Are we crazy, or can the phone actually cost that much?
Original material
Welcome to 2017: Every top smartphone maker sells flagship models for just under $ 1,000. Interestingly, they are being bought.
I am not surprised why people do this. If you need a flagship, you have to pay, and you won't be able to call Samsung or Google and agree with them. Phones today are at their peak, the components are at their best, and even the purchase option itself – 24 months installment plan without overpayment – is a great deal.
Enthusiasts and simply needing the functional richness of a flagship smartphone will have to pay the full price. I understand them. Needless to say, I buy it myself, like many of the readers. A premium smartphone with a large display and storage space costs money.
It’s haunted by the thought that paying $ 1,000 for a phone is crazy. I myself do this and I will not dissuade from such a step.
For example, LG. We do not know when the non-carrier version of the V30 will go on sale in the United States, but the device is already found in the catalogs of some online stores. We don't know the price either, but most buyers expect the price to be around $ 750. The size of operators' mark-up is also in question, the price will already amount to at least $ 850. LG, as usual, sells non-operator models cheaper than the operator itself. $ 750 is an impressive amount, but it turns out that it is 75% of the established prices for flagship smartphones from other manufacturers by the end of 2017. The functional and aesthetic components of a smartphone are at the level of any other flagship.
After all, there is also LG V30 +, in fact – the same V30, but with 64 GB of memory. LG why are you doing this, stop. The smartphone is only available for purchase from Sprint for $ 900 or from the U.S. Cellular for $ 800, LG likes to do this. Taking these devices into account, we see that LG is also gradually approaching the 'bar' of a thousand dollars per smartphone. No one wants to switch carriers for 64GB of internal storage.
I do not accuse the company of artificially inflating prices. I don’t believe and don’t want to believe it. For the cost of a new Note 8, I will buy Honda a 2000 Accord V6 under warranty. This manufacturer definitely uses metal and glass on a higher level, and the trunk will fit many, many gigabytes. The only thing missing is the S-Pen.
Just think about it: a 13-inch bar with OLED – a display in a glass and aluminum case is cheaper than a similar bar half the size.
It's foolish to compare the Note 8 or any of the current model year's flagships to a seventeen-year-old car, so it's like a laptop. For $ 2,800 we'll buy a Surface Pro, for $ 4,200 a MacBook Pro, and a Dell XPS13 for $ 850. Dell's laptop does everything the new Note, Pixel or iPhone can do with a QHD + display in a thin, light and beautiful design made from premium materials. Even the cost of the new Pixelbook, which is considered overpriced, does not go beyond $ 1,000.
Back to the main point. We overpay, but we have no choice. I know why we do this: these are great phones and we want or need the best. I just don't understand how they got so expensive to justify the cost. I hope some of the readers can make a convincing argument, and not 'the less – the cheaper', and help to sort out this issue.
By Jerry Hildenbrand
We often talk about certain psychological limits that keep us in our comfort zone. But the price of $ 1000 for a smartphone has never been included in it and I do not see any potential changes in the situation for myself. To be honest, I don't really understand what a smartphone has to offer so that such an amount could be spent without regrets.
It's not even about the wise use of money, but rather about whether the advanced functionality can justify such spending? Will the price continue to rise? Is there an upper threshold for the cost of a smartphone? New trends – new questions.