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Comment by rorykoehler | Hacker News Reader

Smartphone != iphone

I spent $250 on mine and it is does everything meaningful that an iphone does. Iphone is definitely a luxury even among smartphones.

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Correct. But look at who has a corner on the advertising. iPhones are still seen as another class above by many, if not most, people.

Edit: Forgot to say, that by comparison, Android/Windows/whatever smartphones are relatively unknown.

> Forgot to say, that by comparison, Android/Windows/whatever smartphones are relatively unknown.

Huh? Android has nearly twice the market share of iOS: https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share...

> iPhones are still seen as another class above by many, if not most, people.

This is severely anecdotal. But here's an anecdote from me to balance things out: where I come (and indeed within the industry I work in) most people look down on iPhones because they see them as uninteresting toy devices or devices for old people. Nobody I know would be 'impressed' by an iPhone. Something like a OnePlus One, Xiaomi Mi5 or even a Blackberry Z30 would have a lot more cool/novelty factor.

iPhones got boring a long time ago. Much like the rest of Apple, it pains me to say.

Care to share where you're from and what industry?

Sorry, should have mentioned it in my previous comment. I'm from in Ireland and work in financial IT as a software engineer.

Two points:

1 - I can't tell you the number of times I've asked if the person has an Android phone, only to be told: "No, I have a Samsung Galaxy..."

2 - I agree, severely anecdotal. :) I think you'll find that most on the street have never heard of the OnePlus One, and that same group see the iPhone as a luxury item.

What is this... World Generalization Day? :)

Not to mention you can get cheaper iPhones. You can buy them used or through your cell plan.

Still expensive, but again there is a lot of benefits to having one.

the delta between your $250 smartphone and a new $400 iPhoneSE is pretty small when you consider the total cost and include the costs to provide the phone with data access - cellular plan + home internet plan.

Is $150 the difference between luxury and not luxury for something that is used 4+ hours a day for years?

That $150 extra gets me precisely nothing that I don't already have. Actually it's a lesser phone because mine has a microSD slot that I use. Here's a thought experiment.... send me $150 on paypal now (email on my profile). I'll give you nothing in return. See if you feel like it was money well spent.

Hey as long as your able to get the latest OS and the phone fits your needs, great. But of course other people value different things, and obviously iPhones fit better for lots of people.

jp makes a valid point.

Just going to throw out some rough numbers (in the U.S.) assuming $50 for your data plan, for 3 years.

3 year iphoneSE experience ($400 + 36 months * $50) = $2200

3 year cheap Android experience ($250 + 36 months * $50) = $2050

Now compare the camera, frame rate, screen quality, security, stability, and support of an iphone 5 vs a $250 Android. When looking at the 3 year cost, you are paying a 10% premium for a far superior experience.

I never spend more than $20 a month on my pay as you go data. Don't use calls or sms. That's besides the point though. When you have no money $150 is two weeks worth of food. That becomes a bigger priority.

When you walk into a phone store you're going to get upsold on the high-end phones, broken into small monthly payments.

Also there are still many value phones being sold that are pieces of crap. A poor person may be better off spending $20/mn on the latest iPhone that "just works" than getting a budget phone for $10/mn that crashes from not enough memory, has a terrible touchscreen and will be unusable in 1 year.

There are quality low-end smartphones, but you must research which they are, and the naming of them can be very similar to crappy phones. Going in and saying you want an iPhone is a more sure thing than guessing which variant of the value Galaxy line isn't crap, or which unknown brand name has the best features.

Often the sales people are just as clueless as the person buying, and they're motivated to sell whatever makes them a commission.

I doubt it's an upsell conspiracy, because the iPhone isn't the only high-end phone that can be upsold.

More likely that the iPhone is viewed as an image luxury good. Same with ridiculously expensive flat screen TVs.

A lot of flagships do have the luxury vibe. That doesn't change the fact that most are bought with monthly installment plans, which makes the cost seem reasonable. Maybe poor people are getting them to not look poor or because their kid's peer group has them, but likely the user experience and usefulness of the phones is going to be better on a flagship. The technology hardware market is rife with products that seem to target the technically ill informed. Apple is known to "just work", that has been their schtick forever, even if it's not entirely true. It's similar to helping a grandparent buy a computer. Maybe those saying "you can do X on a cheaper smartphone", should go stand outside these stores and offer their consultancy services for free.

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