Crazy phone prices

This letter was written by Alan Ingram (Technical Director) and published by PC Pro magazine in their February 2018 edition (issue 280, p30).

What is it with phrases such as “against the iPhone X, suddenly the iPhone 8 seems quite reasonable” (see issue 278, p3)? The fact is, it isn’t reasonable and it’s £100 more than the last model.

It has a faster processor or a better camera, they will say, but the advancement of technology should provide those without increasing manufacturing costs. Dell charges much the same for a PC now as it did 10 years ago, when the £269 iPhone was born. And if Ford applied the same rate of inflation as Apple, a basic Mondeo with specs similar to the 2007 model would now cost £65,000.

I decided long ago that Apple isn’t for me, but the worst of this is that same mentality is allowing Google to make what would have been considered ‘evil’ pricing only a couple of years ago seem reasonable (the Pixel 2 is nearly £300 more than the last 5in Nexus).

Apple can do what it wants, and there will always be people queuing up to pay huge premiums for its product, but this isn’t what attracted us all to Android. So, isn’t it about time we started voting with our feet? If not, where is the addition of £100 for each new version going to stop?

Read the full PC Pro letter.