Apple is ripping off their fans even more

http://mobilesyrup.com/2015/09/11/apple-iphone-6s-and-iphone-6s-plus-2-year-canada-carrier-pricing/

Rogers two-year contract price:

iPhone 6s – 16GB $398.99
iPhone 6s – 64GB $528.99
iPhone 6s – 128GB $658.99

iPhone 6s Plus – 16GB $528.99
iPhone 6s Plus – 64GB $658.99
iPhone 6s Plus – 128GB $788.99

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a 16 GB iPhone 6s Plus for $528 on contract??? Apple greed knows no bounds. And yet tons of people will lap it up again. It now costs more than $1000 in Canada to get the iPhone 6s Plus off contract! It's more than the exchange rate because Apple is so greedy.

At one point does it stop being worth it to purchase any of these Apple products, especially when they keep rising prices all the time just because they know they can get away with it?

My wife has a Zenfone 2, which is a fully competent smartphone with high-end specs that is very well regarded and is sold for $199 BRAND NEW, OFF CONTRACT. I use a Oneplus Two, which is $329-$379 off contract and every bit as good as an iPhone. I tried the iPhone 6 Plus for a very long while so I'm speaking from experience.

I mean you can buy nearly 4 Zenfones for a single iPhone 6 Plus and they are both very good phones!

"Apple is ripping off their fans even"

How did you figure? If people are willing to pay for this junk how are they being ripped off?

I understand what you mean HHR but nobody is holding a gun to their head?

I just picked up a chinese OnePlus One phone. Rather than the new OnePlus Two, I prefer phones that have been out for a little while, partly to get off the upgrade train and get a bargain, and partly because the support by independent ROMs takes a few months to develop.

I'm not someone who gets excited about phones, but I have to say, I can't fault it. There is nothing that says "cheap knockoff" about these things. Everything, down to the packaging, is a high-end. The price, however, is a steal.

Ripping off is:

I have this solid gold ring to sell for X amount of dollars when really it is pot metal spray painted gold.

Not foolish people rushing out to buy the latest crap from apple.

Crap? Foolish?

pibbur who doesn't consider himself foolish, but thinks the freezing celt borders on being ...ar...arro...ah, forget it.

I wouldn't use words like "crap" or "foolish" but it certainly is a pure status symbol. One pays twice the price just so he/she can say - Look at me! I have money to waste!

I used to like Apple machines, iMacs and so forth, back when they used to feel like the elegant and professional alternative to creaky old Windows. But they lost me when they changed their focus, and began their extremely restrictive walled garden approach.

I still think they did a fine job with first iphone - does anyone remember what smartphones used to be like? (shudders)

I think they've done well, advancing the standard of device and UI design. If some people are happy to pay their high premium so the rest of us can enjoy better devices from solid but uninspired manufacturers, I'm perfectly happy.

zahratustra said:

I wouldn't use words like "crap" or "foolish" but it certainly is a pure status symbol. One pays twice the price just so he/she can say - Look at me! I have money to waste!

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No.

Pibbur who doesn't believe zahratustra knows why he bought an iphone

Worst kept secret... EVER. :lol:

The biggest profit gouging I can see here is the difference in memory space. There is NO WAY that the 128GB chip costs $250 more than the 16GB. That is grade A bullshit.

iPhone 6s Plus – 16GB $528.99
iPhone 6s Plus – 64GB $658.99
iPhone 6s Plus – 128GB $788.99

How much is it for other smartphones?

Here in Norway I found a price difference of 230 USD between a 32 gb Samsung Galaxy S6 flat and a 128 gb model (same netshop). But that's based upon Norwegian prices, don't know how it compares to prices in the US.

pibbur who agrees that iPhones are over-priced, in the sense that you can get just as good, and even better phones at a lower price.

zahratustra said:

I wouldn't use words like "crap" or "foolish" but it certainly is a pure status symbol. One pays twice the price just so he/she can say - Look at me! I have money to waste!

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Well you wouldn't but I just did. Though I think the same about all phones in general and the people that rush out to get them the day they are released.

I never bought one nor would I ever buy one. If it wasn't for work I wouldn't have one never mind rush out to buy one the day it comes out.

Ripper said:

I still think they did a fine job with first iphone - does anyone remember what smartphones used to be like? (shudders)

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Zloth looks at his little flip phone

Errr, not really....

Ripper said:

I just picked up a chinese OnePlus One phone. Rather than the new OnePlus Two, I prefer phones that have been out for a little while, partly to get off the upgrade train and get a bargain, and partly because the support by independent ROMs takes a few months to develop.

I'm not someone who gets excited about phones, but I have to say, I can't fault it. There is nothing that says "cheap knockoff" about these things. Everything, down to the packaging, is a high-end. The price, however, is a steal.

Click to expand...

The OnePlus One is indeed still very good and the specs are similar but to me it's the washed out screen I didn't like. That's what made me go to the Two, which is also easily available from Chinese retailers. I never liked a phone as much, it is brilliant.

I must say however the Zenfone 2 has more vibrant colors IMO, although the OnePlus Two has better contrast ratio.

The Zenfone 2 also has a vibrant community, it's been released about five months ago and it's garnered a lot of interest. The same thing has happened for the Two as well. In fact for their official OS, which is called "OxygenOS", they hired ex-developers from the Paranoid Android rom.

I think it's better to install Paranoid Android now because Cyanogen is getting more and more corporate and it's started to get a bit suspicious. They just announced they wanted to integrate Microsoft services and Cortana deeply into Cyanogen OS. They're pulling a Firefox and I'm going to bail out on them.

Both the Zenfone and OnePlus are made toward enthusiasts, and also for the Asian market where people want a premium phone but don't have enough money to buy a premium one. I would say however the Zenfone 2 is by far the best value on the market, it gives far more for the money than anything else, and unlike those Chinese brands it is solid, well thought out and comes with a good warranty, from a good and reputable manufacturer like Asus. The only thing that I don't like is the official ROM is very cluttered, but you can disable these extra apps and it comes with many useful and innovative features. It shows that Asus is a PC manufacturer first and foremost.

The screen on the OnePlus One is fine for me - I'd never watch movies or anything on a phone, and it's perfectly crisp and clear for my purposes. I also like to buy quite cheap phones, then get a much better value sim-only unlimited data contract, and not feel like I'm being shafted.

We seem to share a tinfoil hat when it comes to phones. I've been wary of Cyanogen for a while now. That said, while I don't like the direction they're heading in, CyanogenMod (the open source version) has the benefit of being quite well-examined by the community. The current evils have been identified, and can be removed with this excellent script. The apps can then be locked down more securely with XPrivacy. I'll probably stick with it for the time being.

People love these products, so I don't think "ripping off" is the correct term.

It's more like exploiting your audience.

Regarding "ripping off" : According to this interview http://www.ksta.de/digital/-die-stimme-hinter-sote,15938568,32993530.html , with Susan Bennett the woman whose voice was used for "Siri" never knew about her voice being used, never got any message from Apple, and Apple bought the app that used what later would become "Siri" from its original inventor named Dag Kittlaus (from Norway) with 200 Million Dollars.

In the interview it is said that all voices had been changed for newer operating systems, so "one will probably never find out who these people are", she says.

I think D'Art nailed it - it is getting what the market will bear for you product. There is always a balance between getting sales through lowering pricing and maximizing profits.

I personally love Apple's stuff - it is better built and performing (simultaneously) than pretty much anything else I have used. Sure I still have Android and Windows devices, but I really like what I get out of my Apple products.

And here is the thing - there is a distinction between *price* and *value*. For ME, there is considerable added value to having several Apple products scattered through our family.

As for the cost of things in other countries ... I have friends in Australia who have complained about this for a while, and as you note this year is the WORST. No idea why, but in the US, for me buying a iPhone 6s 64GB or a Samsung Galaxy S6 would cost about the same.

If work didn't pay for my 6 Plus, I would have been completely satisfied with an old Note 2. Phones are starting to get ludicrous these days in price. It's great that we have the technology for 4K phones, but my TV doesn't even need that.