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No it isn't free, I have to pay to use it. If they gave me the phone and didn't charge me, NOW IT'S FREE!!!
I was going to let this go, but I am NOT wrong. You may not agree with me, as I don't agree with you, but you aren't wrong so why am I? OBTW this has NOTHING to do with AT&T and what you pay or they charge. It's purely and solely about how one defines free.
This is why you get on the wrong side of folks. Just like you are now on mine.

“Service” and “hardware” are two different things. When you figure that out let me know.
 
How about if I say ‘you’ve won’?

The semantics regarding the use of my statements ‘identical’ and ‘pretty identical’ were flawed because what I really meant was the user experience is similar beyond unlocking the phone and using gestures.

You can punch the air, kick back with a beer and be safe in the knowledge you are champion of the Internet. Someone conceding on an Internet forum due to patience being exhausted? You don’t see that very often. Enjoy, you’ve earned it.

??? That exchange wasn't about winning anything - in a discussion, it really helps when you actually say what you mean. Especially online when you only have words and no intonation or nonverbal communication. Nothing at all to do about winning, just clarifying what is actually being said so there is no misunderstanding.

And going from the 7 (and I can imagine 8 as well) to the X where it simply is not identical. And the same in reverse, I now find myself swiping up on my wife's phone. Or left/right at the bottom to switch applications. I'm wondering where the portrait modes are when using the camera. And even, as the internet is **** down under, where to toggle settings and notifications. Other than the grid layout there is actually a lot of variation in using it.
 
I’ve never known a brand that attracts so much fierce defence. It’s almost like a religion on here where people who like me buy iPhones and other Apple products but get an immense pleasure knowing Apple are making billions. If supermarkets put prices up consumers get annoyed and shop elsewhere for deals, but I never hear people taking delight in paying more and defending them as multi billion pound businesses.

Ikea are currently being investigated for tax avoidance, totally legal as I’ve said here many times despite this being explained to me above. However when certain companies do it there is uproar. When Amazon and Starbucks did it they got a hard time. When companies took out insurance policies on employees and profited from their deaths, they got a hard time over it. I really haven’t got to understand why a company who makes pretty damn good products gets a free pass however. Unless you are a major shareholder I don’t see why it’s of any interest to take delight in shady legal methods and their profits.

The loser is the party that feels the effect of a segment being turned off their goods.

The thing is I’m not defending them I’m just pointing out the holes in your posts.
Firstly it was a 1 to 1 exchange rate, not true.
Secondly you have made claims about tax, I haven’t defended the practice.
Thirdly you said Apple lose out if YOU stop buying due to price increase, again not true if they increase prices yet still sell like hot cakes.
 
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I did that too. When my doorman asked me if the rumor he heard was true and that I really spent $7,000 to get my wife and kids and I iPhone X’s for Christmas I said “oh, they’re terrible”.
So in the past 7 weeks I have purchased 4 iPhone X's 256GB Space Grey:

Mine: $1450 via Craigslist to avoid the one month wait at launch.
Wife: $1250 when the AT&T version I preordered on launch night finally arrived.
Son: $699 by calling AT&T loyalty department.
Son: $699 by calling AT&T loyalty department.

So, Jim, which of these two is right? :D (Just pulling your chain a little. Happy New Year! :))
 
Every person I know that has an X says it’s terrible.

Regardless of how many people you actually "Know", it's not an accurate representation of the overall success of the iPhone X. It's also fair to speculate the majority of iPhone X owners are likely pleased with their purchase knowingly the overall satisfaction of the iPhone in general. To me, terrible sounds like an over exaggerated experience, versus saying something that somebody might be displeased with instead.
 
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Flip phones? They used no data.

Good lord, enough already. Here is what has gone on in the US in the past 10 years:

Free iPhone - costs $0. No increase in monthly service/equipment fee paid to the carrier. The carrier gives a subsidy and gives the iPhone away to gain subscribers. Was very popular during the high growth period 2009-2014. My young son's and daughter's iPhone 4 and 5C were handed to me for nothing, just a plastic bag and a 'thank you'.

Upgraded iPhone - costs $99. No increase in monthly service/equipment fee paid to the carrier. The carrier subsidizes a large discount on the larger capacity iPhone away to gain subscribers. Was very popular during the high growth period 2009-2014. My wife and I got 3 or 4 of these as we needed the space whereas our kids didn't.

Today's iPhone (paid) - costs full price, $349 to $1250. Put the full price on a credit card, the phone is yours, no impact to monthly bill. Major change to the finances, no more subsidies, customers take the hit, started in 2016 and now the industry standard.

Today's iPhone (leased) - costs full price, $349 to $1250. Instead of paying in full, agree to a monthly installment program where the full price is divided by the length of the agreement (usually 24 or 30 months). Major change to the finances, no more subsidies, customers take the hit, started in 2016 and now the industry standard.

That's what's been going on in the US.

So when someone says that the carriers used to subsidize the purchase price of the iPhone, they mean it. That hardware was free. Those carriers in those early years wanted our business. And when someone says "yeah, but you were you were always paying for it" they are either too young to remember it or lousy negotiators.

And what's going on today with leasing is confusing people as well. Of course, they are "paying for it in their monthly bill" because they didn't buy it outright at the time of purchase. That ad posted earlier in the day, they claim it's a free iPhone but it isn't. Years ago, it actually was.

The big difference is the cost of the phone was 'baked' into the service fee. You paid a $40 (I believe) smartphone access fee for the life of the device....even if you kept it beyond when the contract was up. If you kept an old iPhone for over 2 years, you were essentially paying that baked in equipment fee even though the device was paid off.

When they removed subsidies, it made it a lot more transparent. If your device is paid off or you BYOD, your service fee is a lot lower than it used to be. The hardware cost is a clear line item component and you know exactly how much you owe.

For a carrier the profit is in the service, not the hardware. That's why current BOGO offers like AT&T has with the iPhone 8 are tied to DirecTV subs and adding a line. The extra service fees is where they will make their money.
 
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The big difference is the cost of the phone was 'baked' into the service fee. You paid a $40 (I believe) smartphone access fee for the life of the device....even if you kept it beyond when the contract was up. If you kept an old iPhone for over 2 years, you were essentially paying that baked in equipment fee even though the device was paid off.

When they removed subsidies, it made it a lot more transparent. If your device is paid off or you BYOD, your service fee is a lot lower than it used to be. The hardware cost is a clear line item component and you know exactly how much you owe.

For a carrier the profit is in the service, not the hardware. That's why current BOGO offers like AT&T has with the iPhone 8 are tied to DirecTV subs and adding a line. The extra service fees is where they will make their money.

I am currently in the Unlimited Plus plan. I do not have DirecTV nor do I want DirecTV. I could get, right now, a free $0 iPhone 8 if I open a new line as part of the purchase I made within the last 30 days on my son's iPhone X.

Adding a line to my Unlimited Plus plan will cost me $20 a month or $480 for the duration of the 2 year contract on the free $0 iPhone 8.

The free iPhone 8 has a $699 retail. At the typical 20% profit margin in the category, it means it costs AT&T $559 to buy the iPhone 8 from Apple.

$599 cost. $480 revenue from the incremental line. That is a loss of $119 for AT&T in this transaction. Oh, and that doesn't take into account the cost of the actual service for phone, text, and gobs of data. What do you think? You think that the cost to AT&T in that $20 a month is $10? $15? Pick a number, makes the loss over $150 for AT&T all-in. Oh, forgot to mention. I purchased 2 iPhone X's in the last 30 days, I could get two of these free iPhone 8's bringing the loss to over $300 for AT&T all-in.

It's fun talking in generalities, isn't it? Let's see you talk in math. In the real world. Carriers give iPhone's away to obtain and retain customers. That's a fact. Just because it wasn't offered to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
 
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I am currently in the Unlimited Plus plan. I do not have DirecTV nor do I want DirecTV. I could get, right now, a free $0 iPhone 8 if I open a new line as part of the purchase I made within the last 30 days on my son's iPhone X.

Adding a line to my Unlimited Plus plan will cost me $20 a month or $240 for the duration of the 2 year contract on the free $0 iPhone 8.

The free iPhone 8 has a $699 retail. At the typical 20% profit margin in the category, it means it costs AT&T $559 to buy the iPhone 8 from Apple.

$599 cost. $240 revenue from the incremental line. That is a loss of $359 for AT&T in this transaction. Oh, and that doesn't take into account the cost of the actual service for phone, text, and gobs of data. What do you think? You think that the cost to AT&T in that $20 a month is $10? $15? Pick a number, makes the loss over $400 for AT&T all-in. Oh, forgot to mention. I purchased 2 iPhone X's in the last 30 days, I could get two of these free iPhone 8's bringing the loss to over $800 for AT&T all-in.

It's fun talking in generalities, isn't it? Let's see you talk in math. In the real world. Carriers give iPhone's away to obtain and retain customers. That's a fact. Just because it wasn't offered to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
Technically, that $20/mo is $480 over the duration of the 2 years. Mind, as an Unlimited Plus subscriber, you likely also have a pretty expensive plan to begin with.

I'm paying ~$160/mo for 4 lines or ~$40/line on a shared 20GB plan inclusive of taxes and fees. Typically have 5GB or so carryover data every month.
 
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Technically, that $20/mo is $480 over the duration of the 2 years. Mind, as an Unlimited Plus subscriber, you likely also have a pretty expensive plan to begin with.

I'm paying ~$160/mo for 4 lines or ~$40/line on a shared 20GB plan inclusive of taxes and fees. Typically have 5GB or so carryover data every month.

Corrected the original post, thanks.

Unlimited Plus plan is $145 for 2 lines. I have 4 more lines at $20 each. Grand total is $225 per month for unlimited text, voice, and data for 5 iPhones plus 1 iPad or an average of $38 per device.

The iPad was subsidized as it is a cellular version. My daughter's iPhone 6 was subsidized too. My wife and I paid full price for the X's but the 2 I got for my son's were only $699 each.

So if you look at one of my son's math, looks like this:

$1250 - $699 = $551 discount. At 20% markup that discount cost ATT $441.

For the 2 year contract, the $38 per device is $912. $912 - $441 = $471.

$471 over 24 months = $19.62 per month that AT&T is ahead in this transaction. So now you have to look at the cost to ATT for the service itself. The consumer cost of each line is $38. And the price adding of a line is $20. So unless it costs significantly less than $19.62 to give my son hundreds of talk minutes, thousands of texts, and 28 GB of data, they are working short or getting hurt in this transaction.
 
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Corrected the original post, thanks.

Unlimited Plus plan is $145 for 2 lines. I have 4 more lines at $20 each. Grand total is $225 per month for unlimited text, voice, and data for 5 iPhones plus 1 iPad or an average of $38 per device.

The iPad was subsidized as it is a cellular version. My daughter's iPhone 6 was subsidized too. My wife and I paid full price for the X's but the 2 I got for my son's were only $699 each.

So if you look at one of my son's math, looks like this:

$1250 - $699 = $551 discount. At 20% markup that discount cost ATT $441.

For the 2 year contract, the $38 per device is $912. $912 - $441 = $471.

$471 over 24 months = $19.62 per month that AT&T is ahead in this transaction. So now you have to look at the cost to ATT for the service itself. The consumer cost of each line is $38. And the price adding of a line is $20. So unless it costs significantly less than $19.62 to give my son hundreds of talk minutes, thousands of texts, and 28 GB of data, they are working short or getting hurt in this transaction.
The thing is the network is already there. They're actually renting them to MVNOs wholesale. If MVNOs are able to offer similar at $30-35 per line, at your spend level, you can be sure you're a fairly valuable customer to AT&T. You're focusing on the additional line cost when really, to AT&T, you're $5,400 every two years in revenue and yes, they wouldn't want to lose you to Verizon or Sprint or T-Mobile.
 
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I am currently in the Unlimited Plus plan. I do not have DirecTV nor do I want DirecTV. I could get, right now, a free $0 iPhone 8 if I open a new line as part of the purchase I made within the last 30 days on my son's iPhone X.

Adding a line to my Unlimited Plus plan will cost me $20 a month or $480 for the duration of the 2 year contract on the free $0 iPhone 8.

The free iPhone 8 has a $699 retail. At the typical 20% profit margin in the category, it means it costs AT&T $559 to buy the iPhone 8 from Apple.

$599 cost. $480 revenue from the incremental line. That is a loss of $119 for AT&T in this transaction. Oh, and that doesn't take into account the cost of the actual service for phone, text, and gobs of data. What do you think? You think that the cost to AT&T in that $20 a month is $10? $15? Pick a number, makes the loss over $150 for AT&T all-in. Oh, forgot to mention. I purchased 2 iPhone X's in the last 30 days, I could get two of these free iPhone 8's bringing the loss to over $300 for AT&T all-in.

It's fun talking in generalities, isn't it? Let's see you talk in math. In the real world. Carriers give iPhone's away to obtain and retain customers. That's a fact. Just because it wasn't offered to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

That $119 is peanuts compared to the profit they will make over that time for your service and potential adhesion of a future AT&T customer on your line or future lines. In fact, that $20 service fee for the extra line will likely cover that amount within the first year.

The AT&T BOGO requires a 30-month commitment so they can collect $600 of revenue and you have to pay the difference if you try to upgrade early.

You mention the actual cost for phone/service and text like it actually costs AT&T an extra $20 (or more) to add an extra line. Like I said, they make a profit from the providing the service...especially on family lines where the amount of extra data/voice/sales used is incremental and the have the ability to not have additional administrative costs for separate lines.
 
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The thing is the network is already there. They're actually renting them to MVNOs wholesale. If MVNOs are able to offer similar at $30-35 per line, at your spend level, you can be sure you're a fairly valuable customer to AT&T. You're focusing on the additional line cost when really, to AT&T, you're $5,400 every two years in revenue and yes, they wouldn't want to lose you to Verizon or Sprint or T-Mobile.

I'm very happy paying $225 a month for unlimited everything on 6 lines. Before the new UDP's I was paying $35 a month (now $20) for my kids and that included 2GB of data (now unlimited) and they were always going way over the limit to the tune of $50 or $70 a month (now $0) so it's a win all around.

The big change compared to years past is the lack of heavily subsidized hardware. For my wife and I, we'd always get the highest capacity new iPhone for $199 and for the kids they'd get the one that was $0. So when AT&T offered me 2 iPhone X 256GB for $699 each it was greatly appreciated, a bit of a throwback to the old days.

The 4 iPhone X's now in the family will last us more than the usual 2 years, I can't see Apple doing much to advance the genre from here. Edge-to-edge display, wireless charging, OLED, facial recognition, stereo speakers, great camera, I think we're at the end of the line as far as true innovation.
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That $119 is peanuts compared to the profit they will make over that time for your service and potential adhesion of a future AT&T customer on your line or future lines. In fact, that $20 service fee for the extra line will likely cover that amount within the first year.

The AT&T BOGO requires a 30-month commitment so they can collect $600 of revenue and you have to pay the difference if you try to upgrade early.

You mention the actual cost for phone/service and text like it actually costs AT&T an extra $20 (or more) to add an extra line. Like I said, they make a profit from the providing the service...especially on family lines where the amount of extra data/voice/sales used is incremental and the have the ability to not have additional administrative costs for separate lines.

AT&T is entitled to make a profit. I have no idea why people think it's not. Point is they will make less profit on my family because of the subsidized iPhone X's they just offered us and I pay less money because of the discounted equipment. Just like the old days when subsidies ran rampant and the carriers were bleeding millions of dollars as a result.

I was not offered the standard BOGO. I went through their Loyalty division, I was offered the 2 discounted iPhone X's for the good ol' 2 year contract, it's 24 months not 30 months.

If I used one of my old paid-off iPhones on the exact same plan as I did the new equipment, it would have cost me the same thing each month. The equipment is the variable, not the service.

This whole tangent of the thread was based on the fact that some refused to believe that US carriers actually gave away equipment. They actually did. And today, while not free, the discount AT&T ate to retain my business on the X's was a greater discount in dollars than the free iPhone 5C they gave me a few years back.
 
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I'm very happy paying $225 a month for unlimited everything on 6 lines. Before the new UDP's I was paying $35 a month (now $20) for my kids and that included 2GB of data (now unlimited) and they were always going way over the limit to the tune of $50 or $70 a month (now $0) so it's a win all around.

The big change compared to years past is the lack of heavily subsidized hardware. For my wife and I, we'd always get the highest capacity new iPhone for $199 and for the kids they'd get the one that was $0. So when AT&T offered me 2 iPhone X 256GB for $699 each it was greatly appreciated, a bit of a throwback to the old days.

The 4 iPhone X's now in the family will last us more than the usual 2 years, I can't see Apple doing much to advance the genre from here. Edge-to-edge display, wireless charging, OLED, facial recognition, stereo speakers, great camera, I think we're at the end of the line as far as true innovation.
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AT&T is entitled to make a profit. I have no idea why people think it's not. Point is they will make less profit on my family because of the subsidized iPhone X's they just offered us and I pay less money because of the discounted equipment. Just like the old days when subsidies ran rampant and the carriers were bleeding millions of dollars as a result.

I was not offered the standard BOGO. I went through their Loyalty division, I was offered the 2 discounted iPhone X's for the good ol' 2 year contract, it's 24 months not 30 months.

If I used one of my old paid-off iPhones on the exact same plan as I did the new equipment, it would have cost me the same thing each month. The equipment is the variable, not the service.

This whole tangent of the thread was based on the fact that some refused to believe that US carriers actually gave away equipment. They actually did. And today, while not free, the discount AT&T ate to retain my business on the X's was a greater discount in dollars than the free iPhone 5C they gave me a few years back.

I have no issue with AT&T making a profit and didn't imply that I did. They are in business to make money. I'm probably more accepting than a lot of posters who will blindly defend Apple's insane profit margin, yet start a jihad against carriers if they raise their rates $5.
 
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I have no issue with AT&T making a profit and didn't imply that I did. They are in business to make money. I'm probably more accepting than a lot of posters who will blindly defend Apple's insane profit margin, yet start a jihad against carriers if they raise their rates $5.

Good post.

For me, simply put, my 2 sons each have 256GB iPhone X's, they were discounted $551 each, and at $20 a month for my having them on my Unlimited Plus plan, that $551 savings equals 27 months of free AT&T service for each of them.

That's the beauty of subsidies and it's the reason they were shut off a few years ago and offered now to only the most loyal AT&T customers.
 
Good post.

For me, simply put, my 2 sons each have 256GB iPhone X's, they were discounted $551 each, and at $20 a month for my having them on my Unlimited Plus plan, that $551 savings equals 27 months of free AT&T service for each of them.

That's the beauty of subsidies and it's the reason they were shut off a few years ago and offered now to only the most loyal AT&T customers.

Though I have to laugh about it. Between 6 phone lines and 2 iPads on Unlimited Everything and DirecTV, I think I pay A&T more per month than I did for my first mortgage!
 
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my department is comprised of 11 people, 9 of which have iPhones, and 4 have already upgraded to the X....

your statistics are heavily flawed
No its not. At my job which us 40+ nobody has the X. About a quarter have an iPhone, another quarter has flip phones and half have Android.
 
The iPhone X is a beautiful phone and if it was available when I upgraded in September I would of considered it. It's a nice phone but not enough to sell my note 8 and go for a X
 
There's only 7 billion people in the world? You don't understand polls if you're saying this first off Lmao

Actually, it appears you don't understand. First, @g.t. rags is Actually making a relevant comparison. In general, you can't compare 40 people to the world around in the sense where we physically see the iPhone X because the demographic of your workplace. There are too many variables that you're not factoring.

Also, when G.t. Rags Estimated that there are 7 billion in the world, that claim was actually somewhat accurate based off Wikipedias estimate, but nonetheless, it was a fair guess in the number they stated.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth
 
Actually, it appears you don't understand. First, @g.t. rags is Actually making a relevant comparison. In general, you can't compare 40 people to the world around in the sense where we physically see the iPhone X because the demographic of your workplace. There are too many variables that you're not factoring.

Also, when G.t. Rags Estimated that there are 7 billion in the world, that claim was actually somewhat accurate based off Wikipedias estimate, but nonetheless, it was a fair guess in the number they stated.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth
First polling it and then extrapolating it is a fairly decent way to do polling. Obviously it varies but also to go with thr 40+ people in my job plus the thousands I see at my job I would still say only 20% to 30% of all iPhones are an iPhone X. And to just use another data point. People from various sites have stated it could very well be sold out into 2018. You could find them since mid December and sales from various sites have now said sales have been low.

It's not a bad phone. If it came out in September I probably would have one now but Meh.


Secondly you should never use Wikipedia as a source.
 
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It's price in my environment. Only people that like having new tech are buying these phones. People just hold their own phone next to it and say; Nah, not good enough compared to what I have.

Which is absolutely true when spending so much money.

That said, people around me now like FACE ID more than touch id from what they've seen. It being winter also helps a lot since I can just use normal gloves + siri for everything.
 
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