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Subscription iPhones

ben-evans.com

29 pointsDoubleguitars51 comments

I guess I am just getting old but I don't care about my phone anymore. It does all I want it to do and I don't want to upgrade my phone more often than my computer.

The camera improvements are really quite significant - I was carrying my iPhone 4S and iPhone 6, and the quality of pictures, color, focussing was very noticeably different between the two, not to mention the considerable speed improvements.

If there's a subscription for new iPhone 5-sized models, we can talk.

Completely agree. The trend toward phone sizes that are impossible to use with one hand or fit in a normal size pocket baffles me. I tried looking for an iPhone 5 size Android phone recently and even the "mini" versions of the flagships were huge.

I can just reach all of my screen, and I have freakishly large fingers. I whined, when they released the 5 to replace the 4, but the form factor fortunately walked right up to the limit of reach. I don't understand why it's intuitive to people at Apple to go beyond something like that.

Actually yeah this is something that annoys me also. I love the size of the 5{c/s}. I don't want a massive phone yet my options for anything under 4.5" is very limited.

Yeah, I actually liked the idea of the iPhone #c, but for now, we're just to get a 5S getting more and more obsolete. It seems dumb to just throw away that form factor, but I guess they found they couldn't manage the logistics of it.

I think at the moment the idea is that the bigger the phone the more it is worth thus the more they can make on it.

I would love a 4.2" (so .2" bigger than a 5s) version of the 6s. Basically just the same camera would be great.

This.. I need to stock up on 5s.

Does it do more than your still camera and video camera?

Seems the carriers win some, lose some here because on the one hand with unlocked phones and no contract lockin, customers can move around, but on the other hand, customers are still paying the same monthly fees while no longer enjoying the contract discount, right? The extra benefit the customers do get to offset the loss of discount-with-contract is the annual phone upgrade, but it's Apple eating this cost, not the carriers. (A cost which gets passed on to the consumer in Apple's subscription scheme).

So for the customer, financially it's probably close to a wash, but for the carriers, there's some financial win at the cost of lockin because they aren't giving discounts any more but customers are still paying them the same amount of money. Sure, now customers are free to move around, but how many will? Probably a minority of them.

AT&T as an example is offering $25 discount on your plan for phones that aren't under contract so I wouldn't say users are still paying the same price as before for their phone plan. http://m.att.com/shopmobile/wireless/modals/next-savings-req...

Also, AT&T owns Cricket as a subsidiary. Same network (MVNO), much lower cost per month if you buy phones unsubsidized and unlocked. There are a lot of MVNOs like this. Usually, no phone subsidy is offered and you pay at the beginning rather than the end of the month so it's technically prepaid.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_mobile...

Oh, did not know that, thanks.

I have a relative who is about to buy a IPhone 6s plus, and a plan. She wants to eventually own the phone, but will consider other options. She doesn't have great credit--one of the companies wanted her to put down a $400 deposit.(she has bad credit, but always pays her bills. The companies actually make money off her with their late fees?

My question is what is the best plan as of around 9-13-15?

I am sick of looking at the plans, and the fine print. Plus-I'm out of the game. I bought a tracfone with a years worth of minutes. I can't get a good internet connection, but it's no big deal; I have an old iPhone I use to connect to public wifi when I'm out and about. I have no desire to sign up for a plan until my I start making more money.

I told her if it was me, I would go through Republic wireless, but she's dead set on a new IPhone.

Sorry, I know I'm being lazy for not doing my own research, but figured someone on this site might have a good recent recommendations? (Cell phone reception is not that important.)

If she's paying full price for the phone and doesn't care about service, can't go better than free from Freedompop. 200 min talk, unlim text, and 500mb data.

Extras cost more but should still come out better than the regular carriers.

It's on Sprint's network.

One illuminating data point is the fact that for the last several years the number of iPhones that seems to be in China (if you look at data from companies like Baidu) has been rather larger than the number of iPhones that Apple's financial reporting imply could have been sold there.

Is it at all possible that counterfeits could account for some of this?

I don't think counterfeit iPhones run iOS; the people creating them wouldn't care enough to spoof the user agents.

The additional numbers would probably be because used phones are imported and sold there.

Not just used ones.

iPhones are expensive in China, mainly due to taxes. Many people buy iOS devices for themselves and for friends when they visit Hong Kong or the USA. HK is better, as there is no sales tax.

"new base-model iPhone every year," Anyone think about the environmental impact and the ewaste this creates and that a lot of used electronics ends up in Africa and China at electronic scrapyards?

In a perfect world 100% of our cellphone is recycled and then it would be ok to get a new one each year. Except the recycling part does not work yet.

Do we want the scenes of Wall-e to become real?

Here is a documentary about where the electronic waste ends up http://www.e-wastelandfilm.com/

The article speculates the used phones will be resold not sent to a landfill.

Likely since they will still be high end phones, but as a trend this would suppress the price for used phones and just pushes the problem down the chain.

The people pikcing up those used phones are likely getting rid of a slightly older one at a higher frequency now and that will still generate more e-waste.

Still, they won't last forever and will eventually turn into e-waste.

They'll probably refurb them and use them as replacement handsets.

Used iPhones get handed to relatives or sold. I know people using 3rd- or 4th-hand iPhone 4 units, and these came out ~5 years ago. I live in China. Here, a broken iPhone 4 or later will be repaired, not scrapped.

Are you sure? I wouldn't be surprised if Apple TV started using last year iPhone's circuit boards, or iPod touches started using iPhone's battery's.

Actually ,people in the end do pay more, but it's subtle.

Say you we're a customer that bought an iPhone every 2 years.

Now Apple's yearly plan looks like:

1. A new iPhone every year + Apple care

2. Same price

3. Don't have to deal with salesman at carrier store.

So more people will be tricked for new iPhone every year.

And once this becomes the standard , since Apple is a status symbol - suddenly buying a phone every 2 years carries less status.

"Apple is a status symbol" - I wonder where in the world that is true. Certainly not the case for Canada/US/Singapore - an iPhone is just another smart phone.

Just an anecdatum, for amusement: My kids seem to know which kids at school have an iPhone. But they think that Samsung makes a better phone. This is without them having first hand knowledge of either.

Also, my impression from conversations with them over the years: The kids who were the youngest when they got cell phones, e.g., fifth grade or younger, got iPhones.

any data to back up your claim?

talked to kids and minors? hipsters and millenials? people that do all their computing on their phones? the multitude of people that watch apple keynotes, youtube product reviews, etc?

anything besides your gut feeling?

You are right - it's all gut feeling, but one that's educated based on experience. I've been in Singapore since 2013. I carry my smartphone, visibly, in all sorts of social, work, and other scenarios - and not a single time in 2 years, has anyone even looked twice at it - even when new. Also, people aren't really into iPhones here - this is really a Samsung City.

Smartphones are so saturated in this city, with close to 90%+ of people glued to them on the MRT, that absolutely nobody pays any attention to what model somebody is using.

This is totally unlike what my experience was like in the Bay Area, 2009-2011, in which every time I picked up a new iPhone, everyone (Restaurants, work, friends) was all over the new phone, asking to check it out, see how light it was, etc, etc...

Now it's just a rectangular hunk of glass.

Your basic question, though, is a good one - how the iPhone / Galaxy / etc.. is seen as a status symbol, and how that might have changed over time.

Everything you wrote could have been said about the comment saying that it is a status symbol.

but maybe there is data to prove that smartphones are no longer status symbols. benefit of doubt.

It certainly is the case in many places in the world. Just look at Apple marketing and the "premium" branding they emphasize on all their products.

Do people actually manage to keep their phones working for a year at a time? (Without using ridiculously bulky cases that look more like they belong in a warzone)

I end up replacing mine almost quarterly.

In the last 4-5 years I owned exactly 3 phones: iPhone 3gs, Moto G 1st gen and a Moto G 2nd gen. All phones are in perfect working order with intact screens altough I don't use any cases.

I only upgraded each time because I needed a faster phone, not because it was broken. Currently I am thinking about upgrading again, but unfortunately there is no good phone on the market for me at the moment.

>I end up replacing mine almost quarterly.

That seems insane to me. I don't use a case or bumper, and have never crack a screen or had cause to have my phone need replacing - other than in-warranty battery issues. The phone I'm using now is the iPhone 5, from 3 years ago. Before this I've been on a 2 year cycle. And I certainly don't kid-glove my phones.

What has you replacing so often?

My iPhone 4S (purchased on the week it came out) still going strong, albeit with a $115 screen repair when I dropped mine on concrete.

Have you upgraded the OS? To what version?

iOS 8.3

I average about 1.75 years, my last few phones I've called a few months before the renewal to ask for an early upgrade. They make these things so fragile I'm sure they're replaced way more often than expected.

I did get the S5 Active as my last phone and it has taken some abuse. Things that should have broken the screen have just left deep nicks.

2-3 years between upgrades for me. I had a 3G, then a 4s, and now a 6. I'll skip the next (post 6s) cycle and probably upgrade then again. What do you do to your phones that makes you need to upgrade them more regularly than annually (which is crazy still)

Motorola Droid; Samsung Galaxy Nexus; LG G2. Each of these has lasted about 2 years of daily usage. I put the Droid and Nexus into service as alarm clocks for another 2 years apiece.

I'm still using my 4S from 2011, and I've been using the hell out of it literally every day over that timespan, and have never owned a phone case.

How do yours break?

My last phone lasted over 3 years, and I'm on year 2 with my current one. Are yours dying due to drops?

I wonder if this subscription model will finally end up with Apple selling refurb iPhones from the Apple store... would be nice to have that available

Do you own the phone after 24 months (of course assuming you didn't upgrade after the first 12 months) ?

It looks that way. It seems to be structured as a 24-month installment loan (financed by a third party), with an option at 12 months to trade it in, end the old loan, and start a new one.

Yes, you can read their legal agreement to learn about how this works.

This is effectively a 0% loan for 24 months, once paid off, it is yours.

If you choose to upgrade after a year, Apple will pay the rest of the loan and you get a new loan again.

Yes.

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