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Comment by noneckbeard | Hacker News Reader

Does everyone here also drive a base model Honda Civic because “car hardware is done”? This is a luxury product and people upgrade because it’s fun and feels great to have the fastest phone and fanciest camera. It’s not that big a deal, and it’s definitely not a ripoff.

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Personally I drive the top-spec Civic of 15 years ago. I would never own a current luxury item because I don't think it's worth spending my entire life working for a product that will become normal a couple of weeks after I buy it.

Humans are only sensitive to change. A positive change feels good. No change feels normal. A negative change feels awful. A sensible person would try to fill their life with positive change.

For what it’s worth, a 2019 base-model Civic includes a backup camera, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, road departure mitigation, more airbags, and every other safety improvement Honda engineers have come up with since 2004. It’s also more fuel efficient, which would reduce your consumption of fossil fuels.

What's your point? I don't enjoy any of the stuff you mentioned. I don't need it and refuse to work harder to get it.

Current Civic wouldn't be a "luxury" item anyway.

Thanks for confirming my point. A personal vehicle capable of effortlessly transporting you, four passengers and ample luggage across thousands of miles at 70mph+ isn't even luxury!

> fastest phone

Are folks running ML training algorithms on their phones? Why does one need the "fastest phone"? How many apps are there for which how fast your phone is even matters? I am not saying people shouldn't buy these phones but the pricing on these things is absolutely insane, it seems people are basically paying an Apple tax on these devices. Even high end devices from other manufacturers are not priced this crazy.

The key app that needs the "fastest phone" these days seems to be the web browser.

Nearly every road in the world has a speed limit. Car manufacturers still quote top speed and advertise based a cars racing pedigree.

95% of bankers and doctors driving BMW or Mercedes don’t use these features but still pay for them. Same with phones but a $1000 iPhone is far more in reach of aspirational buyers than a $50k German car.

Would you like to see how slow youtube loads on my three year old i7 laptop? Or my two year old cheap Android? Speed makes a big difference

> Why does one need the "fastest phone"?

We shouldn't need them, but we do, because the quality of consumer software is very poor these days. To enable "rapid" and "agile" development, where "customer value" is delivered "continuously", developers write under-optimised, resource-hungry software that never gets refactored.

You're absolutely correct that the prices of these phones are insane, but let's be honest here – a base-model Samsung Galaxy S10 is $899.99 MSRP. You can get them on Amazon for $699, which puts them at the same price as iPhone 11. So I'm not quite buying the Apple tax, unless your argument is that Apple is allowing everyone else to charge high prices, in which case you may be on to something.

This is a great point. It’s a premium product that people will buy simply because they like nice things.

I’ll buy one because I like buying new/nice things and the fact that for $1200 I’ll get a lot of value out of it, due to how much I use my phone is an added bonus.

This is definitely not a compelling upgrade for many people.

> Does everyone here also drive a base model Honda Civic because “car hardware is done”?

Well, I do (although it's a base model Hyundai). I also still use an iPhone SE and will do for the foreseeable future.

> Well, I do (although it's a base model Hyundai). I also still use an iPhone SE and will do for the foreseeable future.

I consider myself to have been "tricked by business" (as Macklemore would put it) when I bought a Tesla Model X in 2016. It replaced a 2014 LEAF, and I can honestly say that I regretted it and wished I had kept the LEAF. The difference in cost didn't make up for the difference in overall driving experience and utility for me. I've since traded in the Tesla for cheaper PHEV, and I'm much happier with that now.

I also am still using a Pixel 2. Nothing about anything else on the market today seems compelling enough to convince me to replace it. So I guess I'm joining a chorus on this thread.

Base Model 2014 Mazda 3, because yes, ICE car hardware has nearly peaked. I will continue to row my own gears in a little 40mpg sedan until electric is an attainable option. Same goes for phones. Buy cheap, buy well.

> It’s not that big a deal...

Climate change is a big deal. Electronic waste pollution is a big deal. Apple breaking labor laws is a big deal.

Those are all fair points, and I agree with you on each of them! But they have to do with buying new things in general, not the new iPhone specifically.

If you eat meat, drive a car, fly in planes, live in a big house, have kids, etc., buy all the iPhones you want. It’s not going to make a lick of difference when it comes to climate change.

Unless you can personally sink several supertankers, you really can't do anything about climate change.

> fun and feels great to have the fastest phone and fanciest camera.

This is what the richest company in the history of humanity is here for: making feel good gadgets. What an achievement. Meanwhile: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/09/apple-foxconn-caught...

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