Why are smartphones so expensive?

chroniclard said:
"free" upgrade, a misnomer. :p
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Yes that's true, you pay one way or another, I mean free in the sense of the earliest contract ending without paying extra. It's also a business phone so I claim back 50% of total cost regardless.

So although I will concede there are some good cheap phones out there that I didn't know about, you do need to fully 100% trust some quite new Chinese companies, so for now I'm still sticking with a higher end one.
 
My problem is that things start breaking once I've had a phone for around 2 years.

I would probably accept a slightly lower spec for a phone that was more robust, or had a much longer warranty.
 
As my dad always used to advise business owners, the quickest way to increase your profits is to raise your prices. Quick example, you make 10% net profit, raise your prices by 5%, you've just had a 50% increase in profit.

Now scale that to a huge corporation. Big part days for the executives. Spread that increase over a contract and the average consumer doesn't even notice. The issue is this cycle has built over the last 5-10 years and now prices are high. Post CV and a looming global recession I can see the manufacturers having to get more competitive on pricing. Which given the commodity nature of the components isn't unreasonable.
 
Troezar said:
As my dad always used to advise business owners, the quickest way to increase your profits is to raise your prices. Quick example, you make 10% net profit, raise your prices by 5%, you've just had a 50% increase in profit.

Now scale that to a huge corporation. Big part days for the executives. Spread that increase over a contract and the average consumer doesn't even notice. The issue is this cycle has built over the last 5-10 years and now prices are high. Post CV and a looming global recession I can see the manufacturers having to get more competitive on pricing. Which given the commodity nature of the components isn't unreasonable.
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Agree with the second part but the first paragraph only holds true if your customers have a gun held to their head otherwise sales volumes will fall and could wipe out the increased margin.

Samsung just learned the hard way with the S20 range. Sales have been woeful. Coranavirus had nothing to do with my decision to return mine. Given the product was substandard it was the price that made my decision so easy. I may be unusual as I buy things outright and try to avoid credit but I have plenty of friends who avoid flagships/refuse to upgrade on contract citing the price as the reason. When Apple first charged over £1000 people lost their minds.

Also if we do end up with a global recession you can bet your bottom dollar people will wake up to the fact that £75 a month on a fancy mobile phone is insane when the difference between a £75pm phone and a £15pm phone in 2020 is minimal. I’m writing this on an iPhone 11 Pro I bought second hand after the S20 went back. Cracking phone, yes, but much better than my 3 year old work iPhone or my old Samsung S8... battery for sure otherwise I’m not hugely convinced.
 
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Barks said:
Agree with the second part but the first paragraph only holds true if your customers have a gun held to their head otherwise sales volumes will fall and could wipe out the increased margin.

Samsung just learned the hard way with the S20 range. Sales have been woeful. Coranavirus had nothing to do with my decision to return mine. Given the product was substandard it was the price that made my decision so easy. I may be unusual as I buy things outright and try to avoid credit but I have plenty of friends who avoid flagships/refuse to upgrade on contract citing the price as the reason. When Apple first charged over £1000 people lost their minds.

Also if we do end up with a global recession you can bet your bottom dollar people will wake up to the fact that £75 a month on a fancy mobile phone is insane when the difference between a £75pm phone and a £15pm phone in 2020 is minimal. I’m writing this on an iPhone 11 Pro I bought second hand after the S20 went back. Cracking phone, yes, but much better than my 3 year old work iPhone or my old Samsung S8... battery for sure otherwise I’m not hugely convinced.
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Agreed it depends on the industry and the smartphone industry is very competitive. I think they've just increased prices year on year to see what the market will stand. I suspect we've hit peak smartphone. There seem to be very few killer apps these days and a decent mid range has plenty of power to do anything you require. Technology in general is outpacing the need for more power.

Apple are going to struggle as the gap isn't really there now. You could argue their software is their biggest strength but how much extra are people prepared to pay for it?
 
Troezar said:
Apple are going to struggle as the gap isn't really there now. You could argue their software is their biggest strength but how much extra are people prepared to pay for it?
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I personally don't think Apple are going to struggle - quite the opposite in fact. Customers are far more prepared to pay an Apple premium than (say) an Oppo premium or a OnePlus premium. The iPhone 11 (non pro) is a massive seller and the new 2020 SE will shortly pull the rug out from under the lower-midprice Android market.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of Android manufacturers squabble over the same slice of $1000 pie.
 
mrbell1984 said:
They will if they are iPhones though. Not sure how long people will keep paying though depends on how the market goes. I think once they release the SE2 things might change a bit in regards to the price.
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Yep iPhones still have that aura around them where millions of people are convinced they are the best phones and the price is worth paying.
I've seen people say my iphone does everything,email, WhatsApp, YouTube,takes pictures etc etc.....you have to wonder what they think non Apple phones do :)
 
Barks said:
I think Samsung have just realised people aren’t willing to pay the market prices.
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I also think they underestimated how many, more set in their ways customers like me highly valued the headphone slot.

I'll take now much cheaper S10+ with headphone slot than a more expensive one without.
 
Brexit also has an effect mobile sevices due to the weak pound against the dollar after the referendum. Basically your devices would have been cheaper by 25 per cent before the pound collapsed.
 
PC777 said:
They do look good for the price, but the Motorola G8 is supposed to have slow wifi, that's a big no no for me.
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l have just received a Motorola Moto G8 Power and while it can’t pull down 550Mbps like my iPhone XR it still manages a respectable 60Mbps. What more do you need on a phone for updates and streaming stuff?
 
I've been unable to move from my s7

Problem is I need waterproof and want the best camera.
Unfortunately I have yet to find anything where the best camera isn't on a model with everything else 'best'.

Its very annoying
 
I don't know anything that people with the latest and greatest are doing that I cannot do on my Pixel3a, if they have an apple they can do far less :-/

It's only worth upgrading for a better camera now, there is no other reason. For me anything I want to phonograph properly (like a holiday) I use my actual camera so it is much less of a draw to upgrade.
 
Still on Pixel 2 XL. Want a new toy. Everything comes with some kind of deal breaking compromise, considering the amount of money you pay for these things. Was really interested in OP8Pro but then I find out it doesn't really have a telephoto lens (although I'm getting conflicting information there), so it lacks a major feature that I would want for my money. At this rate, I can see me keeping the 2 XL for another 18 months.
 
Very happy with my OnePlus 7T. I'm not bothered by the notch thing, it's fast, 90Hz screen, charges very quickly, not too big but is definitely not compact, really good sound and the camera is good enough for everyday snaps. I paid £469, I paid a similar amount for my Galaxy Note 4 which lasted over 4 years. I wouldn't pay £1000 when I can get everything I need for much less.
 
I'd pay the high prices if it device was backed up with official support/warranty of say 5yrs, but knowing that Android devices are pretty much abandoned at 2yrs makes buying an even more expensive Galaxy a tough choice, I don't feel flush enough to pay 1k a year for the next fold.
 
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