Consumer spending power is decreasing. This is just the start.
When iPhones were selling like crazy they were sub $500. Now they are a grand and don’t do anything new. Gee I wonder why.
They only ever where sub $500 with a contract. And this is still true today (at least in my market). But people don’t like spending >$70 dollars a month on a contract
The rate of them getting faster and better was also much higher.
Now people complain that nothing is exciting anymore.
It’s good that people are upgrading less frequently. One could argue Apple is pricing things with this in mind. But maybe there is strong evidence that can’t be part of their planning.
The market is saturated. Everyone has a phone, and only so many will need one next year.
I still have a 12Pro (and had a 6s until is started acting up), and its fine. The camera is kinda trash, but otherwise it’s never had an issue running any app I’ve tried.
I tend to ride with a phone until it dies, and I bet most people are the same way.
I have a 14 pro max. I’m getting the battery replaced in it soon. Probably will be waiting until the 18 pro max or whatever they call it in 2026
Same with my 14 Pro. I‘ll get a new battery this autumn since mine‘s at 84% capacity right now and maybe when I’m at <80% and <2yr they replace it for free (hopes in Spanish)
Base model 15 is $1130 here. Base model 14 (last gen) is $1000. Both before tax. At a time when millions are struggling to put food on their tables. And even assuming you could afford a new iPhone, it will be almost indistinguishable from older generations excluding a few software differences. Even the camera output is almost exactly the same among recent generations.
Yeah the (lack of) difference in price between generations is ridiculous. I just bought a 13 after using my 8 for six years.
The only difference between the 13 and 14 was once graphics core. So there was no way I was considering the 14.
But the 15 has USB C, which don’t get me wrong is great, but when you have a ton of lightning cables that will need to be replaced, it doesn’t seem like such a good idea (especially when family members are still using phones with lightning).
They doubled rent, food and just about everything in the last two years. Coming off massive layoffs and a two year lockdown that saw most of the service industry without jobs.
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I think everyone has been forecast this for a while with inflation. The consumer has been more resilient than expected but I think leave finally reached the point where everyone who wants an iPhone has one, and we’ve ran out of disposable income to upgrade Willy Nilly. Really not much reason to upgrade if you have an 11 or newer
People keep saying the year to year changes are so incremental, I think it’s for that exact reason that people are keeping their phones for longer. It’s a waste to upgrade every year anyway. I’d love to see some data of like trade in age over time, I bet it’s up a lot lately. I’d still be using my xs today if I hadn’t dropped and busted it. Worked totally fine.
