Betrayed for what? Tim Cook and I aren’t friends LOL. Apple has a pattern, so I expected the new device to have the same price. With that being said, the X is still the 10th Anniversary device, regardless of the new iteration. I know there will, definitely, be people that feel different, but they shouldn’t take it personally. Apple is in the business of making a profit. It is what it is

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Prices have been going up YoY for a few years. So that’s the only pattern I see.
I’m surprised Samsung only sells a 128GB Note9 for $999. I was expecting $1.099 when they announced that.
Also, the GS9 is like $750-799 everywhere.
So it is getting really hard to justify any of these prices; especially when you throw the lackluster iOS update on top of it. Typically the software could excite me enough to think the new device was worth it, but I’m completely numb to these new iPhones.
The prices are laughable to me.
I’m getting the Note9 128GB and adding a 128GB SD card for the camera/music/videos ($30 or less).
$200+ premium for an XS Max, or [anything more] for an XS that basically has 5.3-5.4” of usable screen real estate (feels like a 4.7” iPhone to me)? No thank you.
These devices offer nothing but software tweaks that Apple held back from the older devices for lack of any other selling point.
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I think almost any price will work in the US. With the new Lease options, people buy phones without considering price. They just pay their bill. Most don’t even consider the actual costs.
If we were still on contracts (like we were before), that would be different. I doubt many would want to pay $599+ up front for a contract iPhone. Why do you think so many people were stuck with 16GB iPhones? Cause the contract upfront cost went up $100 if they got 32, and most didn’t want to pay it.
People tend to not notice the massive monthly lease fees for these phones. They ball more at higher upfront costs.
$45/mo for a phone is a lot, when equally capable options are available for $34/mo.
Move to leasing is the best thing that’s happened for Apple
