Quote from: Ken ku on March 05, 2020, 15:26:30

Quote from: xpclient on March 05, 2020, 10:42:17
I've always believed that $500-$600 is the MAX I am willing to pay for an ultra premium super duper hi fi flagship. Anything above that is a ripoff/not worth it as its value will be gone in just a few years and that technology soon becomes available at much lower prices.

Budget: $100-$200
Mid-range: $200-$450
Flagship: $450-600

That should be the price range of phones. But because people cannot control their desire to own $1400 phones, we have $1400 phones.

Any smartphone company needs to pay:
Research and Development (R&D)
Patent
Tax
Customer service
Warranty
Marketing
OS support
If you want a cheap smartphone, why don't you make it yourself? Companies like Xiaomi integrate ads into their smartphones, even the Realme now has integrated ads.

The ads vary with firmware, and where there are very few ads Xiaomi still massively undercuts Samsung. Samsung definitely utilizes more expensive labor but seeing BoM drop below 40% of MSRP is still a bit of a shock to me.
Personally, I actively discourage spending on "customer service" and warranty by buying grey imported SK versions which have a significant ~30% discount off the MSRP a few months after launch, which Xiaomi can't hope of matching. So far it's still paying off, but the launch price this generation is ridiculous and with the lack of a headphone jack I'll probably buy Sony even if it means little discount off MSRP.

Quote from: xpclient on March 05, 2020, 10:42:17
I've always believed that $500-$600 is the MAX I am willing to pay for an ultra premium super duper hi fi flagship. Anything above that is a ripoff/not worth it as its value will be gone in just a few years and that technology soon becomes available at much lower prices.

Budget: $100-$200
Mid-range: $200-$450
Flagship: $450-600

That should be the price range of phones. But because people cannot control their desire to own $1400 phones, we have $1400 phones.

Any smartphone company needs to pay:
Research and Development (R&D)
Patent
Tax
Customer service
Warranty
Marketing
OS support
If you want a cheap smartphone, why don't you make it yourself? Companies like Xiaomi integrate ads into their smartphones, even the Realme now has integrated ads.

I've always believed that $500-$600 is the MAX I am willing to pay for an ultra premium super duper hi fi flagship. Anything above that is a ripoff/not worth it as its value will be gone in just a few years and that technology soon becomes available at much lower prices.

Budget: $100-$200
Mid-range: $200-$450
Flagship: $450-600

That should be the price range of phones. But because people cannot control their desire to own $1400 phones, we have $1400 phones.