View Single Post
Eugene
careful with axes
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
 
2016-05-09, 17:48

Quote:
Originally Posted by pscates2.0 View Post
Well I do, because it could've all happened from the get-go and there would've been nothing for people to squawk and write Apple about, these past 18 months. They had a proven winner in the 4" size (gazillions of 5, 5s and 5c models out there). And yes, just because some were on the two-year cycle that doesn't mean a) everyone has one, or b) an A8 or A9-equipped 4" model in 2014 or 2015 wouldn't have sold in huge numbers (people like me, coming off a 2012 iPhone 5, etc.).

If it was some master "plan" that all went perfectly, it seems they sure took the long, aggravating way around the bend to make it happen...go a year-and-a-half without a current-spec'd 4" model, then release one in mid-cycle in a three-and-a-half year old body design? It smacks of scrambling and "oh crap, we kinda misjudged all this", IMO.

I've seen fifth-grade talent shows better coordinated/staged.
Try to think about this logically (logistically) rather than whatever mode you are in right now. I'm not talking about 2-year contract cycles. I'm talking about Apple's planned obsolescence. Premium -> budget -> discontinuation.

1a) How easy do you think it was for Apple to obtain A8s for the original iPhone 6 and 6 Plus?
1b) How do you think a third set of SKUs would have affected supply and inventory in stores?
2) Until the die shrink to 14/16nm FinFET, what do you think battery life would have been like on a 4" phone?
3a) What would the pricing structure have been like?
3b) Would you have Apple shutdown the iPhone 5S production line prematurely and lose the profits that go with it? Having to make four different PCBs and four different enclosures seems terrible.

Also you could have bought an iPhone 5S in 2014 and an iPhone SE in 2016. It's pretty much your own fault for waiting so long. Especially now that contracts are disappearing. If you aren't selling a used phone within 1-2 years, you aren't getting money's worth.

The more I think about your situation, the more I realize how specific it is. You fall into a small subset of consumers who demanded a new 4" phone inside the window of 2015. The irony being you're the kind of user who holds onto their phones for three years, so you really don't need the latest, greatest hardware anyway.

Yep, you should have just bought an iPhone 5S 1.5 years ago and handed down your 5 to a relative or sold it while it still had good resale value.

Last edited by Eugene : 2016-05-09 at 22:23.
  quote