Why does Apple only make 1 phone?

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

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Every other company makes more than 1 phone, even Samsung just brought out a Galaxy Mini...

People are screaming for a larger iPhone for a couple of years now and they gave in with the iPhone 5 but to me, that is not bigger, not big enough anyway., it is just longer They used the "it is designed to fit in your hand" argument to keep it the same width but there is nothing to stop them to make a larger iPhone and still make this one. They would make so much money having 2 products. Like they have the iPod Nano. They gave into the iPad Mini even after jobs saying it will never happen.

I feel like they are missing a trick here to make loads more money and giving what people want.
 
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Mr_White said:
They make 3 ;)
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This is 100% they are all "iPhones" but apple are still currently producing/selling the iPhone 4, 4s and 5

The 4 for folks on a budget (I use the term loosely :P) the 4s for people who basically just want Siri and the 5 for a bit more screen real estate
 
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I think they don't make more phones like other OEMs because they don't want to cannibalise their own sales. They plan ahead with their supply chain and buy up components cheap, having to buy more components for differing units would increase costs and reduce their margins.

Samsung/HTC etc. have tons of phones on the market with slightly different body designs and feature sets, so they can sell more phones than their competitors but the actual individual handsets sold per device will be lower, as they'll be competing against themselves in certain circumstances.
 
I mentioned this in the ipad mini thread, if it's worth making 2 sizes of ipad then it must be worth making 2 sizes of iphone. Almost everyone has a mobile phone. The rumours from the last few days suggest that the next iphone will be in 3 sizes. I know a lot of people that jumped from the iphone to SGS2/3 etc mainly for the bigger screen. I get the ability to use it easily with one hand but I think it's got to the point that it's just a necessary evil.
 
Azza said:
Because they're not innovative enough. (srs)
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I'd agree with that. - They're not bad devices, but look what happens when they sue Samsung; by the time it gets to court Samsung say "that's not a current model, it's already superseded".
 
It keeps their brand streamlined. When someone says iphone peopld instantly know what the device is, where with Samsung for example there are so many different devices it is confusing for the mass public to keep up. It also stops any of their devices being degraded or being seen as inferior (not including the old models as they will always be so), if you have more that one device at a time it means you're releasing something which is sub standard, apple like to sell the idea that the iphone is the perfect phone that just works.. The only exception to this is the ipad / macbook / imac, it is possible to have different sizes of these devices for user preference and then tap in to your desire to want to have the best by selling upgrades at massively inflated prices.
 
because steve jobs thought it was the right way to go....

he made a company worth billions so he probably knEw what he was doing...
 
Raymond Lin said:
People are screaming for a larger iPhone for a couple of years now and they gave in with the iPhone 5 but to me, that is not bigger, not big enough anyway.,
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They do market research, and release a phone that they think people are looking for. I, for one aren't screaming out for larger phones - I very nearly abandoned Android (after using it since Android 1.5) because all decent spec Android phones are too big.

Back OT though, by keeping the line streamlined then they keep costs down and it makes it easier for users to buy the next iDevice (they don't need to think too much about which to buy - most users don't want/need that much choice)
 
They don't need a range of phones, they design one to fit the greatest amount of people.

In addition they keep selling previously designed phones at a lower price to get more ROI and as a cheaper way in to the Apple Ecosystem.

On big android phones you can't tap the top left of the screen with your thumb when holding it in your right hand, you can on all iPhones.

I'm quite happy with Apple's strategies, it means my products hold value much longer.
 
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Because the average consumer gets really annoyed at not knowing what phone is better than another. Take htc, I've no idea what their flagship phone is. Is a wildfire better than a hero? No idea. Call the phones 1, 2, 3 etc and the consumer no longer needs to research. In surprised companies like canon and hp have so many different printers, mg this, mp that, numbers that have no meaning...
 
Apple have never been about giving every customer what they want. They make a small number a products that try to be the best in its given field. They are all about simplification not making niche products to fill every slot.

As said above they make 3 different phones for different budgets, and given their sales over the last few years I think it's fair to say that its working very very well for them.
 
My concern as a 4 then 4s user is I will be forced elsewhere on my next phone because I don't want bigger, even 5 big. I'm hoping they continue to do a smaller 4s type size because its all I need and don't want to carry around a portable shield.

Everyone has different needs but I don't use 50mb of data on my phone a month so don't need the screen size for surfing etc.
 
Those who have said that they aren't innovative enough, care to explain how having more models amounts to increased innovation? Samsung are frankly a terrible example: their lower end products are typically inferior to both the competition as well as their own older models (S2 vs S3 mini for example) - essentially they're doing what Apple are doing (offering older products), but re-shelled and worse. As for Samsung being innovative...in the Android world, I'd say that Android itself is the only innovative component, not the manufacturers.

The reasons for having one single flagship at any given time have all been covered, however it's worth noting that from the early '90s to '97 when Steve Jobs came back, Apple had huge product lines. Look what it did to them.

The fact is that lower end devices are simply those that utilise lower end or older technologies - single core processors are now a thing of the past. So why not simply continue to create the old single core model?

If you look at the rest of Apple's product lines, they all are distinct products that are notably different. Little point having products that cross over. The iPod line is a different example - they are all completely different products.

Also notice, Google are doing exactly the same thing. One phone, one 7" tablet and one 10" tablet.
 
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