back to article Shock poll finds £999 X too expensive for happy iPhone owners

"The iPhone X cost twice [as much as my old smartphone] but isn't twice as good. It's for the Rolex wearers," concluded Alistair Dabbs after a fortnight with Apple's flagship. And it seems many iPhone owners agree. 40 per cent haven't upgraded to the £999 X – and a third say it's because it's too expensive. Piper Jaffray …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Planned Failure?

    Because they released the iPhone 8 just before the X could it not be possible that Apple were hedging their bets a bit?

    No matter, my use case makes using FaceID a non starter (as a Motorcyclist). The TouchID on my refurb iPhone 6 works fine. I'll keep it for a few more years and see if Apple has realisted the FaceID is a failure.

    I guess I fall into the 'happy with what I've got' camp.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Planned Failure?

      Weren't the iPhone 8 sales "disappointing" because people were wating for the X?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Planned Failure?

        Weren't the iPhone 8 sales "disappointing" because people were wating for the X?

        Quite right. Thing is, in Appleland, bad stuff is always someone else's fault.

        When you combine that externalisation of fault with the infallibility of the leader of the one true faith, It's clear Apple is just a religion. But its the first religion listed on on NYSE, as far as I'm aware.

        I think the Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, and others should focus on their IPOs.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Devil

          "... and others should focus on their IPOs."

          Religions have better ways to separate gullible people from their money, and have centuries of experience in doing so...

        2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
          Windows

          Re: Planned Failure?

          Quite right. Thing is, in Appleland, bad stuff is always someone else's fault.

          Did you say Russia?

          Btw, what happened to all those tablets? I vaguely remember that at some point the bus was filled with tablet/slab-fondling people but now I see none at all? Was I just dreaming? Has there been a dieoff?

          1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

            Re: Planned Failure?

            "I vaguely remember that at some point the bus was filled with tablet/slab-fondling people but now I see none at all? Was I just dreaming? Has there been a dieoff?"

            I think most who want a tablet have one, there's not the same reasons or incentives to upgrade, and the people on the bus have either got larger phones so no longer bring the tablet with them, or the magic has worn off and they don't feel the need to be face planted into it all the time any more.

          2. Naselus

            Re: Planned Failure?

            "Btw, what happened to all those tablets? "

            Replaced with e-readers and phones for people who want to read/watch stuff, and laptops for people who want to work. Which was fairly predictable from the get-go, since tablets are actually kinda shit at, well... everything.

    2. J. R. Hartley

      Re: Planned Failure?

      It's not just iPhone users. As someone who has been upgrading every 18 months since the Galaxy S2 came out, I won't be upgrading my Galaxy S8 to an S9. There's just no point - it does everything I need and it does it very well.

      I'd actually still be using my S7 if I didn't drop it face first into a kerb when it was about 6 months old and the screen replacement was non-economically viable.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Planned Failure?

        Wife's ancient phone had accumulated faults and mine had accumulated cracks, so I upgraded us both to S8 to be in parallel (e.g. stupid charger plug tricks).

        Otherwise, well, I just had to check the back to know which 'wonderful' we had. It's just a phone, not an extra sex organ!

      2. leexgx

        Re: Planned Failure?

        most have 2 year contracts (not me)

    3. Wyrdness

      Re: Planned Failure?

      "No matter, my use case makes using FaceID a non starter (as a Motorcyclist)."

      As a fellow motorcyclist, I completely fail to understand what your use case might be.

      You obviously can't unlock the phone using FaceID when wearing a helmet.

      But then, you can't use touch id when wearing gloves either.

      So even with touch id you'd have to remove your gloves to unlock the phone.

      In which case, you could just enter your pin to unlock it.

      So what's the problem?

    4. Pat Harkin

      Re: Planned Failure?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFuPixjzm8Q

  2. djstardust

    It's not just Apple

    Samsung have shoved yet another £50 price increase on their S series handsets. When will this end ...... when people stop buying them.

    The Note 4 was £569 and the Note 8 is £869

    The Galaxy S was £399 when it came out, now it's double for the current model.

    Even factoring in inflation and Brexit tax this is absurd. Manufacturers are just taking the piss. And this time Apple have been burned and it seems Samsung just blindly follow them.

    I'm all for businesses making a profit but billions of pounds profit is just greed.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It's not just Apple

      There are two paths for smartphone peddlers these days.

      1) Sell plenty of cheap phones, use the sheer volume of sales to make up for loss in profit margin per unit sold. Can't beat the Chinese phones with this strategy now.

      2) Sell a small number of expensive phones to your 'captive customers' (loyal fanboys) who tend to be more price inelastic. Maximize your profit margin per unit sold. You need to have an established, sizeable market share to execute this strategy.

      There is no middle ground. Also, Apple's 'premium' branding makes #1 quite impossible. On the Android camp, only Samsung could afford to do #2; its cheaper A-series and J-series Galaxy phones also face fierce competition from Chinese phones. Other Android phone vendors are struggling, caught between #1 and #2.

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        Re: It's not just Apple

        I wonder how a smoker on a 5ish a day habit feels about burning a £1000 a year for nothing compared to someone buying an X, using it for a year and getting £500 selling it used.

        1. Mark 78

          Re: It's not just Apple

          "I wonder how a smoker on a 5ish a day habit feels about burning a £1000 a year for nothing compared to someone buying an X, using it for a year and getting £500 selling it used."

          More relaxed?

        2. Ken 16 Silver badge
          Trollface

          It depends how addicted you are.

          In both examples.

        3. Ropewash

          Re: It's not just Apple

          >>I wonder how a smoker on a 5ish a day habit<<

          Speaking as one with an 8ish/day habit I'd think the iPhone owner was a self-regarding ponce and go have a smoke.

          Apples and orang...err duMauriers.

      2. Adam 1

        Re: It's not just Apple

        > There are two paths for smartphone peddlers these days.

        @AC, not sure I agree with that dichotomy. I would agree that Apple can't really go #1 without cannibalizing their #2s (what a fortunate pun). We see this in other product categories too, where a carmaker uses different marques to sell something made from the same parts bin at substantially different prices.

        But I see it as a scale rather than two camps. You just need profit per unit * units sold > $X

        In the #2 world, profit per unit is just absurd. When I last replaced my phone (firmly from one of the vendors of #1s), it wasn't because I wanted the cheapest possible thing. I wanted a Nexus price/feature compromise, not a Pixel price/feature compromise. If the midrange isn't selling it's because they're not wanting to take any bullet points off their flagships feature list, so the midrange then can't pull from the Chinese. You can't ask for another 200 quid if all you get for it is an extra 2MP on the camera.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It's not just Apple

      I'm all for businesses making a profit but billions of pounds profit is just greed.

      Depends on how much they've invested and the prevailing interest rates, surely? In Apple's case, yes, it's greed. But as a profit motivated business, that's what they're supposed to do. If your pension fund was considering its investments, which would you rather it invested in, back in 2015, Carillion, a private equity stake in Maplin, or Apple?

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: It's not just Apple

        Galaxy S8 is now available for around £500, same as a OnePlus 5T. If you're a small business owner, it's cheaper still, because OnePlus don't issue VAT receipts - something no reviewer mentioned.

        Today I cancelled my OnePlus order and went for the S8. Shame about the awkward fingerprint sensor, but hey ho.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's not just the upfront cost...

    It's not just the upfront cost, it's the repair costs, replacing the back cover and the screen, if they were nearer a reasonable price for repair, I think most could accept the upfront cost, but the repair costs of the iPhone X are just ridiculous, all designed so you take out Apple Care.

    So much of that 3d depth camera tech is just not required at the moment for biz, most just want a fingerprint reader under/within the screen.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It's not just the upfront cost...

      all designed so you take out Apple Care

      Don't give NRA members any ideas.

  4. JimmyPage Silver badge
    Coat

    Well, that answers that question ..

    Where the money/sense line can be drawn.

  5. JimmyPage Silver badge
    Boffin

    They should have asked me ...

    Smartphones - like everything else invented in the 1980s - are now a mature market.

    That means those that need already have.

    Those that want can get an entry level model (either a noname, or a pre-owned one, if "second hand" is too declasse).

    So any new devices are either replacements due to failure/damage, or a network-pushed upgrade (at no upfront cost).

    All else is unicorn droppings.

    Also, objectively, there's nothing you can do with a new smartphone that you can't do with a two year old one. Or (to put it another way) there's nothing in the last two years that requires an upgrade.

    That's £100,000 of top-level research for you there.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: They should have asked me ...

      "Smartphones - like everything else invented in the 1980s - are now a mature market."

      Which smartphone existed in the 80s? Even in the mid-90s, at best you had a PDA with an irda link to a GPS mobile phone at 9600bps

      1. JimmyPage Silver badge
        Mushroom

        Re: They should have asked me ...

        Don't confuse retail products with technology.

        The building blocks for a smartphone were laid in the *early* 80s (if not 70s). GSM radio handsets, programmable calculators. Incredibly rudimentary, but jam them together and - voila - a proto "smartphone". Makes calls, runs "apps" and can be ported fairly easily.

        Maybe Apples problem is they are now run by a bunch of hipsters who think everything was invented in the 21st century >>>>

        1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
          WTF?

          Re: They should have asked me ...

          The building blocks for a smartphone were laid in the *early* 80s (if not 70s). GSM radio handsets, programmable calculators.

          Complete bollocks. The software wasn't even around. Nothing was around.

          But that kind of reckoning, the building blocks for a smartphone were laid when Leibniz invented the Stepped reckoner.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: They should have asked me ...

            "The software wasn't even around."

            iOS is based on Unix, which has been around since 1971 and IIRC 1977 with network/TCP sockets support.

          2. Dave 126 Silver badge

            Re: They should have asked me ...

            ARM chips and Li-ion batteries are late eighties ish developments.

            The concept for a smartphone lies somewhere between science fiction and engineering. A black reference device holding billions of pages with an integrated Uber service (electronic thumb) is the Hitchhiker's Guide.

            1. Jason Hindle

              Re: The first smart phone was called Simon

              And Simon was very much a child of the 90s.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: They should have asked me ...

      That's £100,000 of top-level research for you there.

      Oh not it isn't. If I were forking out serious money, I wouldn't need to know WHY I COULDN'T MAKE MONEY IN THIS MARKET, I'd specifically want to know HOW I COULD. And that's about brand, about loyalty, about perceptions, about small differences. The rich are those who see opportunities, not obstacles. Which is why most of us round here are not rich.

      Consider watches. A ten quid Casio will tell the time more accurately than a five grand mechanical Swiss meisterwerk. The people laughing all the way to the bank are heading a short distance from their workplace, and that short distance will be to a Swiss bank.

      1. Ian Johnston Silver badge

        Re: They should have asked me ...

        Casio made £211m in profits last year. meanwhile the top-end Swiss watchmakers are all in trouble with falling sales.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    FaceID

    FaceID with Apple Pay is just a non-starter. Right now, on my iPhone 8, all I have to do is hold it to the reader with my finger in the right place - the RFID scanner wakes the phone, and the fingerprint reader does it's thing. With FaceID, you double click the side button, hold the phone up to your face, wait for it to register, then hold it to the reader. Much easier would have been a fingerprint reader on the side button.

    And then there's the notch. The insane thing is, if Apple had just made it a continuous black bar along the top (effectively filling in the gaps either side of the notch, giving less screen area), no-one would have given a hoot.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Two words for you

    Ugly notch.

    Uptake will also be diminished even if a cheaper, budget-friendly phone is released but with the same notch.

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      Re: Cheapo Androids

      with the 'Notch' are on their way if the reports coming Mobile 'Jolly' in Barcelona are anything to go by.

      Sad really. This is one feature that Android did not need to copy especially with these bad implemtations.

      1. el kabong

        Apple copied the notch from Essential

        Apple copied Andy Rubin's poor design and claimed it as their own, that's all.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Apple copied the notch from essential

          Not really. The Rubin notch is a tiny cutout that has almost no effect on usability - how many times do your notifications reach the middle of the screen? I suspect if Apple had managed to get underscreen fingerprint reader going, their notch would be Rubinesque rather than the present rather Rubenesque one they finally went with.

          The problems of the Essential phone lie elsewhere - basically that it's inessential.

          The funny thing is that some of the Chinese clone copies of the Apply notch are actually a nicer shape, I think, because they don't have to deal with FaceID.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Headmaster

            Re: Apple copied the notch from essential

            rather than the present rather Rubenesque one they finally went with.

            Rubensesque, if you don't mind.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Apple copied the notch from essential

              Normally I'm fairly relaxed about this sort of thing but

              You're wrong

              You're still wrong

              Three times wrong

              Collins too

              OED prefers my spelling but does allow yours as a variant

              So yes, I do mind. Remember, it's better to check before posting than post and make a fool of yourself.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Apple copied the notch from essential

                but does allow yours as a variant

                So in fact according to the OED I'm not wrong? I shall ignore urbandictionary.com and wikipedia as authoritative sources. And your claim that Collins doesn't allow it shows you haven't done sufficient research, check it out.

                Remember, it's better to check before posting than post and make a fool of yourself.

                I think your claim to absolutism is clearly as invalid as mine. Maybe you'd like to check before posting in santimonious twat mode?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Cheapo Androids

        Android 'Notchies' are mainly from the (less reputable) Chinese phones; some of them had actually taken the effort to modify their version of Android into looking like iOS (the iPhone home screen).

        Because the Apple iPhone is perceived to be the 'market leader', synonymous with premium and posh, pirates want their stuff to emulate that, by any means necessary.

  8. Jove Bronze badge

    Occupants of Golgafrinchan Ark Fleet Ship B

    These people paid GBP 1,000 for a phone; can you trust them to have a coherent opinion?

    1. el kabong

      Poor decisions

      Funny how many people will pay around a grand for a mobile phone, but then will feel quite happy flying cattle class in the cheapest crappiest airline that Orbitz, Kayak or Google can find them.

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        Re: Poor decisions

        But you cattle class seat is with you for a few hours at most. The phone is with you for a year or two.

        1. Number6

          Re: Poor decisions

          My cattle class seats tend to take about a week to wear off, especially if it's long-haul.

    2. Roj Blake Silver badge

      Re: Occupants of Golgafrinchan Ark Fleet Ship B

      At least their phones will be properly sanitised.

  9. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

    Rolex

    Apple could buy the Rolex brand/company with some of their cash pile. Then rebrand the surplus phones as Rolex and sell them at a 3 or 4 times markup.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Rolex

      Why bother buying Rolex? They could just copy them and not give a toss.

      1. Sven Coenye

        Re: Rolex

        Sure, but the Swiss did give a toss. IIRC, that set Apple back ~35,000 iPhone X's (assuming a $600 margin)

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The news is Apple released their Premium iPhone 8, then the Super Premium IPhone X.

    People bought the IPhone X regardless of the crazy cost vs. value proposition.

    Apple went buy one, get one free, on the IPhone 8.

    Apple sold slightly less IPhones, but had record profits. Poor Apple!

    Now the people that didn’t buy the 8 or X are waiting for the newer models available later this year.

    One of those, will be smaller and presumably cheaper, to soak up those that didn’t upgrade. And, a larger IPhone X that with be Super Super Premium.

    The smaller “budget” IPhone will probably keep the TouchID.

    People act like Apple is DOOMED, and then Apple has record profits again.

    Personally, my IPhone 6s is fine. At some point I’ll upgrade to the “budget” IPhone SE.

    1. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

      Still only one possible way to improve iPhones

      Phones already do what most people want. Those that did not buy the latest iPhone last time will have the same reasons not to buy the next one even if it is a bit cheaper. People keep predicting that Apple will release something cheap to increase market share (They are only losing about 1% per year). Apple have enough sense not to obliterate their high margin unique selling point. An Apple logo is a big sign that says "I have money to burn". There are plenty of people who will pay £999 for a sign like that. What they will not pay £999 for is something with the same logo as a £199 phone.

      I am sure Apple are working hard on improving the most important feature of their phones. The only question is whether they will be able to go straight to £1999 or if there is a colossal hype distribution failure that limits them to £1499. By unit sales, Apple dropped to third place last year and will be fourth in 2019 or 2020. I am sure they will not care until non-recurring engineering costs per phone increases faster than average selling price (probably after fusion power becomes profitable and the SLS gets launched or cancelled).

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I agree.

    It is too expensive.

    A/C in case Apple is watching me type.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I agree.

      A/C in case Apple is watching me type.

      Buy a Homepod, and Apple will be listening to you breathe.

    2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: I agree.

      It is too expensive.

      If people aren't buying it because they can't afford it then it's obviously not expensive enough.

      The whole point of an iPhoneX is to show people you can afford an iPhoneX - that's wasted if peasants can buy one on credit

  12. DrBobK

    I had a 3GS which I kept until it stopped working reliably. I then got a 6 which is still going fine (after a new battery, I think the 3GS had 3 batteries in the end) and which I'll keep until it starts causing problems. I think these work out pretty well in terms of pounds per year for phones that I find easy to use and do everything I ask of them. I do know people who change phones every year. That, to my mind, is what is stupid, whether they are constantly upgrading iPhones, Samsungs, or even cheapo android.

  13. kain preacher

    spending more the $300

    you want me to spend more than $300 on phone I have a wish list, it might be insane.

    I want above any thing else a removable battery. Can I get phone around 4-6mm thick. I'm not a fan of these super thin phones. 64gigs of internal memory and a dual sim card. I don't care about the camera or stuff like finger print scanner . Or since we are going for full on sanity a phone that has dual SD card. The Second SD card would be able to have a second phone OS or a clone os. Each OS would have a different password on it and can not peek in the contents of the other OS .Great for customs ass holes that insist on seeing you phone contacts. You could boot into a clean phone and they would never know.

  14. Bob Vistakin
    Facepalm

    #PayMoreGetLess

    Baaa - you're bleating about it wrong.

  15. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    An explanation for at least some of this...

    Some people have tumultuous lives, with Stinking Piles of Ruin and Damnation™ from early morning to late-late at night. They may be thinking - no that's too strong a word - ...hoping that by buying and possessing a £999 smartphone, then that device would at least provide some small 5.8-inch space where everything is Just Perfect™. A refuge from imperfection. And so it is. Very satisfying, while the chaotic world swirls around them.

    Of course what actually happens is that they immediately drop it, and crack the screen. And of course they failed to purchase any insurance or protection, and they can't afford the repair. So now they're stuck looking at Perfection™ through a broken window.

    No wonder some people are so cranky.

  16. Jason Hindle

    The Trouble With The X? It’s still Boring

    Apple simply can’t escape the commoditisation of the smartphone market. There’s not a great deal you can do with the X that you can’t also do with something cheaper. There’s a strong case for buying a well supported something that does what you need fast, but the arguments for a luxury item aren’t so strong. That’s not to say Apple is doomed. I understand the 8 is delivering plenty of shareholder value.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wouldn't they get similar data every year?

    Its just more obvious this year because the price of the X is higher than previous iPhones.

    There's a reason Apple always sold "last year's iPhone" at $100 off the previous price instead of dropping it, and this time around even sells "last year's +1 iPhone" at $200 off the previous price, and a reason the value of a used iPhone holds up better than that of other phones.

    Not everyone wants to pay full fare for a new one, so Apple offers options to pay less to get a cheaper one that's new but not the latest n greatest, which a lot of people take advantage of. Some people don't even want to pay that much, which is why there's a thriving market for used iPhones.

    Adding a $999 option obviously increases the number of people who will say "that's too much for me" as that was nearly a 50% rise from the standard entry price for the latest (non plus sized) model. That's probably why the rumors say they will be offering a less expensive one that skips the OLED screen next fall, so people who don't want to pay extra to get one with OLED don't have to. (Fortunately the other thing that made it cost more, terrible yield on the 3D sensors, has been fixed so that won't be a major cost contributor for future Face ID models)

    1. DenTheMan

      Re: Wouldn't they get similar data every year?

      Not just a less expensive one, but a less expensive OLED one too if you believe the expanding OLED iLIneup.

      Who needs Samsung Amoled?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Wouldn't they get similar data every year?

        I'm sure they're working with Foxconn or someone like that to produce OLED for them so they can avoid giving Samsung money, but AFAIK they will still be buying from Samsung for the next cycle. There are others producing OLED panels for phones, but not set up to produce in the huge quantities Apple will require.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Shock Shock - I would not buy Apple.

    I had an Apple G4, I was given it by my( now deceased) sister and her husband who moved to HP laptops.

    I didn't have use for it {surprise, surprise}, it sat there between my PC keyboard and monitor for months.

    I eventually decided to use it as a music player, instead of a tape deck, feed it into my hifi.

    The battery was old, so I decided to just use the charged/adapter.

    After some time (21days) of working perfectly playing my ripped CDs and LP's , the bluetooth, audio and USB failed.

    I rebooted, it worked again. next day it happened again, this time I had to reboot twice !! (and so on).

    And so it went, after about 21 days of use without a battery, the AppleG4 would not boot with sound, bluetooth or USB, causing me to reboot as for many time as for every day over 21 days of usage without an internal battery.

    I had to completely remove the software and reformat my hard drive, reinstall the operating system.

    then it worked as it should, BUT the 21 day fakery started all over again, again and again.

    It was software butt sex.

    I had browsed the MAC store to see the cost of a battery, $199.00 (AU$) but I did not need it.

    Then the MAC Air came out and all G4 the batteries disappeared from the stores overnight, and the sales staff could not tell me where they went !

    Later I hear of the Apple mobile phone Battery debacle

    Well Suprise ! Suprise !

    and Jobs was alive then too!!

    go and pay your $1000+++ for a faker and create that bigger pile of Ewaste crap.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Shock Shock - I would not buy Apple.

      i just wanted to add that

      The operating system software version was Panther

      The battery was out and G4 was on adaptor only, when the USB, sound and bluetooth failed (repeatedly).

      and the battery had to be in (even if it was powered from adaptor), when reinstalling, in order to overcome the problem, or the same problems would still continue. until you put the battery in and reformatted the hard drive etc...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      MAC vs. Mac

      MAC = Media Access Control (network address)

      Mac = short for "Macintosh"

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: MAC vs. Mac

        Totally agree on MAC vs Mac, but...

        <pedant>

        MAC = Medium (singular) Access Control, which is a conceptual component of a network interface. It /has/ an address, not /is/ an address. And that MAC address is better termed a link-layer, physical or hardware address; "network address" is somewhat ambiguous but usually means eg an IP address or (for IP networks) a node address with the host bits masked off.

        </pedant>

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Pixel 2 (non XL)

    Half the price of the iPhone X and twice as good.

    Win/Win

  20. Dr Mantis Toboggan

    Easy solution

    iOS update coming out soon for old devices that render them slow and buggy

    You WILL upgrade, Cupertino says so

  21. Zwuramunga

    Headphone Jack.

    It is the next Killer App!

    1. onefang

      Re: Headphone Jack.

      Apple is just waiting for all the other phone makers to drop the headphone jack, so Apple can patent their "round headphone jack with square corners, On A Phone!!!".

  22. Number6

    I had a Galaxy 4, I just bought a Moto E4+ for work use and it's a step-up after four years for less money. It's also a bit too big but I'm getting used to the bulk. I don't use the fingerprint sensor, I much prefer a password even if it's a bit less convenient because it's more secure and more immune to US law enforcement. I don't know of anything on the newer Galaxy or iPhones that would tempt me to part with $1000 instead of $129.

  23. howieb2001

    Bezels

    Although I am heavily into Android my wife has upgraded to an iphone 8 plus. I much prefer the hardware to the X. It seems like the whole of the tech review community has become obsessed with the the front of a phone being as close as possible to 100% screen. Am I the only one who prefers bezels?

  24. lglethal Silver badge
    Trollface

    "44 per cent said their existing iPhone works just fine."

    Dont worry Apple will see to that shortly with some "battery maitenance software"...

  25. Timmy B

    Just too darn expensive....

    I am in the market for a new phone right now. Considering my options as always. An X works out £15 to £20 more than an S9. That's £500 over the 24 month contract. But the phone isn't £500 more expensive if I buy it SIM free the X is only £200 more than the S9. The extra £300 is just the cherry and icing for the network. I wonder if that disappeared then some might change their minds.

    But Apple would have to drop to lower as I'm fairly invested in Android.

  26. trevorde Silver badge

    'Fashionable notch' WTF?

    The notch is about as 'fashionable' as all the haute coture outfits you see in London Fashion Week ie makes you gasp and ask 'What *were* they thinking?' but thankfully knowing that you'll never see one in real life.

  27. tiggity Silver badge

    Apple have lost the interest of my SO on new phones since they killed headphone jacks.

    SO is mac, iPhone and iPad user, heavily into the Apple ecosystem (likes content sync across devices, e.g. photo taken on iPad or iPhone "instantly" available to edit in PS on mac) but burns through headphones (tends to fall asleep wearing them and then they get damaged by in sleep movement), hence buys cheapo "disposable" ones.

    SO would be bankrupt if had to buy expensive non jack headphone solutions given attrition rate

    And the apple "solution" for jacks is useless as SO needs to charge device and listen, not one or the other

    Not good alienating core customers in that way by removing something basic that I can get on a sub 100 quid android

    1. Timmy B

      @tiggity

      "SO would be bankrupt if had to buy expensive non jack headphone solutions given attrition rate

      And the apple "solution" for jacks is useless as SO needs to charge device and listen, not one or the other"

      A Bluetooth adapter? That may make sense anyway as you wouldn't be tethered to the phone and free up some movement. You can get cheapo Bluetooth headphones for less than a tenner.

      1. Chet Mannly

        "A Bluetooth adapter?"

        Then you lose a chunk of sound quality.

        And then of course you'll need a charger for the bluetooth adapter at some point!

  28. 0laf

    Aren't we supposed to be at the start of another cycle of consumers being hard up? Car sales down, property prices dropping.

    Might it be that an £800+ phone (from any company) just doesn't represent a good value for money choice for most people who still use phones for speaking, texting, navigation, social media and taking photos. All things that can be done well on a £80 phone these days.

    So what are you getting for all that extra money? A lot more shiny, a bit more speed and a thing you can wave under someone's nose as a demonstration of wealth. Basically meaning that a great many people who buy very expensive phones are pricks. Making the phone an indicator of wealth, possibly stupidity and prickishness. Those who actually need powerful phones and are not pricks will be tarred by association.

    So I think the majority of these hyper-phones will undersell and they'll remain a small niche.

  29. DenTheMan

    Disconcertingly happy

    The idea of an always on looking at you FaceID has nothing whatsoever to do with it, of course.

  30. Toilet Duk

    I bought a £120 Android cheapo notch-phone (Oukitel U18). It's sitting on the desk here. It's a bit heavy and bulky because it has a two-day battery but it does everything I need perfectly well.

    1. DenTheMan

      Botch it

      just shows,

      no matter how stupid something is, people still imitate.

  31. This post has been deleted by its author

  32. anothercynic Silver badge
    Facepalm

    I hate to say this...

    ... But... I TOLD YOU SO. Before this godforsaken piece of ultimate consumerist crap launched.

    It's insane to spend a grand on an iPhone... on a Vertu (encrusted with Swarovski crystals and gold) perhaps, but *not* a bloody iPhone.

    *eyeroll icon here*

    1. 0laf

      Re: I hate to say this...

      That business model worked out well for Vertu

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40593936

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I hate to say this...

        "That business model worked out well for Vertu"

        I think that what really killed Vertu was two things:

        1. Google apps are nearly as good as the concierge service was, these days. Sometimes Google is freakily like my one time PA (have you remembered it's so-and-so's birthday next week?)

        2. The prices were taking the piss given that the phones became technically outdated in a year and the guts could not be replaced.

  33. Marty McFly Silver badge
    Happy

    All for $29!

    For the bargain price of $29 I brought new life with a new battery to my iPhone 6. I get to keep my button, fingerprint ID, and headphone jack. Plus, as a bonus, I don't have the phone's camera spying on me all the time.

  34. Mage Silver badge

    iPhone X cost twice

    Tesso sells perfectly adequate smart phones, that excluding VAT, are about 1/10th the price of iPhone 10,

    It's a premium product. You can buy blue jeans at $20 or $200.

    Phones are now cheaper than a decent suit. Easier to make. Very automated.

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is Apple just doing their thing, playing with the equation "Number of Units Shifted * Profit per unit". They've got away with blue murder raising prices, and one suspects there's some overpaid academic somewhere that wanted to try out something "ludicrously priced" just to see what happens. If 33% haven't upgraded, that's still 66% that still HAVE. The equation obviously still balances in their favour, or their balance sheet would be in trouble.

    It's been far too long since I've seen desirable Apple hardware, apart from their laptops maybe. OS X; which of course isn't sold as a standalone, if licensed for reasonable amounts (like, say, Win10 Pro pricing - or even a bit higher than that) we'd all snap their arms off to swap. The argument that it would affect Apple's hardware margins to do so doesn't hold so much anymore what with Mac sales generally though the floor (and yes, we still like the laptops!)

  36. Portent

    I used to be an early adopter of technology. Nowadays most budget phones are good enough. I last upgrades when my phone finally died. I bought a £200 Lenovo P2 SIM free. It's never going to beat an S8/S9 or iPhone 8/X for most features. But it has a two to three day battery and is 80% as good for everything compared to them. I just don't see the point spending £800 to £1000 on a phone.

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