
How phones went from $200 to $2k - Tomte
https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/18/18263584/why-phones-are-so-expensive-price-apple-samsung-google
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ogre_codes
They are basically comparing the price of mid-low end phones from 10+ years
ago to the highest end phones of today. The Motorola StarTAC was introduced in
1996 for $1000 and later, the Motorola Razr was $800 when it was introduced.
Adjusted for inflation the difference in price isn't that big and flip phones
of the time did very little. You can pick up a phone which is vastly better
than the Razor today for $25.

The iPhone wasn't $200 unless you ignored the cost of the expensive phone
contract it was attached to, nor were the early top end Android phones.

The only way this article makes any sense if you compare the highest end
phones of today to the low-midrange phones from 10+ years ago which makes zero
sense.

~~~
icedchai
Most consumer technology has gotten cheaper over the years. In some cases, a
lot cheaper, especially when adjusted for inflation. Compare the price of 55"
flat screen TV's, 2009 vs today. Compare the price of a mid-range desktop
computer, 1989 vs today, etc.

~~~
ogre_codes
You have a double standard here. Newer iPhones are twice as big and have much
higher display resolution. To be reasonably fair you'd need to compare that
55" flat screen TV to an 8K 120" HDR TV. Or flip it and compare the Original
iPhone to the iPhone SE which is about half the cost of the original iPhone
(when you consider the contract cost) and still has a much bigger/ better
display.

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babaganoosh89
Might be an unpopular opinion, but in terms of value I think phones are worth
it. Think of how much time people spend on their phones, and how much
frustration you save from not having a PoS phone. For many people, phone's are
their "computer".

~~~
B-Con
I completely agree.

As another comment pointed out, the price comparison is poor. What changed is
the value of the phone and what people are willing to spend. When phones got
good enough many were willing to replace a traditional computer with the
phone.

Don't forget that social networks were a thing back at the release of the
first iPhone. I suspect far fewer people would be see as much value in a smart
phone if they couldn't access Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Reddit on it.

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kitsunesoba
Overall I think rising top end brings a better set of issues than a race to
the bottom does. With rising top end, the midrange options are sure to be at
least decent, but with a race to the bottom you see huge compromises and
underhanded methods to offset slim margins in all but the most high end
options.

We’ve seen this play out in the PC market already, but at least there you
always had the option of wiping the standard OS install and upgrading hardware
to help mitigate shady preinstalls and compromises in cheaper products. With
phones, hardware upgrades flat out aren’t possible and many are impossible or
impractical to put a clean OS install on.

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bdcravens
There's a lot of great phones in the $200 range today. I've helped a few
friends buy one at MVNO's like MetroPCS, and they walked out with a 5"\+ fast
Android under $200 and it always impresses me what they get for 1/6 the price
of the phone I carry.

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LinuxBender
I use a $12 pre-paid phone from Walmart. It has held up great for the past few
years. It's probably time to get a new one. It looks like they discontinued
mine and now there is a $30 version. [1] The only downside is the T9 texting,
but I do not text a lot. The tiny battery in it lasts about a week without any
charging.

[1] - [https://www.walmart.com/ip/Verizon-Kyocera-Cadence-
Prepaid-C...](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Verizon-Kyocera-Cadence-Prepaid-Cell-
Phone-16GB-Black/229903939)

------
spectramax
So did our reliance on a single all-in-one mini computer that we carry our
lives, memories, photos and literally everything we do.

Simply examining the BOM cost should reveal the extraordinary amount of
processing power, memory, optics, security and system integration that has
taken place between $200 and $1000 phones.

So, a fair comparison would be to compare a phone from 2004:

$200 Phone

$200 Music Player

$400 Netbook

$300 Camera

\-----------

$1100

Just ball park figures to make a point. I don't think Netbooks existed in
2004.

~~~
dragontamer
The closest equivalent to a modern phone from back in 2004 was a PDA (ex: Palm
Pilot or Blackberry). You had internet, contacts, email, apps, mp3, and basic
camera all on one device.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treo_700p](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treo_700p)

That's 2005, but it gives you an idea of what was available at the time for
~$500. Looking back on it, it seems like the Treo 700p was still a smartphone
as well... I guess I just remembered most of its PDA-functionality instead.

EDIT: The main things a modern smartphone gives you are capacitive controls
and a GPS. The "real internet" as well, since PDAs kinda surfed a different...
protocol. I forget exactly, but it wasn't HTML, even if it was served over
HTTP. Some... format that died a long time ago. I'd estimate a GPS costs $200,
plus the subscription to the maps (you had to pay for map-subscriptions back
then)

~~~
jaclaz
Well, for Euro 800 (around US$ 1000) you could get circa 2004-2005 a Sony-
Ericsson P900-P910.

It did have GPS/Maps (separate paid for program) and it could navigate the
internet via WAP.

Mine lasted some 10 years (admittedly I used it much more as a phone than to
navigate internet) and sported an exceptionally good handwriting recognition.

~~~
dragontamer
> and it could navigate the internet via WAP

That's what it was called! Thanks, I was annoyed at myself for not remembering
the name of that.

------
chasingthewind
One assertion the article makes that I'm skeptical of is that the price of the
phone used to be hidden in the monthly cost of the plan but no longer is. I
have no evidence, but it definitely feels to me like my cell phone bill has
been going up steadily and that there is no "phone sold separately" discount.
I'd really like to see some numbers on whether the service cost has really
decreased in real terms by the amount of the cost of the phone over two years.

~~~
grawprog
I've always bought my phones outright and never had a prepaid plan until
relatively recently. I've stayed around the $250-$300 price point since I
started buying cell phones. What I can buy now for that price is vastly
superior to what I could buy even only 4 or 5 years ago.

If anything, with inflation, the price of low-midrange phones has been
dropping steadily and the quality and features you get for that price has been
climbing at least in my observation.

Service prices have been climbing. The plan I have now isn't available with my
carrier any more. The closest plan to mine costs twice as much as I pay for
3GB less data. They don't even have plans that offer as much data as I get
anymore.

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root_axis
Well the phones do a lot more. There are still dozens of $200 smart phones on
the market without all the bells and whistles.

~~~
beatgammit
Yup. I got my Moto x4 for ~$250, and it does way more than I need it to. I
just don't see a point in getting a >$500 phone.

------
thorwasdfasdf
Even after reading the entire article head to toe, I can't understand that
people would pay over 1K for a phone. So what if it folds? Is it a social
status thing? do people go around showing it off? (honestly, I haven't seen
that)

I bought a used HTC One M9 about 2 years ago, refurbished for 80$ and it does
every I could ever want with a phone: online browsing, hacker news, apps,
great graphics/sound. None of the apps are laggy. there doesn't seem to be any
downside at all. Admittedly the battery is weak, but then so are most of the
new phones.

~~~
nrb
FWIW, I replace my phone every ~4 years on average. With the XS Max, I have
the latest OS with the latest security updates and a state-of-the-art web
browser and an outstanding screen & audio. Admittedly it contains a bunch of
technology I'm not making much use of at the moment, but even then the battery
lasts more than 24 hours easily with regular use. If/when those killer AR apps
come along, the phone is equipped to take advantage of it.

The price of the phone was something I was happy to pay, for the peace of mind
that I've got a device I can depend on for as long as I want to keep using it.

I got burned about a decade ago by carriers not supporting Android updates on
the early HTC devices and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Perhaps that has
changed but this chart still doesn't inspire much confidence:
[https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards](https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards)

