Why do mobile phones cost so much?

[jonneymendoza]

There's also no quality rear camera on the back of the Nexus tablet. Phones do have a bigger mark-up though.

mark up?

 

[Robbo]

mark up?

The difference between the cost of a good or service and its selling price.

Phones are generally sold for at least double the price that they cost to manufacture.

 

[jonneymendoza]

Yes but size. SIZE. Don't underestimate the difference this makes in price. It's really pointless comparing the price of a small incredibly mobile device to something larger than an a4 folder.

Phones are catching up with computer specs at an alarming rate. Quad core processors and 1gb RAM? They are advancing faster than both desktop and laptop computers in my opinion.

LOL thsoe quad core cpu are no match for a OLD school E6600 Dual core intel conroe chip nevermind a Sandy bridge quad core monster.

What next, GPU's cathing up too lol

 

[Jono8]

This may be a stupid question but i'm genuinely confused.
The new nexus tablet costs £159 for the cheapest one and that comes with:
7” 1280x800 HD display (216 ppi)
Back-lit IPS display
Scratch-resistant Corning glass
1.2MP front-facing camera
198.5 x 120 x 10.45mm
340g
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
8/16 GB internal storage
1 GB RAM
Micro USB
4325 mAh (Up to 8 hours of active use)
Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
Quad-core Tegra 3 processor
Microphone
NFC (Android Beam)
Accelerometer
GPS
Magnetometer
Gyroscope

Yet a phone of similar specs say the galaxy s3 will cost at least £400 brand new. Does it really cost that much just so a device can connect to a phone network?

No 3g?
no good camera/video camera
all packed into a smaller device on a phone
no micro usb slot

Just 4 things off the top of my head..

 

[Zefan]

LOL thsoe quad core cpu are no match for a OLD school E6600 Dual core intel conroe chip nevermind a Sandy bridge quad core monster.

What next, GPU's cathing up too lol

I know that very well... I never suggested that they were! I'd rather you didn't put words in my mouth thanks.

 

[jonneymendoza]

I know that very well... I never suggested that they were! I'd rather you didn't put words in my mouth thanks.

so what do u mean by ctahcing up with computer specs?

Sorry but catching up with computer specs usually means that specs are begging to match in terms of raw power.

Rule number 1 in any tech spec.

Its not all about "numbers"

Tegra 3 vs S4 should have taught you that over at the One X thread

 

[Zefan]

so what do u mean by ctahcing up with computer specs?

Sorry but catching up with computer specs usually means that specs are begging to match in terms of raw power.

Rule number 1 in any tech spec.

Its not all about "numbers"

Tegra 3 vs S4 should have taught you that over at the One X thread

Wow, I really don't need you telling me that it's "not all about numbers".

What I said was that they are catching up at an alarming rate - as in, they are progressing very fast compared with the progress of desktop/laptop hardware. In my opinion they are progressing faster, although I'm unsure as for how long this will continue.

If you really do want to carry on reading between the lines and arguing against a point I'm not even making then by all means, knock yourself out.

 

[Robbo]

I believe what Zefan meant is that mobile hardware is developing at a faster rate than desktop hardware... not that the mobile hardware is about to overtake it, there's still a huge gap.

 

[Shamikebab]

Go back five years and look at the phones, go back five years and look at PC's. Yes they're developing it a faster rate

 

[jonneymendoza]

It will probably slow down soon. who knows

 

[Shamikebab]

Yeah probably, battery technology isn't developing at the same rate and really what do we need all this power for? Sure there are a few good looking mobile games but they're mostly rubbish to play. The popular ones have much simpler graphics.

 

[jonneymendoza]

what we need is more power for tablets, not phones. i wanna see a tablet run fill windows.

windows surface could be the one to do so

 

[biron_w]

So in summary: they are expensive because people are dumb enough to pay for it.

Unfortunately I think that is it.
Phones cost a lot because manufacturers know they can charge a lot for them.
I'm really hoping the new range of Nexus phones later this year come in at a decent price.

 

[bhavv]

What about the price difference between the Lumia 710 and 800? Identical specs, just a different screen. The Lumia 800 was a lot cheaper than similar samsung and apple models though, and available for free on lower contracts, but I dont get why the sim free price is so high.