10 millions for Apple is basically pocket change and they already keep those fines in mind when doing their yearly business plan.
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Apple wouldn't lose any consumer trust among the iPhone user base if they showed in livestream that all iPhones are made by sacrificing a white newborn baby and capturing their blood in the LCD screen for better colour saturation. They are literally religious zealots.
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I saw a documentary last week where chinese factory workers for apple have to work 14 hours a day (people just fall asleep at work), superiors yelling at them. People that gather tin for the phones risk losing their lifes.
Apple still makes $240 profit per Phone.
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That sounds bit low when they sell $100 phones for $1000.
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apple
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Where did you get that number? Seriously curious, as $100 seems to barely cover components costs (many of which are custom made for apple).
Were the assembly, shipping, QA, firmware development, marketing, returns, warranty repairs, company overhead costs put into this price tag?
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Maybe these days they might cost even $200 to make, but for years they used to sell 5yo tech stolen from Nokia&co and just market it as something magical they just invented. Cost next to nothing to make and Appleboys were amazed about video calls only from WiFi to WiFi when other manufacturers had video calls over 3G for years already. First original tech they had was the antenna for iPhone 4 because a judge ruled they can't use stolen Nokia antenna tech any more and we know how well that worked.
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The cases were settled with like couple of EUR per phone in royalties (and a fine). Funny thing is, it's included in your bill of materials valuation of phone. But it's not the cost of a phone. Phone is a product sellable to customers. It needs warranty service, shops to sell it, firmware to make it do things it's advertised to do, and so on and so forth. Without that it's just paperweight. Fancy one, but paperweight.
To cut it short, price of hardware and assembly is far from being dominant part of a product cost. And 240$ profit from $1000 mass market product is quite a feat not many can pull off
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You can keep on thinking they are paying that much for their crap all you want, major part of the price is still the logo. Other manufacturers have all the same costs, yet they are somehow able to sell same tech for much cheaper and still make profit. They have just succeeded in forming a cult of believers who imagine the phones are magical so worth selling your kidneys for.
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Um, what does it have with yours initial statement that a) $240 profit per unit is low and b) phone cost is $100 or $200?
Also, no. Other manufactures don't have the same costs. Bill for Android development is footed by Google. This one thing outhweighs by order of magnituse some nokia licences. Part of smartphone as a product is it's OS, daily user expirience, quality of app store and not the least the status symbol. All of it costs money and effort to make it happen.
If you want to bash Apple, do so. There is plenty of valid reasons both on corporation and product designs level. A number pulled out of thin air is not one of them. It only makes you AntiAplleboy. A mirror reflection of Appleboy you pick on
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I remember when the Iphone 7 came out, a tech publication worked out that the cost of the components alone was around $240 per unit. That does not cover labor and utilities putting the phones together, shipping costs, R&D to develop the latest version, costs related to software, sales, marketing, licensing costs (Apple has to pay licensing for a lot of software and technology patents that they don't hold themselves)
I've read their SEC report, and their gross margin is 38% profit on their products, but then they spend 12% in R&D and marketing costs, and another 7% in taxes, so before paying for overhead/management their profit margin is around 18%
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Heh I was just about to type the same thing basically. The cult of Steve Jobs is strong.
They might lose some business with corporate clients though. My girlfriend once worked in a firm that swore only by Apple and would buy all their phones and laptops there for their co-workers. No more.
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Apple don't lose trust with this kind of stuff, not even when you actually show some evidences. They did a god damn fine job with marketing, no matter what they do, all their stuff will always have fans and sell well. They could even jack the price of the new ipad to 10k dollars and people would still buy it. A comically small fine from a shitty country is nothing to worry about for Apple fans.
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First thought that comes to mind is - Does that mean that Google and microsoft phones will have chance to show themselfs? If so, then google stock might bounce back after todays valuations.
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yeah, when I heard the news I wasn't that surprised =P
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Samsung told owners of its Galaxy Note 4 phone to install a new version of Google’s Android operating system intended for the more recent Galaxy Note 7, but which users claimed rendered the old model sluggish.
This isn't really surprising, newer operating systems tend to have higher system requirements.
What bothers me more is planned obsolescence through app iOS requirements. I had an app on an iPod that just played soothing music or white noise at night and worked fine for years, and suddenly it required a new version of iOS. But my iPod could not be upgraded to that new version of iOS, so I would have had to buy a new iPod just to continue using the simple app that I had been using without issue for years.
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i never have these issues. oh ya it's cause i hack my phones cause of shit like this. why people trust ANY company is beyond me. they would burn babies for profits and people expect them to be decent? most use child and slave labor and people think they won't rip off the consumer or cut corners? haha
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I rooted my previous Android phone so I could install apps like Tasker and Titanium Backup on it, but even that's been negated now. If I root my Samsung Galaxy S7, it'll trip Knox and I'll lose access to Samsung Pay that I use every week. They've figured out how to effectively kill the option to root our phones by disabling great features if we do.
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Side note:
Meanwhile, Verison is deliberately raising their prices.
Phone companies in general have just gotten greedy.
When things like electricity and cell towers became a thing, people were being promised that it would be free and accessible to everyone.
Now my electricity bill is my most expensive bill.
It makes me worry about the future of the internet. :/
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Well, it's true that it isn't vital to life, people have lived without it before (believe it or not), but it would drop our current quality of life drastically. The internet has become a great source for free information or entertainment, mostly and for now, and a lot of people have jobs that are based in or make use of the internet. Anything that restricts or makes it harder to access would most likely be detrimental to people and their lives as a whole.
There are also people who live without electricity, even now (again, believe it or not) but it has also increased quality of life. Street lights help discourage crimes at night and most advanced and/or useful medical devices require it (home oxygen machines, etc.).
It's not always about whether we can live without something or not, it's about maintaining and raising the quality of that life.
And I apologize if I've taken this discussion to a whole different subject matter, lol.
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Not really. Games made for 95 still work on 95.
They should fine Microsoft for releasing update that seriously broke stability of XP when they released Vista (or whatever was released then).
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I noticed them doing this since my Samsung Galaxy S2, back in 2011.
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Is there something wrong with me for not feeling a need to upgrade my phone since 2014? I bought a Samsung S5 on launch - have only used light weight custom roms. The battery still lasts 2 days (although did have to replace the battery last year). It's as fast as it ever was - perhaps because of the custom roms? Every year, I've been thinking about maybe I need the S6, S7, S8 or S9... but then I think - meh - I don't actually need a new phone. Perhaps people like me are the target of these software updates.
Anyone else feel the same way, or do you grab the latest just because you can?
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I got an old samsung that went from my dad to my mom, to me. I tried to play some music at work once, didn't work so great, haven't charged it since nor used it, and i am so so thankful i am not one of those youngsters that can't live without one 24/7.
It's useful if you need to make an emergency call but why the bloody hell you want to play games or type an email in such a small window when you got a desktop?
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Nope, I have a borrowed Samsung Note 3 and you will have to pry it out of my cold dead hands. It is running Android 7.1.2 with a custom ROM (LineageOS) and I have yet to find one single thing that doesn't work/lags on it. Battery lasts 2-3 days depending on use and it is even still using the original battery. On the sad say it will die I will go back to using a borrowed S3 which also still worked completely fine with a custom ROM 2 years ago. There is exactly 0 chance I will spend any money on a new phone in the next god knows how many years.
I seriously don't understand people who buy new phones every year.
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When that time comes it is gonna be a sad, sad day. But I don't think it is gonna happen any time soon, at least not for me and what I use the phone for. There would have to some impressive development in technology for that.
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Apple and Samsung suck... I say that as I'm using an iPhone as my phone and as my family uses a Samsung TV.
What they're doing is undoubtedly horrible and their marketshare needs to be lowered to all hell if they keep doing similar anti-consumer things. But damn if I'll keep these things in mind for the next time I need a new phone or something similar. I don't know what the long term solution is for companies like this.
People call them all sorts of different things without any real proof. Well, this is real proof and I hope they actually start using this instead of making other stuff up to mock Apple while using a Samsung device or vice versa. These phone wars have gotten so ridiculous and people that take part in them tend to be total idiots, flat out.
Hopefully the situation gets better over time or someone better takes their place in the market. As of now though, I'm not sure they will just now. Though they're losing power by becoming detached from their customer base with shoddy products and increased prices.
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that's so 2015.
the newest trick is to make any sort of repairs impossible. at least for customers and third parties so you can't get the thing repaired without paying as much as the whole fucking thing costs new.
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"Apple and Samsung are being fined €10m and €5m respectively in Italy for the “planned obsolescence” of their smartphones.
An investigation launched in January by the nation’s competition authority found that certain smartphone software updates had a negative effect on the performance of the devices.
Believed to be the first ruling of its kind against smartphone manufacturers, the investigation followed accusations operating system updates for older phones slowed them down, thereby encouraging the purchase of new phones.
In a statement the antitrust watchdog said “Apple and Samsung implemented dishonest commercial practices” and that operating system updates “caused serious malfunctions and significantly reduced performance, thus accelerating phones’ substitution”.
It added the two firms had not provided clients adequate information about the impact of the new software “or any means of restoring the original functionality of the products”.
Samsung told owners of its Galaxy Note 4 phone to install a new version of Google’s Android operating system intended for the more recent Galaxy Note 7, but which users claimed rendered the old model sluggish.
Likewise, Apple told iPhone 6 owners to install an operating system designed for the iPhone 7, leading to problems for owners of the older model.
Both firms were issued the maximum fine of €5m each and ordered to display a notice on their Italian websites informing customers of the watchdog’s decision.
Apple was fined an additional €5m for failing to give customers clear information about “essential” characteristics of lithium batteries, including their average life expectancy, how to maintain them or eventually replace them in the firm’s iPhones.
Apple acknowledged in December that it had intentionally slowed iPhones with degraded batteries through software updates to avoid sudden shutdown problems, but denied it had ever done anything to intentionally shorten the life of a product.
The company later apologised for its actions and reduced the cost of battery replacements. It also added battery health information to iOS and allowed users to turn off the slowing down of the iPhone’s processor.
The Italian antitrust authority opened its investigation following customer complaints around the same time as a similar probe in France, which has yet to conclude.
It is a crime under French law to intentionally shorten the life of any product in order to promote sales. The French consumer protection agency has the power to fine up to 5% of annual turnover or impose a jail term.
Apple also faced questions from the US senate in January over the slowing of iPhones, and a barrage of class-action lawsuits from around the country. More than 60 separate US lawsuits were ordered to be consolidated into a single suit in the Northern District of California, which is still ongoing.
Samsung’s software updates for its phones have not previously been questioned.
A Samsung spokesperson said the company was disappointed by the decision and intends to appeal the fine: “Samsung did not issue any software update that reduced the Galaxy Note 4’s performance. In contrast, Samsung has always released software updates enabling our customers to have the best experience possible.”
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment."
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/oct/24/apple-samsung-fined-for-slowing-down-phones
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