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Comment by eloff | Hacker News Reader

When people ask me if they should buy Apple, I tell them it's overpriced for the hardware you get. Your linked article proves my point quite nicely. But then I follow that up with the value is in the software, if you like/are familiar with Apple software, then buy Apple despite the cost.

I prefer Android and Linux, so I avoid Apple products for myself.

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Some of it is the price premium, but Apple also enjoys some efficiencies that the Android clone makers don't. The more efficient iOS and smaller variation in hardware over their more limited number of models means they can lower costs while still putting out a top shelf product.

Tight control of the supply chain from top to bottom pays dividends over the years.

Yes, that's a good point. Their scale, vertical integration, and low number of distinct models do likely give them a margin advantage.

Are you living in the dream California? There are lots of places out of California they can't afford iPhone, or can't afford any phone more than $200, and that's the reality world. So, let Apple make money from those rich consumers, and let Chinese manufactures to make money from the other non-rich consumers.

I think the point is the Chinese manufacturers are making minuscule amounts from non-rich consumers. Most of the money is being made by Apple

> it's overpriced for the hardware you get.

That's only a problem when you view a product as just a bunch of discrete parts' summed value. A MacBook Pro is a macOS dongle that also happens to be one of the - if not the - best ultrabooks you can get.

What would be a comparable Android phone to Apple's flagship model--not specs, but build quality?

I'd love to take a look at non-apple options.

The value is the fact that anyone can click on anything in iOS and not have to worry about malware or anything other than restarting the phone. Yes, the functionality may be limited, but my mom was never going to use the extra functions.

Indeed. Familiarity with the environment, features, and such is the biggest selling point when I give recommendations.

Plus, iOS across all your devices tends to "just work" way better than trying to stitch together things across environments via 3rd party apps or web widgets. So if you're already in the iOS ecosystem, just keep extending it.

Of course, the opposite is sorta true too. If you're heavily invested in Android, Android devices will tend to work well together. But with a bit more manual massaging sometimes.

Windows actually had the best across device seemless integrations out of all the offerings. Too bad they didn't make enough market share to make a dent.

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