[spsoto]

Not an economics expert at all, but what happens if profit per unit is still more significant? Maybe Apple is targeting something like:

Total Profit = Volume * Profit Per Unit

So even though Volume is smaller because units are more expensive, the increased markup increases the total profit and that's the reason why they are getting ~90% of the profits in the industry. This idea makes more sense to me considering guidance for the next quarter won't include volumes.

Is there any reasoning behind only targeting volume that I am unaware of? Genuine question.

[JTon]

Apple also makes money from ecosystem software services where I assume profit margins are even richer. So there is incentive to increase the user base.

[copperx]

Having less but more profitable customers is a boneheaded move. Developers may increase their prices to account for the reduced number of users, sure, but the niche target market that the developer is targeting may not exist any more.

If you look at history of game consoles, the ones with the higher quality hardware and software usually lost because of the high prices.

Exclusivity works up to a point.