Re:Apple iPhone SE Available on Apple Store Again
by jillesvangurp on Monday March 25, 2019 @07:33AM
(#19481656)
It's not a cost problem but a positioning problem. I just bought a Nokia 7 plus which is about the same size of an iphone 6 plus for 295 Euros. Big does not have to be expensive. And it's an 8 core phone. It's plenty fast. I'm pretty sure Apple is doing fine in terms of cost.
The real problem for Apple is differentiating their more expensive phones when the most significant thing for end users is the screen size and the camera. Take one of those away and there's not much left to charge for. Their current model is based on artificially inflated prices for big screens. For whatever reason there's a segment of users that happily hand over the cash for what is an overpriced phone. However, it lost them the entry segment; which is why they keep bringing back the 5S/SE formfactor. Without this, they bleed users even as revenue goes up because of the increased ASP.
If they get the bigger 6/7/8 formfactor to the same price, they are cannibalizing their high end range because the difference between that and their premium XR range is mostly not that big. Worse, you can't really tell them apart easily because they have the same design. This is made worse by people using iphone covers. Status and vanity are big reasons for owning an iphone but when they all look the same, you might as well get the cheaper one.
The real problem for Apple is differentiating their more expensive phones when the most significant thing for end users is the screen size and the camera. Take one of those away and there's not much left to charge for. Their current model is based on artificially inflated prices for big screens. For whatever reason there's a segment of users that happily hand over the cash for what is an overpriced phone. However, it lost them the entry segment; which is why they keep bringing back the 5S/SE formfactor. Without this, they bleed users even as revenue goes up because of the increased ASP.
If they get the bigger 6/7/8 formfactor to the same price, they are cannibalizing their high end range because the difference between that and their premium XR range is mostly not that big. Worse, you can't really tell them apart easily because they have the same design. This is made worse by people using iphone covers. Status and vanity are big reasons for owning an iphone but when they all look the same, you might as well get the cheaper one.