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The quality would have to be subpar at that price point and those margins. That would mean the perceived value would diminish—along with Apple’s allure and reputation.
Apple is a Premium Mobile Company, if Apple dropped to a $500-$600 price it would definitely not have a premium feel that you get with a XS. Apple dropped their price range last year to $750 for the iPhone XR and caused controversy, but overall is a good phone. So I understand both sides of this argument, I hope helped.
 
I still have regrets for getting rid of my 6s plus in favor of the X. That thing was bullet proof.
Yeah. My iPhone XS Max is from a dead iPhone 6s Plus (horrifying moment when it dropped in the toilet). I enjoyed using 6s plus for over three years and I would not upgrade to iPhone XS Max if it was not dead. It was dropped over and over without dying or screen cracking, especially it does not have a case on it. Slippery indeed but it still works.
To be honest, Apple gave me $500 AUD for a replacement unit offer but I was hesitant about it since the iPhone 6s Plus was in the end of iOS support. I then decided to get 2018 iPhone and moved on with no headphone jack and home button, both of which are ok for me.
 
Possibly, though for people looking in a ~£299 price range I doubt you're getting more than a year of Android support on the other side anyway? If the 6s is left behind on iOS 13 next year, it will still have a good few years App support. So maybe not a great option for someone who wants to buy and keep a long time, but certainly it would get most people through a 2 year contract period.
Some of the pixels are right around there on sale that I expect to see a few years of support still. But I hear you. Most folks don't really seem.to know about them.
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Apple is a Premium Mobile Company, if Apple dropped to a $500-$600 price it would definitely not have a premium feel that you get with a XS. Apple dropped their price range last year to $750 for the iPhone XR and caused controversy, but overall is a good phone. So I understand both sides of this argument, I hope helped.
Apple iPhones were premium at $650 for longer than they weren't. I don't know that I buy this idea that they would not longer be premium. But they certainly it were the first to hike prices as drastically as they did. And the rest of the premium devices.from other manufacturers followed.

To be fair, production costs have increased at the same pace as well.
 
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Apple is a Premium Mobile Company, if Apple dropped to a $500-$600 price it would definitely not have a premium feel that you get with a XS. Apple dropped their price range last year to $750 for the iPhone XR and caused controversy, but overall is a good phone. So I understand both sides of this argument, I hope helped.

Controversy? What controversy did the XR cause? They’re charging the same price what they did for the iPhone 8 when it launched in 2017. As a matter fact, the XR is $250 under the XS, and almost offers identical features with the exception of 3D Touch/aesthetics/dual camera.
 
I agree 100%. I can thankfully afford a new iPhone, but many people can’t and are stuck with Android due to the price. Apple could make a stripped down $499 iPhone and sell them like crazy I feel. Everyone should get a chance to own a new iPhone, even if it’s a budget device.
you know how much money apple would actually lose if it sold a new phone for 500$ with a few stripped features? Less xr's sold. Less x line. Im pretty sure apple thought about the pros and cons of selling more 500$ phones and selling less 750 and 1000$ phones. That is why apple has the lined it has. They know how to maximize profit or else they would be doing it.
 
Look I want to drive a Ferrari as my daily driver but if I can't afford it maybe I should consider that I'm not in a place financially to have one and reconsider my actual options.
 
We can't say this for certain since Apple has been chasing low-budget customers lately (iPhone 5c, SE, XR, the new iPads and the iPod touch).
I wouldn't call that chasing.

Sure, here and there they have marketed a budget device and have even devoted some marketing dollars to it. But the 5c and the SE are no longer being made and there is no obvious line of succession between.

We can point to the iPhone XS and say, that's the successor to the X, which was the successor to the 8, the 7, the 6 and so on. But was the SE the successor to the 5c? Is the XR the successor to the SE? How can it be if Apple made both phones at the same time?

No, there is no specific budget line so Apple's focus is on the flagship with a lower budget model every once and a while.

I wouldn't call that chasing, but more offering a bone - or filling in a price point every once in a while.
 
If they released an iPhone absolutely identical to the SE with 3 GBs of RAM and an A12 for $399, maybe $499, I would buy one when my current one doesn’t get the latest updates.

Hell, I’d take a current iPhone SE over the high end Pixels any day of the week. I’m not an Apple fanboy at all, but iOS is just leaps and bounds better than Android ever will be.
 
Apple is a Premium Mobile Company, if Apple dropped to a $500-$600 price it would definitely not have a premium feel that you get with a XS. Apple dropped their price range last year to $750 for the iPhone XR and caused controversy, but overall is a good phone. So I understand both sides of this argument, I hope helped.
Its just a matter of perspective. BMW sells the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 series in a price range from 28.000 - 178.000€ without losing the premium feel when u sit in the higher series;)
 
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Well first its not sold by Apple and second its not a budget phone its just old bread.
Sent from my 6s:)
Well, Eplehuset ("The Apple House") is the closest we get to a physical Apple Store here in Norway, a premium reseller/service provider.

And, most budget phones are based on old-ish tech...because it's cheaper.
 
We can't say this for certain since Apple has been chasing low-budget customers lately (iPhone 5c, SE, XR, the new iPads and the iPod touch).

I definitely don’t think you should be placing the XR as a ‘low-budget’ phone in comparison to the SE, you’re talking at $350 price point difference between those phones. If anything, the iPhone XR would be slated to be one of the more expensive iPhones in Apples line up, considering what it has to offer next to the XS.
 
The title of the thread is complete wrong. Apple does not need a budget phone - you and many of us need a budget phone. Not the same thing.

Apple is swimming in profits and makes the by far the highest profit per phone in the industry. They need a cheap phone like they need a hole in their head...

The average person on the other hand is not raking it in like Apple and yes we need this. Good luck if you think Apple will do it.
 
There are plenty of older iPhones which can be had for cheap out there now...even 6 and 6s would well still can be had for lower than 400 for example. For many that’s the route to go down...
 
I have a Max and I'm seeing that the fall lineup will be underwhelming with no reason to upgrade....which I typically do every year. When you price a phone as high as this, you better have some compelling reasons for the customer to upgrade. Especially when it is clear to everyone that your margins are through the roof and you business motto is 'if we build it they will come.' That's the trap Apple has set for itself. If I had Apple stock I think I'd sell right around now.
 
Android is just better at retaining a smooth experience on budget and older processors. And this is with barley any loss of software features.

Most recent budget or older flagship Android phones, run smoothly with the latest Android version. Obviously app/tasks that require more power are going to be noticeable slower vs than on a recent flagship.

But overall, the experience on Android is just as smooth on budget, midrange, and Flagship phones. With a few exceptions of course, some phones are just garbage no matter what.

IMO, Apple simply can't do this without iOS running sluggish. Even my SE and 7+ starts to show noticeable signs of slowing down from every angle. And that's also dealing with the fact that many software features will never be experienced on older iPhones.

Apple making a budget phone. They are certainly not going to go with the A11, or add more than 2gb ram. And the A10 is where I start to see some sluggishness. A "true" budget iPhone will not have many of the most wanted software and hardware features that has been implemented in the last two to three years. Then the build of it would be plastic, like the new iPod Touch.

I'm not saying iOS couldn't be usable. Even the iP6 can still be used without much issues. But I'm not paying $500 for an brand new iPhone with a shorter lifespan, and to miss out of so many relevant iOS software features.
 
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Yeah, was thinking just the same. It’s like saying Mercedes needs a budget car to compete with Toyota. They could just have decided that they are not interested in customers below a certain monetary threshold, and leave budget phones to other manufacturers.

Was going to type something similar. This is all there is to it and has been for as long as I can remember. Not just the iPhones, but the rest of their products as well.

It’s a decision that businesses make, usually at inception.

What profits and margins are we targeting?
What is our target market?
What does our customer look like?

Apple has chosen where they want to be and they reached $1T without catering to every single budget.

Maybe one day they will spinoff a separate company that offers products targeting lower price points, but I don’t see it happening under the Apple brand.
 
Apple absolutely need to do this in my view. They need a phone that hints that midrange price point. If they want to be drawing people into their services entry point must become a factor.

I was a long time iPhone user but switched out when I saw the notch on the x and got an s8 instead. All this nonsense about how bad android is, it is nonsense, having used both android is as good as and as stable as iOS. I have never in the 2 years I have used android seen either the phone or any app crash.

So we can let go of that myth and deal with the issue at hand - value. If Apple want to continue to have a large user base to generate profit from services they need to recognise that many are not chasing flagships now. The midrange section has amazing value. In fact I changed to a galaxy a50, cost me £270 with cashback counted and it is a really good phone. Only slight disappointment is the camera but with a super led screen, 4000 battery I’m quite happy with it.
 
Apple making a budget phone. They are certainly not going to go with the A11, or add more than 2gb ram.

You’d be wrong here. Apple already made a ‘budget phone’ with the SE that shared the _exact_ same internal specifications as the latest iPhone 6s (A9/2GB), even though they launched six months apart. I mean, look at the XR, shares the exact same processor as the XS, but yet is $250 cheaper.
 
I played with my friends new $480 Pixel 3a XL today and it’s crazy how much phone you get for $500 and change after taxes. This is a brand new, midrange phone with pretty decent specs. The most important things from the more expensive 3 XL are there: stock android, rear camera and google support. It loses a front camera, some processor speed, lower resolution screen and a few other things. But it actually gains better battery life (bigger size) and a headphone jack. The 3a is even cheaper, and still solid.

If you have $500 to buy a phone, Apple has nothing for you except for a phone several years old and refurbished.

If they want to charge $1600 for the next Max, that’s ok with me. They are missing out on people who want midrange phones at affordable prices. $500 is as much as a lot of people will spend for a phone, and Apple has nothing new for them. If the se successor comes out, there’s no chance it’s $500. It’s hard to go into a store and pay $500 for a refurbished 7 or 8 when you see a phone like the Pixel 3a series.

Absolutely!

Apple iPhone shipments plunge 42% in India during Q1
While India is the second largest smartphone market in the world, its status as a developing country means that high priced flagship phones do not sell that well in that market. That is one of the reasons why, when Apple started manufacturing the iPhone in India back in 2017, it started with the low priced iPhone SE. The latter, which looks like the iPhone 5s and carries a 4-inch screen, was priced at the equivalent of $250 USD in India. Not only did producing the iPhone locally allow Apple to get in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" campaign, but it also helped Apple avoid a $100 import tax per unit that it would have had to pay otherwise.

Apple stopped production of the iPhone SE and has started manufacturing the iPhone 6s in India. Back in May, we showed you a local ad for the "Incredible" iPhone 6s priced at the equivalent of $393 USD. According to The Economic Times, Apple is making some changes to its iPhone production plans in India. This dovetails with reports we passed along last year that said Apple will start manufacturing some of its higher priced models in India. Contract manufacturer Foxconn, whose Indian facilities are used to assemble the iPhone, has started rolling the iPhone XR off its Indian assembly line on a trial basis. By the end of this year, Apple could start producing 250,000 higher-end models each month in India, exporting 70% to 80% of this production to other countries. The more iPhone production it can move out of China, the less likely Apple's most important product will be hurt by import taxes and tariffs in the states. One person familiar with Apple's plans says, "Commercial production of iPhone XR and the models above that should begin by the year-end at Foxconn (in India) and exports will be part of the plan from day one."

Meanwhile, shipments of the iPhone in India during the first quarter declined a whopping 42% to 220,000 units. Apple did see a rebound in April as price cuts and special deals helped deliveries soar to 200,000 units for that month, nearly the same amount it took the company a whole quarter to ring up at the beginning of this year. But in April and May, Indians turned to the new OnePlus 7 models offering premium specs at a competitive price. Counterpoint Research expects Apple to ship 1.5 million to 1.6 million handsets in India this year; that would be a 10% to 17% decline from the 1.8 million it sold last year and as much as a 53% decline from the 3.2 million iPhones it shipped in India during 2017. Neil Shah, research director at Hong Kong-based Counterpoint says, "Apple had a disappointing run in 2018 and the outlook for 2019 looks weaker, with shipments having fallen further compared to last year, with the exception of April, thanks to price correction that month."
https://www.phonearena.com/news/iPh...42-in-India-during-the-first-quarter_id117313
 
You’d be wrong here. Apple already made a ‘budget phone’ with the SE that shared the _exact_ same internal specifications as the latest iPhone 6s (A9/2GB), even though they launched six months apart. I mean, look at the XR, shares the exact same processor as the XS, but yet is $250 cheaper.

The SE was meant for those that want smaller displays. It was an alternative, based on size. I doubt that's what the OP had in mind. And there's also plenty of budget Android phones that can match a similar display size to flagships.

The XR is not a "true" budget phone because it's $250 cheaper ..... but still starts at $750.

A "true" budget phone should be below $400. Midrange price would be around $400 - $700.
 
Wow. Apple is totally failing in India.

India is an untapped market for Apple and other tech manufacturers . Android devices is the primary Indian market range around $200-$300. iPhones have always been generally to expensive for their market as it is. I mean, even the SE was to expensive. I think Apple is more focused on China’s commerce, being it’s their second largest market. India’s commerce is important, but I think services is more crucial than hardware in various markets.
 
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