[thiagoperes]

Mac and iPhone prices will always be about perceived value. Unfortunately they don't have enough competition to drive prices down and they will take advantage of that for as long as they can.

Some tried from different angles but it seems people just don't feel confident enough to leave the ecosystem. Google keeps pushing sub-par phones. No one has delivered a robust face recognition tech as good as Face ID. Screen and camera quality are almost there but never better in a distinctive manner.

In fact, no one is trying to compete with Apple anymore. Android manufacturers abandoned the high-end market. The tablet and smartwatch markets are pretty much dominated by iPad and Apple Watch.

And as the service category expansion shows, people are getting comfortable with the idea of paying a monthly price for good tech. If competition eventually becomes a problem, they can just start bundling things up like Amazon does: iPhone Upgrade Plan + Apple Music + Cloud Storage + Apple Care + (eventual) TV content.

[lozaning]

>In fact, no one is trying to compete with Apple anymore. Android manufacturers abandoned the high-end market.

You'll need to convince me that the Note 9 is not a high end phone.

[ryanwaggoner]

Using one will do that for you.

Just kidding, never used one, I’m sure it’s a fine device. But Apple has managed to dominate the high end smartphone market for over a decade and they don’t seem to be losing much ground there. Pretty amazing testament to the power of focus. Literally all their competitors have smartphones as a small piece of their business and it shows.

[pentae]

I have an iPhone and a OnePlus which cost half the price. The OnePlus's face recognition is not only faster to unlock but is more reliable.

[pjmlp]

This side of the Atlantic I see Android tablets everywhere, specially outside of the 1st tier EU countries.