / Spring event, as the original SE was.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Yawn....

      How dare you sir!!!

      My iPhone 6s still works fine!

      Oh... I see your point.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Yawn....

      Yup. IMHO the Nokia 8110 4G is about the most exciting phone right now precisely because it's bullshit-free. Add a tethered tablet and you're golden for barely £300.

    4. Cuddles

      Re: Yawn....

      "Surely I'm not the only person underwhelmed by this? The only one that looks at this and sees nothing more than incremental change?"

      To be fair, the jump to $1500 for a phone is a pretty big increment.

      "The whole smartphone market really has reached the point where it's flat, dull, and stable"

      People tend to comment on it now being a mature market, but I'm not convinced it wasn't born mature. My very first smartphone was an HTC Hero. Obviously the underlying hardware and software has improved since then, but I can't point at anything missing that would distinguish it from a modern phone. Hell, it has a removable battery, 3.5mm socket and accepts SD cards, so it's actually well ahead of many of them.

      It's not really smartphones and the market that have changed, but rather society. When smartphones were new, people saw them as exciting shiny things, and were happy to buy new ones regularly because they were even newer and shinier, even though they didn't actually bring anything new to the table. Now, they're just ubiquitous tools. Upgrades are no more or less meaningful than they used to be, most people simply stopped giving a shit.

    5. anothercynic Silver badge

      Re: Yawn....

      Oh, no Barry Rueger, you are definitely not the only one.

      Apple sent me a message to tell me that the event was starting on Twitter and I went... 'uhhhh, meh?'

      I know... so unusual for an Apple Fanboi, right? ;-)

  4. Andy Mac
    WTF?

    Doubling down on stupid prices too

    I was toying with the idea of upgrading. Now I’m not. Even I’m not idiot enough to pay that idiot-tax.

    I can’t see the Xr doing well. Who wants to pay premium prices for a sub-premium phone? It’s the 5c all over again.

    1. Grikath

      Re: Doubling down on stupid prices too

      This.....

      Does it shoot laser beams, and can I attach it to a shark?

      No?

      Bugger off then....

      1. the Jim bloke
        Trollface

        Re: Doubling down on stupid prices too

        only if the shark stays within 2 metres of the surface, and not submerged for longer than 30 minutes.

        Flying sharks should be ok, as long as the impact of re-entering the water isnt too great.

        The laser beams are neither energetic nor particularly noticeable - otherwise the 'duckface unlock' feature would be far more amusing.

        Attachment to the shark can be achieved using a range of adhesives, strapping, or my personal favourite, a nine inch railway spike driven by a sledgehammer - although this may cause some discomfort to the shark.

  5. m0rt

    ""Apple Watch is really redefining what a watch can do for you," said Cook."

    James Bond would disagree...

    1. Dazed and Confused

      Re: redefining what a watch can do for you

      Can I use it to tell the time?

      OK, enough said, that's all I want.

      No honestly, that's what I want a watch to do, I want it to tell me the time.

      Anything else?

      Errrr yes, OK, it you insist, I don't want to worry about the batter more than say once every 5 years or so.

      Yawn. Can I go back to sleep now?

      1. AMBxx Silver badge

        Re: redefining what a watch can do for you

        >> Can I use it to tell the time?

        Only for the first 18 hours apparently.

        GPS reduces that to a mere 6 hours. Not unusual for me to use GPS for best part of 8 hours when hiking, think I'll stick to my trusty Samsung and Garmin.

        1. Casca Silver badge

          Re: redefining what a watch can do for you

          Even better when you look att Suuntos new Watch. Up to 120 hours gps tracking.

      2. Bill Fresher

        Re: redefining what a watch can do for you

        Exactly - and a phone that only makes and receives calls, and a TV that only shows BBC1, in black and white.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: redefining what a watch can do for you

        "Anything else??"

        I'm a much more demanding user than you. I want a watch to tell me not just the time but the date too!

        1. Dazed and Confused

          Re: redefining what a watch can do for you

          Anything else??"

          I'm a much more demanding user than you. I want a watch to tell me not just the time but the date too!

          I wound have been with you up until a couple of years ago. Sadly I can now only read the date on my watch when I'm wearing my glasses.

  6. nohatjim

    Head phone socket

    My iPhone 6s is going to need a new battery again soon. Until this phone. Upgraded each time the S version came out but loss of socket means no upgrade path.

    1. paulf
      Unhappy

      Re: Head phone socket

      Same here - I'll be sorting out a replacement battery for my 6S+ before the cheap offer ends in December. That should keep me going for a few more years yet. If it hadn't been for the removal of the headphone socket I'd probably have updated to the iPhone 7S 8 last year. It might be a small point for some but I found the early smart phones (HTC and iPhone that I know of, and I'm sure others) use of a standard headphone socket refreshing and genuinely useful compared to the Nokia practice of every handset using a different proprietary standard for the headset connector.

      I'm just tired of the rehashed arguments against the headphone socket, "It's an obsolete standard", "use bluetooth headphones", "use the lightning to 3.5 jack adaptor", "It's brave innovation".

      "It might be old but it's not obsolete - comparisons with floppy disks are misleading (floppy disk storage capacity was long eclipsed by user requirements but audio can still travel along copper wires that terminate in a jack plug which connects to near enough any audio device)", "I don't want to spend money on new headphones to replace my Sennheiser HD-25s that will be something else that needs regular charging, plus carrying another charger", "Why should I need an adaptor for the basic action of listening to music on a fucking £700+ phone?", "removing useful functionality is not innovation (unless you're Apple)".

  7. MrBanana

    What now?

    Over a grand? For a phone? Fuck off.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What now?

      The budget 5c was too budget, so they made an equally crap phone, and put a higher price tag on it, as morons still believe if it costs more, it must be better, and the richest company on the planet with only 12% market share, couldn't possibly be overcharging....

      1. The Pi Man

        Re: What now?

        The SE is an excellent phone - I still have a 5s, but a second gen SE with worthwhile upgrades is the only thing that will get me to part with cash. My 5s is nigh on perfect for my needs.

        1. SonOfDilbert

          Re: What now?

          Yes, agreed. I have an SE and it is perfect for my needs. It is reasonably powerful, the battery last two days on low power mode, it cost just over 1/3 of the iPone X and best of all, it fits easily into my pocket. Oh - and it also makes phone calls quite well, too.

    2. cornetman Silver badge

      Re: What now?

      Over here in Canada, we calculate that the top-of-the line phone in CAD$ including tax and AppleCare will set you back a cool $2.5k.

    3. 45RPM Silver badge

      Re: What now?

      @MrBanana

      A grand is expensive - but is it too much? I’m not sure that it is. Bear with me on this. I’m about to indulge in some high octane devils advocacy.

      Once upon a time (the 1980s) a mobile phone cost as much as a car, a ‘humble’ ZX Spectrum cost the equivalent of 800 nicker (and still didn’t have any built in storage or a display). These costs covered R&D for hardware, R&D for software, manufacture (not in a sweatshop) and this mysterious thing called a ‘profit’.

      Nowadays, ‘free’ or as close to as possible is the preferred price point. No one wants to pay for software and shitty, cheaply built, hardware rules the roost. Sure, it doesn’t last long - it who cares? It was cheap! Yay! Many mobile phone manufacturers don’t make a profit - it’s a loss leader (for whom though, I wonder) and I wonder why they bother. Similarly, I can’t see the profit in a sub £100 tablet, and still these things get shovelled from sweatshop to landfill with a brief interlude with user.

      So I look back to the 1980s, when everything was better and we could cheerfully sing ‘Hold a Chicken in the Air’ whilst walking to the Grundig rental store because the telly wasn’t working and the Ford Orion has broken down again. Prices were higher, adjusted for inflation, but they were the right price - and it seems to me that competition today has driven prices to being too damn cheap.

      So yes, these new phones are expensive, no I can’t afford one (but, luckily, my iPhone siX is still quick and works perfectly) - but I don’t think that these new phones are too pricey for what they are. I’m sure that they’ll sell by the boatload - and look on the bright side, they’ll probably be cheaper than whatever gets pushed out next year!

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        Re: What now?

        Average 5 pints of beer per week in a pub for a year £1000

        Two reasonable bottles of red wine per week for a year: £1000

        Cost of a 20 a day fag habit for a year £2000

        Cost of gym membership for a year £600

        Cost of a latest model iPhone if sold on after 1 or 2 years about £200

        1. SonOfDilbert

          Re: What now?

          > Cost of a latest model iPhone if sold on after 1 or 2 years about £200

          Seems to me that iPonies (and most Apple products) hold their value much better than this in the secondhand market.

          1. werdsmith Silver badge

            Re: What now?

            Seems to me that iPonies (and most Apple products) hold their value much better than this in the secondhand market.

            Post not clear enough and open to misinterpretation. £200 is how much it will cost the original buyer. For example, pay £1000 for it, sell it for £800. Assuming they buy the phone, as for many the cost price is irrevelant, they will buy it on a contract and have to wait to the end of their deal to recover the value in the phone.

            The main point being that because of its secondhand value a latest model iPhone will cost its buyer-from-new only a couple of hundred quid in depreciation. All these people choking on their kebabs at the price didn't think too deeply about it.

            1. eSeM

              Re: What now?

              iPhones are not holding their value the way they used to. You can already pick up an X on ebay for around £500 :-)

            2. Spazturtle Silver badge

              Re: What now?

              Selling it for £800 after 2 years would mean you only paid £100 a year for it though and per year price is what was being compared, so the poster was assuming it would sell for £600 after 2 years.

            3. ridley

              Re: What now?

              Anyone who pays 80% of the cost price for a two year old second hand item is more of a mug that the person paying £1000 for a phone. Its SH FFS.

          2. D@v3

            Re: second hand market

            certainly used to be the case, but i was (out of sheer curiosity) having a look around the webs this morning, to see how much i could sell my 64gb 6s, should i chose to, err, 'upgrade'. i was seeing offers between £80 and £100.

            OK, the 6s is now (counts on fingers) 5 generations old (!) (6s,7, 8, x, xs), but, as many others have said, still works fine, so i will be keeping it for now, and talking to the previous poster about what sounded like a beer subscription service.

        2. Spiz

          Re: What now?

          "Cost of a 20 a day fag habit for a year £2000"

          https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/295797532

          £11.00 x 365 = £4,015

          1. MachDiamond Silver badge

            Re: What now?

            ""Cost of a 20 a day fag habit for a year £2000"

            https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/295797532

            £11.00 x 365 = £4,015"

            Time to take a trip to Belgium and load the boot with cheap cigs.

            I wonder where I came up with all of the dosh to afford fags before I quit.

        3. GruntyMcPugh Silver badge

          Re: What now?

          @werdsmith: "Cost of a latest model iPhone if sold on after 1 or 2 years about £200"

          "BRITISH PEOPLE SPEND OVER £680 MILLION EVERY YEAR FIXING BROKEN PHONE SCREENS, SURVEY CLAIMS"

          https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/broken-phone-screen-fix-iphone-cost-price-uk-a8536236.html

        4. MachDiamond Silver badge

          Re: What now?

          Cost of a cheap used phone on eBay £25

          Cost of two cheap used phone on eBay £50

          The real difference being a nice holiday for a week somewhere sunny.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Up

        Quote of the year...

        “...these things get shovelled from sweatshop to landfill with a brief interlude with user.”

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