lbschenkel Well, yeah. Even Pixels are way too expensive. No way I'm paying 700-800 EUR for a phone. I paid 400 EUR for my Pixel, a refurbed one, and I plan to keep it for at least 5 years. My previous one I paid less than that and I had it for 5 years too.
I don't get that: if you pay 800€ and keep the phone for the full 7 years of software support, you are paying 9,50€ per month for the phone. In my opinion, this is a bargain.
lbschenkel I remember when I paid 300 EUR for a new OnePlus 3, and that was a flagship back then.
That phone was never 300€ on any official store, it started as a 500€ phone and OnePlus was selling at extremely thin margins to achieve market penetration. Once they reached the critical mass and brand reputation, they raised their prices like everyone else. This tactic has been repeated a lot of times and you can't compare that to a company with a business model that relies on sustainable income.
lbschenkel Phone prices in the last decade went completely out of control, I don't understand how people can put so much money into a piece of electronics that's going to become e-waste in no time.
Yeah, they did, because RND to achieve the level of quality that we have now is extremely expensive. Insanely bright screens, impossibly efficient and extremely powerful chips, huge batteries, all of that comes with a cost. And don't forget that we are in the middle of a RAM/flash shortage. Prices are up multiple 100% across the industry. Someone has to pay for that, or do you believe smartphone vendors are now going to sell at a loss?
Also, in no time? 7 years is a pretty long time in my book. That OnePlus 3 you mentioned was junk after 3 years. Imagine if you could have paid enough money to achieve 7 years of updates instead of 3, that would be... oh, 700€.
lbschenkel At least if you put 1000 EUR in a decent laptop, you have a pretty good shot of making it last a decade or more.
Getting a decade out of a 1000€ laptop is a stretch, really. That thing will fall apart way sooner, due to build quality issues, mainly the display assembly breaking off on one side due to being secured by plastic molds. That's a problem across the industry btw. If you want a rigid laptop, only shop for business models like Lenovo ThinkPads or Dell Pro-line machines.
lbschenkel It's a peculiar definition for the word. To me an investment is something you put your money into, and years later you have more (and above inflation). A phone is something you put money into, and years later it's completely worthless and most people wouldn't want it even for free.
If your definition of investment is only financial, then you should not go to restaurants, pay rent or invest in your children, because none of it will return you any kind of monetary profit (unless you see kids as a piggy bank for future generations).
All in all, solid rant, but the Motorola phones are priced extremely well for being flagship phones, especially since they will support GrapheneOS, an unmeasurable value to me.