Bothering to upgrade the iPhone 12 over older models has proven to be worth its weight in gold for Apple

Apple is making bank in a pandemic – as millennials might say. The company last night reported doubles all round as demand for its latest blower ballooned, and customers locked indoors due to coronavirus countermeasures lapped up Macs and iPads. For the company's Q1 of fiscal 2021 ended 26 December – seasonally Apple's …

[Steve Davies 3]

Facebook does not like what is happening

wrt privacy and disclosure of tracking info so Zuck is filing an antitrust suit against Apple.

We shall have to wait and see who joins in. Epic is a slam dunk but I'll be waiting to see if Twitter etc joins in.

This is a direct attack on Apple's stance on user privacy. Zuck seems to want all slurping to be opt-out via a process as hard to follow as stopping Amazon Prime rather than opt-in.

time to get the popcorn supplies in.

[TRT]

Blower?

Does it have a fan in it then?

[Jan 0]

Re: Blower?

British slang dear boy.

[Irony Deficient]

Re: Blower?

It was used in Medioleftpondia as well, but it seems like it still thrives there. My parents’ generation (raised in Great Depression, fought in WWII) used it; my generation understood it, but only used it for humorous effect. Younger folks might have heard it used in the 1960s Star Trek episode where some planet had a culture based on 1920s Chicago.

[OldSod]

Re: Blower?

Star Trek - The Original Series - A Piece of the Action

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Piece_of_the_Action_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)

[Gene Cash]

Re: Blower?

No, but it's got a meatsack attached that blows hot air.

[TRT]

Re: Blower?

It has a fanboi attached.

[msknight]

So what's going to follow?

With more people holding on to their kit until it dies, it will be interesting to see what happens to Apple beyond the 12.

[Dave 126]

Re: So what's going to follow?

It's the sort of people who intend to look after one phone for several years that Apple is targeting with the 12 - they went some way to talk about the new Gorilla Glass on the new model.

[Oh Matron!]

Re: So what's going to follow?

So here's the thing: I traded in my iPhone 11 Pro to get the 12 Pro, directly with Apple, and got such a great price (£550), it works out the same as upgrading every TWO years

Difficult logic to follow, but I don't see how this is possible.

Obviously, this all falls apart if you upgrade every three years....

[werdsmith]

Re: So what's going to follow?

I have an 8 which I got for dirt cheap. It's perfectly good for my needs. If I find one day that it isn't then I will look for something else dirt cheap. But it will never be an Android phone, not wilfully anyway. I don't like Apple or their stuff much but it's far better than the alternative.

[ICL1900-G3]

Re: So what's going to follow?

Have you used the alternative? Just curious. I find it just works. It baffles me people get so excited about stuff like that.

[werdsmith]

Re: So what's going to follow?

I've had three attempts to get along with the alternative, when they've dropped a new version I sort of expect it to be better. But it always turns out to be the same awful low rent junk.

[Pascal Monett]

"The iPhone – Apple's hottest seller – brought in revenues of $65.597bn"

I will never understand how people can throw so much money at something that doesn't allow a simple, user-accessible battery replacement.

If I have to go to a store and talk to a so-called "genius" just to have the battery of my phone replaced, I am most definitely not buying such a phone.

I don't care how slim it is, or how round its corners are.

[Dave 126]

Re: "The iPhone – Apple's hottest seller – brought in revenues of $65.597bn"

> I will never understand how people can throw so much money at something that doesn't allow a simple, user-accessible battery replacement.

Because the people with money aren't too fussed by spending £50 every couple of years to have Apple replace the battery. With the work guaranteed, and in a nice part of town. Samsung is much the same.

What's hard to understand? For anyone who values their as more than £X/ h it's a sound economic decision, if you choose to use an economic lens to discuss how people spend their money.

[jezza99]

Re: "The iPhone – Apple's hottest seller – brought in revenues of $65.597bn"

It's pretty simple. A replaceable battery is more than twice the volume of a non-replaceable one, as it must have a hard plastic case in order to be safely handled by a non-technical customer.

People prefer smaller phones to replaceable batteries.

Apple worked this out years ago. As usual, everyone complained, but then the other vendors quietly started doing the same, to gain the same advantage. It doesn't cost all that much to get Apple to replace your battery, relative to the price of the phone.

The non-replaceable batteries also save all that hard plastic which would otherwise go to landfill.

[jezza99]

Re: "The iPhone – Apple's hottest seller – brought in revenues of $65.597bn"

The last smartphone I owned with a replaceable battery (a low end phone used for travel) had a woeful life. It couldn't even get through a morning without wanting the charger. I never even bothered trying to buy a replacement battery.

Even the last low end travel phone I bought had a non-replaceable battery. And could almost make it from morning to evening!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "The iPhone – Apple's hottest seller – brought in revenues of $65.597bn"

The last phone I had with a replaceable battery was my Lumia 950. I used to charge that once a week. This Android POS I have now, on the other hand, needs to be plugged in every other day.

[deadlockvictim]

Re: "The iPhone – Apple's hottest seller – brought in revenues of $65.597bn"

Let me give you my the example of my wife:

Her iPhone SE from the last decade was no longer in support (or so she believed). She bought an iPhone 11 as a replacement. It will last her until it is out of support later on this decade.

She got an iPhone because it is easy to control what and for long our (young) teenage children use their iPhones. She had tried parental controls on an Android phone which did not work at all.

Maybe she got the wrong app or maybe she configured it wrong but since the parental controls worked well and easily on the iPhone, and since she was familiar with the iPhone, it made sense for her to stick with the iPhone. Make it easy and agreeable for the customer.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "The iPhone – Apple's hottest seller – brought in revenues of $65.597bn"

"I will never understand how people can throw so much money at something that doesn't allow a simple, user-accessible battery replacement"

And I will never understand how people can still shit their pants about an issue that is quite demonstrably irrelevant to the vast majority of the population. Why don't you move onto a more interesting topic, such as the folly of buying new cars that instantly depreciate by thousands of dollars?

[thejynxed]

Re: "The iPhone – Apple's hottest seller – brought in revenues of $65.597bn"

There's a vast difference to the issue being irrelevant because of consumer choice or the issue being irrelevant because the option was removed from the consumer's choice entirely, and the latter is what we have experienced.

[werdsmith]

Re: "The iPhone – Apple's hottest seller – brought in revenues of $65.597bn"

"I will never understand how people can throw so much money at something that doesn't allow a simple, user-accessible battery replacement."

They don't. They just pay a monthly amount to have a phone and access to the network. After a couple of years they get a new one. The battery is a total irrelevane. Swapping it just isn't something a normal human cares about.

[Giles C]

Re: "The iPhone – Apple's hottest seller – brought in revenues of $65.597bn"

What are you going to do when you have to replace your car with an electric one. Walk everywhere as they don’t sell one with a user replaceable battery?

On a lot of newish cars you have to have the central computer updated when a new battery is fitted due to the smart charging technology. You can do it yourself if you spend £100+ on a coding machine but for a lot of people it isn’t worth it and they will just take the car to a dealer or someone with the kit to get it done. So are they user replaceable batteries.....

As long as the manufacturers support replacing the batteries then I can’t see the problem, and battery longevity has improved in recent years.

[thejynxed]

Re: "The iPhone – Apple's hottest seller – brought in revenues of $65.597bn"

Yes, because it's illegal to install the chargers for those in my neighborhood and our electric boxes can't handle the required amperage for wall socket charging the battery banks, and they are also restricted from being replaced by law.

[trevorde]

Desktop market share increases by 21%

Now almost 10% of total desktop market!!

[Roger Kynaston]

I am an owner of iThings

But since my iPhone 8 was bought refurbished off eBay and my MacBook is second hand - by way of dipping my toe in the water - I haven't contributed to their massive profits.

That said, I do like this Mac so will likely get one of the shiny ARM based ones when it runs out of life.

I have no idea what the says about me or society. Nothing methinks.

[hoola]

Available Cash....

At the moment many of people who were not at the bottom of the pay scale are significantly better off. Statistics have shown billions being saved and much of this is down to Covid restrictions. People who used to commute, car or train are saving huge amounts. People have not been jetting off for their 3 or 4 "getaway" breaks every year so it it is no surprise that those who can afford it are buying high-end products.

They have spare cash and unlike quite a few other things, a mobile device is something that can actually be used at the moment.

What it does highlight is the ridiculous markup on these premium products.