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iPhones Are Priced 'High in the Extreme' But They're Worth It, Says Apple Co-founder Wozniak (scmp.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Apple's iPhone has been losing ground to domestic competitors in China. That is because Chinese smartphone makers offer sophisticated functions at reasonable prices, according to Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder and one of the pioneers of the personal computer industry. "Here is what I admire about Chinese phones: really good, intelligent decisions about how to lower the cost but keep enough of the functionality in, because I am into products that are good, well designed, nice looking, but at prices that the average person can afford," he said. Still, Wozniak believes the quality of Apple's product makes it worth the high price tag. "In life I don't believe in quantity as much as I do in quality. So you may not have the hugest share in the market or be the No 1, but you should have the best product you can possibly build and Apple qualifies for that," Wozniak, told reporters after he discussed artificial intelligence with Liu Zihong, chairman and chied executive of Royole, in a technology forum held at Tianan Cyber Park in Dongguan, Guangdong province, on Tuesday. Unlike Chinese smartphone brands that prioritise cost-effectiveness, Apple's popular and more expensive iPhone handsets are still the leader in innovation in certain features despite being more of a "safe product," he said. "Apple products are safe. And Apple's pricing is high in the extreme. It's a safe bet for a lot of people, and when you love Apple you are willing to pay for it," he said.
If you look at raw specs, yes. But we all know that it's not just about a checklist of features in the hardware and the OS.
It's the UI, the reliability of the device, the reputation of the vendor, the ecosystem that the device falls into. Are there any particular worthwhile features that trump everything else? All those elements factor into the overall "value" of a device. The question then becomes, HOW valuable is that to a given person?
For me for example, I wanted *solid* bluetooth performance. I've had such dismal experience with bluetooth that I had effectively dismissed the entire technology as over-hyped garbage. I had zero plans on purchasing an iPhone 7... until I discovered that it had Bluetooth Power Class 1, which AFAIK no other mobile device on the entire market can do. So I took a chance and bought one (128GB storage), along with a BeatsX headphones. They were stupidly expensive. Ended up dropping ~$1400 on the whole shebang. And you know what? I don't regret it at all. I have had exceptionally flawless performance. I had exactly one drop out, and that was when I passed an electrical room that puts out so much EM that there is literally no hope for *any* wireless anything to function. The phone itself performs more or less as expected. (iTunes, of course, is still just as much shit as it ever was... but I only needed it long enough to be able to do my initial sync of music and configure non-cloud wifi backups.)
I personally have a very low tolerance for bullshit, especially when it comes to technology when something is supposed to "just work", and I have no qualms about paying a premium for a device that doesn't give me grief.... because that is extremely valuable to me. The entire Android ecosystem fell well below my expectations and requirements. Other people have different requirements, and that's fine.
Incidentally, the last 2 or so releases of Android have dramatically improved (especially in terms of power management), and if I was starting from scratch, I would probably give it another try. However, I've purchased enough iOS apps that I'm now effectively commited to the platform, and it's just not worth it for me to migrate.
Tangentially, I *almost* gave up on Mac because Apple's handling of their hardware HAS been that grievous. But then Microsoft said "hold my beer" and released Windows 10, so now it's become not a question of "which one is better", but "which one hurts less".