The true cost of a new iPhone

[Tomconroy]

Let’s talk about buying an iPhone for $1,000. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, once compared this eye-popping price tag to buying a cup of coffee a day over a year. No big deal, right?

But financial advisers see this differently. By some estimates, an investment of $1,000 in a retirement account today would balloon to about $17,000 in 30 years.

In other words, $700 to $1,000 — the price range of modern smartphones — is a big purchase. Fewer than half of American adults have enough savings set aside to cover three months of emergency expenses, according to the Pew Research Center. Yet one in five people surveyed by the financial website WalletHub thought a new phone was worth going into debt for.

Tech companies fairly argue that our smartphones are our most powerful tools for work and play and thus worth every penny. But they also play numbers games to downplay the costs of a new phone. Samsung, for example, has said the price of its new Galaxy phone is $200 — but that’s only if you trade in a year-old phone for credit toward the new one. The true price is $800.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/20/technology/personaltech/iphone-upgrades-cost.amp.html

One of the reasons people don't become rich: They go into debt buying a phone they don't need.

[Scrivener7]

1. I've never paid more than $100 for a phone, and my LG

Android does everything everyone else is doing with their phones.

And I think its about 7 years old now. Got run over in the rain once. I had to replace the screen for $75 but it works fine.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

7. It might 'do' nearly everything a current phone can, but not as well in many cases

And def. not as quickly.

I kept my last phone (Samsung S5) for 5 years so I understand what you're saying, but I'm telling ya ... there's a big difference with my newer S20+.

Camera quality has improved a lot, bluetooth streaming sound quality is way better due to Apt-X technology, battery life is muuuuuch better, my screen is much higher resolution, speaker phone works much better, and everything I do on the phone is WAAAAAAAAAY snappier.

Also ... I get new android OS updates that old phones don't get anymore. Old phones become much less secure over time.

The 'updating everytime there's a new one' tip some people are on is almost always ridiculous, cost-wise. But every 3rd new one or so ... it can be worth it. Esp. if you're annoyed by slow performance.

Just saying

[TreasonousBastard]

2. A retirement account simply has your money sit there while the...

Phone is something you get use of. Of course the phone isn't going to las 30 years, so we're deep in apples/oranges territory.

[drexelkathy]

3. Absolutely

They are incredibly expensive.

[Auggie]

4. America: "Trinket rich, equity poor."

Posted weeks ago on the awesome pages of DU.

[Hoyt]

6. On the other hand, a good phone replaces cameras, music systems, allows up to read DU on the go,

can handle important documents from remote areas allowing us to stay away from office, replaces maps, alerts us to important things, keeps us in communication with people, great in emergencies, and a bunch more.

In my opinion it's a cost savings and cheap, especially if you are careful in the one you buy.

[msongs]

8. if ya wanna just talke and dont need a fancy camera phones are quite cheap nt

[Tomconroy]

9. I think that's the point of the article. A smart phone is a necessity

today. But not a $1000 one, and don't replace it every year or two. Invest the money you save. You may think it isn't doing anything for 30 years. It's actually performing miracles.