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Comment by rodedwards | Hacker News Reader

That is a category killer cheap phone right there. EDIT: What makes it a category killer is the brand/price point combination.

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I hope your are being ironic. 599 Euro in Europe is not a killer cheap phone.

http://store.apple.com/de/buy-iphone/iphone5c

The iPhone 4S is a lot cheaper, it’s Euro 399.

http://store.apple.com/de/buy-iphone/iphone4s

And? That’s nothing new. Until today Apple sold the iPhone 4 for that price. They have been selling the two year old model for that price for a long time now.

The Nexus 4 16GB (the 8GB model is sold out) is $250.

That's still expensive for a two year old phone. E.g. the Lumia 920 is being sold here for 289 Euro (32GB, great camera, 4.5" retina display).

Samsung’s flagship phone (S4) is €100 cheaper. This is not in any way, shape or form a cheap phone.

It’s the iPhone 5 in a new case for €100/$100 less. That’s it.

The nexus 4 kills both in price currently, I think. It is quite important to is in markets where phone subsidies don't exist.

Not to mention the Nokia 620, which is cheap (1700 RMB) but lacks the high res screen.

Just speculating, but I would guess that the discounting will be hard and fast: Apple doesn't want to scare investors outright (there is a paranoia about any drop in the ASP, which has the longer-term effect of barring Apple from adapting to markets), but it is likely that Apple will do what is necessary to make this very price competitive.

It will be interesting to see what the imminent Nexus 4/5 is going to bring. I suspect that it will dramatically improve on the terrible camera in the original Nexus 4.

Apple will not compromise on this. Will not happen.

I personally think it’s a completely appropriate price. All I wanted to make clear is that this is not a cheap phone. Doesn’t mean it’s an overpriced phone or somehow worse than the S4. I wanted to make its place in the market clear, that’s all.

While I springboarded off of your comment, my comment is my own. And I absolutely think that Apple will "compromise" on this (where compromise apparently means "compete in the market"), and the whole "this is not cheap" line is absolute hubris that the Apple-sphere is inventing: This phone is designed to be cheaply manufactured, and you can be absolutely certain that Apple plans on doing what is necessary to maintain marketshare, and the price you see today has little to nothing to do with how it will be priced in China and elsewhere, or even in the US in a few months on no-contract plans.

Then what do you think about $199 for a smart phone that is in every way as capable?

http://www.google.com/nexus/4/

Technically $249 since they're out of the $199 8gb and have said that they don't plan on restocking.

The 16GB Nexus 4 is just 45% the cost of the 16GB iPhone 5C.

The new Nexus 5 will likely start at $300 as the Nexus 4or5 did when it first went on sale a year ago. I'm not sure what market the iPhone 5C is targeting. On contract, you might as well buy the 5S.

I'm not disagreeing with you; I also think the Nexus line is a great buy off contract but that the iPhone is better subsidized ($400 value for $200 on contract or $650 value for $200? The Nexus 4 on contract was stupid).

I'm excited about the Nexus 5, but if the rumors are true that it'll be based off the LG G2, I have a hard time seeing how it'll be offered for $300 when the G2 is the fastest phone on the market.

Wasn't the Nexus 4 exactly the same situation last year, also being based on the fastest phone?

Yeah I remember this as well. Specs per price at the time blew everyone away. Corners were still cut though (I'm looking at you camera and battery life).

The normal selling price was $299 and that was for an 8 GB device. $349 for a 16GB device (which is what Apple is selling).

Google presumably only dropped the price to clear out the inventory before the new Nexus phone is announced.

That's $349 fully paid for versus on-contract. The N4 is less expensive than any other comparable phone on the market by a wide margin.

Speaking as a very happy N4 owner, it's not "in every way as capable". Specifically, the lack of reliable LTE (yes, I'm running a hybrid radio) and the camera isn't as good as the iPhone cameras tend to be.

It's a fantastic device, but the new iPhone is a fair bit stronger. I'm curious to see what the N5 has in store, though.

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