As Smartphone Industry Sputters, the iPhone Expands Its Dominance
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
> It was supposed to happen with smartphones. But the iPhone has defied gravity.
The lock-in effect is real. The Sony and RCA of yesteryear would have killed for this sort of walled garden.
…
> The new flagship iPhones that Apple is set to unveil this week will feature speedier processors, more sophisticated cameras and titanium rather than stainless steel cases, according to supply chain analysts. The changes are expected to come with a $100 to $200 price increase, bringing the cost of an iPhone Pro to $1,100 and the Pro Max to $1,200.
Such paper-thin excuses to raise the price. By all rights, the genuine tech in an iPhone has become so pedestrian that prices should have plummeted, yet they continue to increase as long as the market will bear it.
You can argue the degree, but it sure seems like it's costing Apple more money to make them. The BoM cost estimates by teardown companies continue to climb on iPhones year over year.
I was asking the GP specifically what they thought they were getting actual scaling in cost from. It seems to me that the actual expensive stuff in their phones is getting more expensive every generation, which would lead to a need to raise prices. Again, the degree is questionable, but I don't think anyone here is under the impression a titanium case is the same cost to manufacture as a stainless steel one.
Examples picked, because that's what I used.
>>It was supposed to happen with smartphones. But the iPhone has defied gravity.
Because it is not the right comparison. Not even for portable music players which was mostly dominated by iPod.
Quoting Steve Jobs [1].
> Apple view itself as a software company
I remember, possibly in the same conference Steve basically said Apple is an Software company, you just have to buy Apple's hardware to use it. In that sense. iPhone is not consumer electronics. It is not hardware only. That is why you see all the other examples are race to the bottom for Consumer Electronics. If you look at Software, like Windows, It has been in the dominating position for the past 3 decade.