Jay Lagare

General

iPhone 5c: C is for Cheaper

By on Friday, October 4, 2013

I believe the iPhone 5s is a good phone. The iPhone 5c? Ummm let’s just say the iPhone 5s provides the better value and that’s where Apple’s emphasis is on. The mid-tier and low/free-tier phones are there only to provide coverage. But here are the numbers as to why I think Apple came out with the iPhone 5c.

Below is the pricing before the iPhone 5s arrived,  the pricing if Apple had’t released the iPhone 5c, and the current pricing.

  Subsidized Selling Price Unsubsidized Selling Price iSuppli Est. Cost Gross Margin Gross Margin % Gross Margin % Change
IPhone 5 64GB 399 849 238 611 71.97%
IPhone 5 32GB 299 749 217 532 71.03%
IPhone 5 16GB 199 649 207 442 68.10%
iPhone 4S 16GB 99 549 196 353 64.30%
IPhone 4 8GB FREE
iPhone 5S 64GB 399 849 218.3 630.7 74.29% 2.32%
IPhone 5S 32GB 299 749 208.1 540.9 72.22% 1.19%
IPhone 5S 16GB 199 649 198.7 450.3 69.38% 1.28%
IPhone 5 16GB 99 549 207 342 62.30% -2.00%
iPhone 4S 8GB FREE
iPhone 5S 64GB 399 849 218.3 630.7 74.29% 2.32%
IPhone 5S 32GB 299 749 208.1 540.9 72.22% 1.19%
IPhone 5S 16GB 199 649 198.7 450.3 69.38% 1.28%
iPhone 5C 32GB 199 649 182.85 466.15 71.83%
iPhone 5C 16GB 99 549 173.45 375.55 68.41% 4.11%
iPhone 4S 8GB FREE

If Apple hadn’t released the iPhone 5c, they would have taken a 2% reduction in the gross margin of their mid-tier phone. But instead with the 16GB iPhone 5c they were able to pull off a 4.11% increase. Or 6.11% if compared against the alternate scenario. I don’t know about you, but I think 4% is pretty good! Notice that they were also able get modest increases in their top-tier phone gross margins.

This increase is mainly due to savings in the casing. That’s why the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5 are practically the same except for the casing. Apple bumped down their previous top-tier phone as they normally do but this time changed the casing. Plus, given the similarities between the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5 casings, there are production line benefits for the top-tier phone.

People were disappointed by the price of the iPhone 5c. It certainly wasn’t cheaper for them (or me). But it certainly was cheaper for Apple. To manufacture.

 

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General

The Apple A7 Chip is a Marketing Gimmick

By on Thursday, October 3, 2013

So says Qualcomm. They (and others) are always highlighting the memory addressability when talking about the A7. A 32-bit processor would be able to address 2^32 or 4 gigabytes of memory. A 64-bit processor would be able to address 2^64 or 4 exbibytes. At this point, exbibytes is not really relevant smartphone or not. The more important things are the datapaths and register sizes. A 64-bit datapath can carry twice the data a 32-bit datapath can. A 64-bit register can process twice the data a 32-bin register can. Of course software needs to take advantage of it. But iOS 7 is 64-bit and Apple has provided the tools to rebuild to 64-bit. And then they go on and admit that they’re also working on a 64-bit processor. Now who is pulling a marketing gimmick?

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General

Vertu

By on Thursday, October 3, 2013

Personally, I don’t comprehend the appeal of Vertu phones. There’s definitely something in finely crafted objects. Mechanical watches and supercars immediately come to mind. However, phones, especially smartphones, are definitely don’t. At the rate electronics are going, a top-of-the-line smartphone is no longer top in a year and is practically obsolete in 2-3 years. Certainly not comparable to mechanical watches. When that happens, the only thing of value is the casing. Vertu should just turn to crafting the world’s finest crafted phone cases out of titanium, leather, or other luxury materials.

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General

Europa Report

By on Tuesday, October 1, 2013

I believe that for a science fiction movie to be good, it has to pay careful attention to the science part (duh). Europa Report does that. Water has been discovered in Europa (one of Jupiter’s moons, if you’ve already forgotten high school astronomy) and where there’s water, there’s a high possibility, even probability of life. So a mission has been sent to investigate further. Halfway through, the mission lost all contact with Earth and only recently have the video, audio, and other mission data been received. Yes, this is a “found footage” film. But that is incidental and, anyway, is quite plausible. It gives the movie a documentary feel which suits it just fine. There was definite attention to the detail to the mission, the environment, even in the dynamics of the individuals on how they would behave on a long and dangerous space journey. On a final note, I was going to applaud the movie for using non-traditional life forms but I was a bit disappointed by the final scene :P

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