Comments on: RBC: Apple iPhone 5′s amazing 93% margin on NAND flash

By: helps

helps — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:42:05 +0000

honestly the 4S is a perfectly capable phone. In some ways the 5 is a step sideways, most notably the screen size. I just got a 5, and my perfect phone is still a 3.5″ screen. If they could’ve made the 5 with a 3.5″ screen, I would recommend it without hesitation.
Everyone is dumping their 4/4S on ebay these days, so you should be able to get one for a fairly good price.
Even with iOS 6, the 4S still flies – no lags, stutters, jumps, etc. You won’t notice a difference in performance compared to a 5 (yes, apps open marginally slower but this isn’t noticed in day to day use unless you have a stopwatch).

By: radtech5000

radtech5000 — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 16:47:02 +0000

Yep it’s amazing how time changes everything isn’t it.

By: Truth

Truth — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 14:53:00 +0000

If price gouging is capitalism at it’s best, we better wake up quick!

Honestly, Apple has been doing this for years, the difference was that in the past, you could buy from Apple with min ram and buy some crucial or wherever for a much better price and upgrade yourself. Same with hard drives. What we used to work around, we are now stuck with, since it is all hard-wired in. It’s lame..

By: 3l3c7ro

3l3c7ro — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 13:40:59 +0000

I guess you expect them to obtain the memory at cost and install it for free and warehouse it for free and distribute it for free and have their engineers design it for free. It costs money to make things and that includes more than the costs of the components. Some items will have less margins and others can be priced to subsidize those lower margin items. Over all, the margins Apple makes are reasonable for the industry.

By: braindrainers

braindrainers — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 10:30:28 +0000

Apple is able to procure NAND flash for ~$0.42 per GB (at market prices or better), while reselling for $6.25 per GB

1388% markup on cost. how do you spell ripoff in fanland?

By: vanfruniken

vanfruniken — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 07:52:18 +0000

I disagree. Apple always sells quite a lot of “high-end” models, be they Macs or iOS devices, because these tend to have a longer useful life.
True enough, Apple has always greatly overcharged for additional RAM (which, for Macs was more or less acceptable, because replacing Apple’s basic RAM with 3rd party RAM would leave you with a useless RAM module — for iOS devices the situation is different, because RAM is not user-replaceable).

IMHO, Apple should use these exhorbitant gains from RAM to subsidize the entry price for iPhones/iPads.

p.s. prolly@Lordthree: no need to use local dialect on a global discussion board.

By: MBBM

MBBM — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 07:26:19 +0000

I love my iDevices but think Apple could take it a bit easier with the $100 price jumps solely based on twice the storage. If we had 32, 64, and 128 GB devices, I could see $50 and $100 jumps for the 2 larger sizes.

By: ABitChuffed

ABitChuffed — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 06:59:37 +0000

By not increasing base flash storage on the iPhone & iPad models this past upgrade cycle, I thought Apple missed the boat on an easy – and now we can see, cost effective – way to keep up/surpass their competitors, as well as better differentiate their own product line up.

Think about it: the free iP4 is 8GB only, the $99 iP4S is 16GB only, and the $199 iP5 starts at 32GB and goes up from … oops. No, that would be 16GB, just like the iP4S AND just like most of their competitors. How rockin’ would a 32GB iP5 at $199 have been (not to mention a 64GB and a holy-crap-128GB as well)? I’ll bet that alone would have silenced at least some of the critics who didn’t feel like Apple did enough with the iP5.

And I think the iPad is in even more need of storage increases than the phone. Not necessarily because of competition – the iPad is surely more dominant against its competitors than the iPhone is – but because of the nature of the device. Video takes up a lot of space, and the iPad begs to be used to watch it (and now even create it, what with the camera upgrade).

Plus, if there really is going to be an iPad Mini, starting it at 16GB with the ‘Maxi’ beginning at 32GB would again allow for greater price differentiation between the products.

The only thing that held me back from getting an iP5 was the cost – same amount of storage, same price as last time. I realize the phone itself is an upgrade, but my iP4 still rocks. The only thing I’m jonzing for is more storage for all the apps & pictures & audio recordings. I may just go for a refurb iP4S at 32GB & save a few bucks that way.

By: Haver

Haver — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 06:02:53 +0000

But the ONLY differentiator between models is the flash size, so there is no other costs the extra markup is possibly accounting for. It’s all in the bank.

By: KenC

KenC — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 02:20:41 +0000

Apple isn’t pricing NAND flash at 93% margins. They’re pricing the iPad at $100 increments. The 16GB iPad at $499 has below average margins for Apple, which means the 64GB iPad at $699 has above average margins for Apple. The price differential may seem to be related to the amount of storage, but that’s like the tail wagging the dog. Apple is pricing at reliable and sustainable price points. It just so happens that the amount of storage is the differentiating factor, but it’s not like you can buy one model and swap out the storage, so Apple is not charging 93% margins on flash..

By: silverhawk1

silverhawk1 — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 02:18:36 +0000

More anti-Apple rumors to piss off someone. I invest in AAPL, I like the margins and continue to buy their products.

By: Now, Now...

Now, Now... — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 23:43:57 +0000

Better than a ‘CRAB Apple’, Yikes!

By: Jeff II

Jeff II — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 23:22:30 +0000

“Del Monte”? “Pineapple”? Rully now…

By: Del Monte

Del Monte — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 23:11:39 +0000

What, a pineapple?

By: Rorschach

Rorschach — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 23:05:05 +0000

There are other options, should you so choose.

By: Lordthree

Lordthree — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 23:04:38 +0000

Meh. I don’t need the extra. Most people prolly get the 16gb

By: BlueMax

BlueMax — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:52:29 +0000

road apple

By: radtech5000

radtech5000 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:37:15 +0000

Capitalism at its finest. ;p

By: NDW

NDW — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:35:48 +0000

An apple up the ass…? That’s gotta hurt!

By: Necron99

Necron99 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:29:41 +0000

Their error came in when they tried to use the Android calculator app.

By: Woof

Woof — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:22:44 +0000

I feel like I’m taking it up the ass from Apple.

By: Moof

Moof — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:19:11 +0000

I need my 64GB, but this is the one place I really feel like I’m getting ripped off by Apple.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:15:53 +0000

If you can sell it for that amount and still have people line up, more props to you. Go Apple!

By: Shock Me

Shock Me — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:11:17 +0000

They obviously can’t count. The 32GB is $100 more and has twice the storage, but the 64GB is only $100 more than the 32GB and it ALSO has twice the storage.

Idiots

By: Grwisher

Grwisher — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:08:25 +0000

Jealous Bastards!