Posted on 09/22/2017 12:04:12 AM PDT by Swordmaker
At least not in the derogatory sense that many are using to label a phone that costs $1000.
I started a conversation on Twitter last week trying to separate what is expensive and what is a luxury. And as the comments continued, I realized that explaining the nuances of what luxury means in tech would take longer than 140 characters so here I am. Please don’t think I am neglecting to understand the privileged position from which I am discussing what a luxury is and what it is not. The focus here is on establishing what the true value of the iPhone X is. What I am not discussing is the much broader and critical impact that the higher cost of technology has on society.
Expensive and luxury are very much intertwined, and they are labels that change slightly depending on what item you are referring to. If you look up the definition of luxury in the Webster dictionary you find that Luxury is:
When you look up expensive you find:
I look at these definitions, and I seem to be doing a good job at gathering evidence against my point. After all, when I think of the iPhone X I do believe it is adding to my pleasure, and it is not necessary – the iPhone 8/8Plus could do the trick. Well, my current iPhone 7Plus does a darn good job at being a smartphone. The iPhone X is also characterized by a high-price, and it is beyond many buyers’ means fitting both the luxury and expensive definition.
Luxury Phones are Mostly Bling
When I think of luxury phone there is one brand that comes to mind first: Vertu. Vertu had a somewhat troubled life that ended this past July when the current owner, Turkish businessman Murat Hakan shut it down after failing to pay creditors. Vertu opened in 1998 as part of the Finnish phone maker Nokia. At that point, the phones were running on Symbian and were handmade with luxury materials from gold to rubber from F1 tires. Starting price: $5,000. Vertu was sold in 2012 to private equity company EQT when the phones started to run Android and were still hand-made in the UK. In 2015, the company was sold to Chinese company Godin Holdings and finally to Mr. Hazan in 2016.
In its glory days, Vertu was the mother of all luxury phones not only it was hand-made like an haute-couture dress and used the most expensive metals and materials, but it also came with a concierge service that will help you do whatever you needed to do from booking a taxi to shopping online.
In a less extreme sense, luxury phones have been about designer brands and bling. A quick search brings up a top ten charts with names from the fashion and car industry or unknown brands that took mainstream phones and covered them in gems.
So what happens when the Price goes up cause the Tech is better?
None of the phones you see associated with a luxury tag brings cutting-edge technology to the plate. Their price is merely defined by the materials used and the power of the brand name on them. And this very point is why I do not think the iPhone X deserves to be lumped into the luxury phone bucket.
Now, I would not go to the extent of saying that the iPhone X has a “value price” like Apple CEO Tim Cook did on Good Morning America. But I do agree with his underlying point which is that the iPhone X has a lot of tech packed into it.
Let’s pretend there was no iPhone X and that the iPhone 8Plus was the flagship product. Although starting at $799, $50 more than the launch price of last year’s iPhone 7Plus, nobody, as far as I am aware, called it a luxury phone. For some reason, there is something about getting to the $1000 price point that gets people to think differently. But let’s compare the features and see what the iPhone X has over the iPhone 8 Plus:
If we are ok with $799 for the iPhone 8Plus and we add all this technology do we honestly think that the price should not increase? Some people argue that this is all Apple tax, but while of course, the Apple brand commands a premium it does so across devices. This means that the Apple premium equally impacts other iPhone models too.
Is a $1000 too much for a Phone?
A genuine question to ask is whether a $1000 for a phone is just too much even when that phone is an iPhone, and the answer is once again not a straightforward one. Not so much because most consumers don’t pay $1000 straight up but because the value they get from a phone as well as the tolerance they have for tech is different from user to user.
The return of investment that most people get from their smartphone is way bigger than what they ever got from a PC (outside of work), and this is more so with iPhones. There is also a much stronger emotional bond with a phone than any other gadget we own. Lastly, software updates delivered to these phones lengthen their life although the draw of the latest upgrade will try and make what you own feel inadequate.
So who is the iPhone X for? If you want the best product there is in the lineup – not just the most expensive, but the best tech – then the iPhone X is for you. If you want to indulge in tech that is adding pleasure but that is not necessary the iPhone X is also for you. But if you see smartphones as a utility device or are overwhelmed by how much technology these little rectangles have packed in then you better look elsewhere.
I gave up on LG. After they moved to lead free solder, they stopped being able to make phones that lasted more than a year (I know generalizing, but that is my observation).
should be in settings. i’ve used Samsung and LG fones as hotspots and always search for “Samsung or LG (whatever version) hotspot” and you’ll get the steps online.
That was beautifully stated!
I have a smart phone that my liberal brother has been berating me for since I bought it four years ago. It’s time to replace it, and I’m hoping he doesn’t notice, because I’m sure he’ll ramp up the criticism. Especially if I decide on the iPhone X.
For me, a smart phone has become a necessity. I use it to manage appointments, medications, contacts, video chatting, maps/navigation, banking, scanning documents, bill paying, store discounts, retail purchases, etc. It does everything I used to do on a PC, and more, for a lot less money. And oh yeah, it makes phone calls.
There’s a $300 difference between the phone I need and the phone I want. If I can’t spend $300 on a luxury for myself once every four years, something is wrong.
Agreed...and this is why there are different products at different price points!
Forgot to mention, it’s my browser, too.
I think it’s rather hypocritical to complain about the cost of someone else’s smart phone, from the luxury of a personal computer.
My feeling is that traditionally, conservatives have felt that people can take money they earn and spend it on anything they wish.
It’s their money...they worked for it and earned it.
In the world of technology, we all owe a debt to early adopters, since they pave the way for the rest of us to get it affordably.
The iPhone X is a luxury. To 90 percent of cell phone users.
Why spend $1000 when for $300 you can get a iPhone 6 that will do everything and more for 90 percent of users.
And for the fan bois who absolutely must have the latest techno-toy (whether they use all the gadgets or not) - then fine. Spend away,
Two things:
1. There is no iWatch. There is, however, the Apple Watch.
2. It does not require "constant charging". My series 2 Apple Watch, like a smartphone, can go two or three days without a charge. I have gotten into the habit of attaching the magnetic charger to the back of my phone when I begin to get ready for work. By the time I have brushed my teeth, shaved, showered and gotten dressed, my watch is back to 100%.
My Apple Watch probably saved my life. A sleep monitoring app showed I was getting no sleep and, after going through a sleep study, it was discovered that I have obstructive and central sleep apnea, to the extent of it being life threatening.
The other extremely useful feature has been the ability to text and take calls without pulling out my phone. I can just tap my watch and talk. Very handy.
My Watch also keeps track of my physical activity. Having the report sent to my doctor has verified my assertion that while I am overweight, I am very physically active, which is leading to investigations as to why, on a 1600 calorie a day diet, I do not loose weight.
But I went to the Apple website and it FORCED me to purchase a phone. Those fascist-capitalist bastards!!!
Since when did conservatives start doing this?If it doesn't talk like a duck and doesn't walk like a duck... IOW, conservatives don't do this. :^)
Thanks, good to see you, too!
What are you, a cop?
No, it was a simple question.
Your post mentioned the price of the Note 8 followed by a description of LG phone troubles. Since they’re different products made by different companies, I wondered what, if anything, the two had to do with each other.
Yeah I remember paying over $500 for my first 8 megabyte ram upgrade for my first 386
Then why not ask about my comment on the Note 8? That’s not the iPhone 8 either.
Not useless at all to those who bought a Watch. I thought I didn't need one, not having worn a wristwatch for 20 years or so. Until my wife and I bought a pair on sale. Absolutely happy with them. Last week I was driving around downtown in congested traffic while she was at a bank signing papers with her elderly mom, no parking anywhere. Law here says you can't hold a phone and drive else get ticketed. She calls me with updates which I receive on my Watch and I answer calls on the watch, smoothly without taking my eye off the road. When using GPS to go places, the Watch uses tactic feedback on my wrist to signal turns coming up. In airports while handling luggage I can rotate my wrist and tell Siri on the Watch to call my wife about meeting me, all while carrying stuff. Then there are the activity and heart monitors, great stuff.
And the Watch carries enough charge for a couple days because I can shut it off when not actively using it, additionally can throw it on the charger while sleeping. Best device I ever got.
It appeared that you were commenting on how close the Note 8 and iPhone 8 were in price. What’s to ask?
I use a Nokia Lumia that I bought at the Microsoft Store for $99. It runs Windows 10. My service is a basic voice, text and data service from Verizon without a contract.
And I actually work for a smartphone manufacturer.
Exactly.
That's why I didn't ask about it. :=)
Was your objection that I asked about your seemingly unrelated addition of the LG phone problems to your post?
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