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Comment by scrivna | Hacker News Reader

How is it Apple can make a whole laptop cheaper than the phones they sell? Phones are costing more while laptops are going down in price.

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Phones contain 3+ cameras, OLED displays, FaceID, wireless charging, and cellular modems. Plus there is a price to be paid for the latest and greatest in miniaturization, machining, and packaging.

Plus this is exactly the same price as the base iPhone 17e.

$100 AUD less than the base iPhone 17e here

This has nothing to do with part price. They sell for what people pay. And this new neo is for putting scale, but 8gb means you get hooked and then "climb the ladder"

Because this is probably using a bunch of old parts that didn't get sold and are very cheap now (the a18 from last year's iPhones, etc).

It also probably doesn't have a ~60% margin.

If they plan to sell any volume, they can't rely on leftovers.

Unless the "leftovers" in question are "leverover capacity on the previous process node that doesn't have pricing competition, so Apple's able to continue to demand all of the supply at their desired price point"

What counts as "meaningful volume" is probably very different for laptops than for smartphones.

It's possible that they are selling it close to cost to get more young people into the macOS/iOS/iPadOS ecosystem. If you can translate each one of these into a "Pro" device sale down the line then it's a win for Apple.

The same way that Apple can sell a low end iPad with cellular for $479 that has a larger screen and larger battery. If the iPhone wasn’t heavily subsidized and/or available on installment plans, Apple would have to lower prices.

On the other hand, the iPhone is water proof, made of sturdier materials to survive falls, has cellular, and the high end ones have more memory

To name a few components:

- Older chip (and with fewer thermal constraints)

- Only one camera (and much cheaper)

- Less RAM than 17pro and Air

- No cell modem, FaceID, ProMotion, MagSafe, etc.

Much bigger screen, keyboard, big battery, lots of copper and aluminum, extra USB port, touchpad, a charger.

Those are really basic parts that are really cheap to make with current tech at least.

Which of the parts you mentioned are by definition more expensive? A modem? FaceID is 10 y/o now btw. You're just speculating and selling this as facts. Meanwhile actual material like aluminum, copper, lithium and others are genuinely expensive and the difference in weight of the precious metals and alloys used is obvious.

First guess: making things small (and durable) is more expensive than making things big.

Besides the phone CPU, they’re using less apple custom silicon: MediaTek wifi/bluetooth, no cellular modem, generic 1080p camera.

There are bunch of expensive components in a phone that aren't in this. The modem and camera system come to mind.

For starters, no royalties to pay Qualcomm.

Don't the new iPhones have Apple's own modem in them?

I recalled reading that Apple still has to pay Qualcomm some amount for 5G related stuff, but I can’t find an authoritative source to link.

probably a lot of economics going on, such as early age vendor lock-in, and new market acquisition loss-leaders, but ultimately it's not cutting edge hardware. So the same reason the laptop you bought 2 years ago is half the cost it is today. Granted, even that is not purely a cost only decision. Stratify any market and see how much you can get each segment to pay, and convince them they are getting the best deal for their money.

Maybe it's cheaper to make something that doesn't have be small as an iphone.

The MacBook Neo starts at the same price as the new iPhone 17e!

I think they should have branded the 17e the iPhone Neo.

Interesting. In Canada the 17e starts at $899, and the Neo starts at $799.

First, sorry for my U.S.-centric comment!

And yes, that's fascinating. Are carrier subsidies in Canada higher or something?

Good question... I wonder if the 5G chipset adds significantly to the price? IP licensing?

because all those prices are artificial, Apple is charging what they think they can get away with and also betting on making more money in the long run with subscriptions to iCloud and their other services.

You're confusing the sales price with the manufacturing cost. They will continue to set whatever prices people will pay because it's a walled garden and there's no other company building Apple (MacOS) compatible laptops.

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