We need to talk about expensive freaking iPhones!
The October 16 launch for the iPhone 6s was special for both Apple and desi smartphone geeks. Apple finally realized that India is the third largest and the fastest growing smartphone market in the world and launched the iPhone 6s earlier than expected. Tiny problem – you’ll have to sell your kidney to buy the phones.
That Apple rips off customers with ridiculous pricing despite substandard software capabilities and mind-numbingly horrible (un)ease of use is clear. That using an iPhone feels like suffering from Stockholm Syndrome while stuck in a beautiful jail is known.
But even by Apple standards, the price of the iPhone 6s is laughable – Rs 62,000 for the 16GB version, and Rs 92,000 for the 128GB 6s Plus. That’s almost a lakh. Way more than even a Macbook Air.
It’s vile. It’s sickening. And it’s incredibly stupid.
So what exactly are you paying almost a lakh for? The user experience? The beauty? Oh, it’s a premium product, you say? For a section of customers who can afford such luxury? It’s not for the common man, it’s for the Luxury Man and that is how the universe functions, right?
Sure, but even the luxury enjoying customers need to know a few things about the iPhone 6s. You’re paying almost a lakh for a phone:
- On which you can’t change the ringtone to whatever you want.
- With which you can’t directly play a song that has been emailed to you.
- That has a camera that’s not really better than the competition – the LG G4 and the Samsung S6 variants perform on par and even better in certain circumstances.
- That has worse battery life than not only the competition but also the previous generation of iPhones.
And these are just the basic necessities, not even luxuries. A customer who buys a luxury car gets all the little basics by default and the luxurious bells and whistles are part of the bonus. Clearly, Apple thinks necessities are luxuries and the real benefits that qualify as actual luxury don’t need to be included in the package.
So what are we being charged so much for? The looks? The iPhone 6s is not even the best looking iPhone – that honour goes to the iPhone 4 which still remains the prettiest phone ever made. When held, the former felt like a premium product, like a piece of jewelry. The 6s feels like a large biscuit in comparison. If you’re one of those people who buys an iPhone to show off to others, what DO you have to show off this time?
So dear customer, don’t buy the iPhone 6s at these prices.
Don’t make Apple believe they can get away with anything. They need to know that they had their chance and they blew it. The people who spend 30-35k on Android phones would have shelled out 5k more and moved over to the iPhone 6s. Apple isn’t going to turn any Android user into a Mactard at these prices.
Last year’s Bendgate controversy was blown way out of proportion but this year Apple has really courted the devil. This is a serious problem – looks like the ‘s’ in iPhone 6s stands for Spendgate.
So what should you do now? Here’s an idea – this is actually the perfect time to buy the iPhone 6 Plus. It’s cheaper than before. It has a ginormous battery life (better than the 6s Plus). The camera is absolutely smashing (as good as the 6s Plus). And it looks exactly as new as the 6s Plus.
You’re never going to use 3D touch and GIF photos anyway.
Watch: First Impressions Apple iPhone 6s
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