[CWSZ]

We believe there are other factors broadly impacting our iPhone performance, including consumers adapting to a world with fewer carrier subsidies, US dollar strength-related price increases, and some customers taking advantage of significantly reduced pricing for iPhone battery replacements.

Why spend $1,449 on an XS Max when you could have replaced the battery on your phone for $29?

[lbotos]

Hi, I was someone who traded my 64GB 6s in for a 256GB XS.

- $200 no questions asked buy-back - Better camera - Larger screen in a just about the same size form factor

I expect to have this phone for ~4 years with probably a battery refresh in ~2ish.

I went 4S -> 6S -> XS. I hadn't upgraded an iPhone in years, Apple has made the process extremely slick and painless. I was seriously impressed at picking up the new phone and being "good to go" in ~45 min when my apps downloaded.

I'm sure I'm an outlier

[jjcm]

I think I'm with you in that a better camera is really what incentivised me to switch. Modern phone cameras are simply stunning - the video on the X series and the photos on the Pixel devices are incredible for their form factors. To me it was never a question of "Do I want to spend $1k on a phone", it's always been a question of "would I spend $1k to have the majority of my photos from these 4 years be of much higher quality". That's what made me switch.

[WA]

I agree. The camera is great. But I have to admit that I’m also a bit underwhelmed. The Apple keynote obviously shows the best pictures only.

In not-perfect-light scenarios (not necessarily by night), photos shot with the iOS stock camera App have noticeably grain or "patches". The portrait mode is nice, but has glitches occasionally such that some item in the background gets merged with the face in the foreground.

So, I’m not a professional photographer, I only use the camera of my iPhone XS Max. The results are good enough, but the improvement isn’t that big over the iPhone 7 or 8.

What I do like is the big screen, since I use my phone only a couple times per week to make a call. Most of the time is spend in apps.

[AznHisoka]

One thing that makes me hesitant on changing my phone is Google Authenticator. I still have some services using that instead of Authy. I got my secret codes but it will be a hassle to use them when the time comes...

[tdurden]

I replaced both Authy and Google Authenticator with 1Password; it is really nice to have OTPs all in one place and sync'd across mobile devices and laptops.

[jdeibele]

I don't understand the problem. I went from 100% Google Authenticator to 100% Authy. It's a pain to turn off 2FA, then turn it back on using Authy instead of Google, but it's 100% under your control. So you can do 2 or 3 a day until you're done or one long session.

Now I have 2 devices that I can use, which makes me much less fearful about losing (or more likely misplacing) my phone.

[smallbigfish]

I use KeePassXC on a Linux desktop and store the 2FA codes in it. Every site that offers 2FA will let you use a code instead of scanning the QR image. As long as I have the underlying codes I can reuse them anywhere else.

In iOS I use 'Authenticator' - https://github.com/mattrubin/Authenticator. It's open source.

[otachack]

I wonder if there's an equivalent on iOS for andOTP. It puts the backup responsibility on the user in which you can export all tokens to plaintext or password-secured encrypted text. You ultimately put trust in the app maintainers instead of a third party like Authy.

[NeedMoreTea]

Checkout OTP Auth, which does all that. Very friendly, and very well written with excellent attention to usability details. No net connection unless you enable iCloud saving. No ads even in the free version. Well worth the tiny donation for premium!

I have no connection other than being a happy premium user for around 2 years. By far the best of those I found.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/otp-auth/id659877384

[manicdee]

1Password is a great option for everything password related on iOS/macOS. Just watch out for the sticker shock :D

[stygiansonic]

Sorry to go off on a tangent, but do you recommend Authy instead/because of this?

[retr0grad3]

Jumping in to reply because I made the switch to Authy about two years ago and haven't looked back. You get the ability to sync MFA across devices and desktop without a hitch. Add in the backup (with encryption) and you can onboard a device quickly and it fits every use case I need.

[artursapek]

Couldn't you just use Yubikeys to hold your TOTP secrets? If you want redundancy, just set up 2 or 3 and keep the extras safe.

[elteto]

I actually just completed a migration from Authenticator to Authy. I don’t have much to say except that it was pretty seamless. Sync between multiple devices works very well. I’m not a fan of the Authy UI but it does what I need.

If you use a password manager that supports OTP tokens (lastpass with their authenticator app, 1password, bitwarden) you could just use that and remove Authy out of the picture.

[ihattendorf]

You really shouldn't be storing OTP tokens in your password manager. Yes it's better than nothing, but if your password manager vault gets compromised your 2FA does nothing to stop it.

[eridius]

If my password manager vault gets compromised I have bigger problems than my OTP codes.

[krob]

I full throatedly recommend authy.

[function_seven]

My thoughts exactly. The iPhone 6S is still plenty fast, does everything I need it to, has a large screen, and a headphone jack.

I have used the latest models and don't see any improvements worth upgrading for. FaceID is cool, but not enough on its own to convince me to upgrade.

In previous cycles, my update from 3GS to 4S was a no-brainer (retina, massive speed improvement), as was the upgrade from 4S to 6S (lightning port, LTE, massive speed improvement, larger screen).

Once I got my battery swapped, the phone was as good as new.

And I still have a headphone jack.

[westoque]

From someone having sweaty hands (Hyperhidrosis). FaceID is not only cool, but it’s a game changer! I always get frustrated when attempting to unlock my 6S plus 3 times, then ultimately being just asked for my passcode. With FaceID, everything just works smoothly/seamlessly as if there’s not even an authentication phase.

If I knew this earlier, I could’ve bought the X sooner. Couldn’t recommend it enough.

[jen729w]

Was just talking to the family the other day about this. Every phone up to the 6 I had in my hands the day it was available, and that’s including the original iPhone which wasn’t available in Australia. We imported them and had to wait for a jailbreak until we could do anything with them!

So yeah, iPhone nerd here.

I’ve been rocking an SE for a couple of years now. Love it. Works. Quick enough. Small, robust. No plans to update.

I think the novelty has worn off. They used to be these cool new toys. Now it’s just a phone. I want to spend less time with the thing as time goes on, not more.

[beamatronic]

Whether it’s $29 or $79 for a battery replacement for an iPhone 6S, it’s still a good value proposition to get more years out of it. I’m planning to do the same.

[beezischillin]

I'm in the same boat, I intend to keep my 7+ and X for quite a while - especially since there's nothing really interesting out on the market or any new killer feature on the horizon for now.

Having recently deleted all my timeline-based social media accounts, I'd even consider switching to a smart dumbphone like the Nokia 8110 if it had WhatsApp and Spotify (WhatsApp is rumoured to be at least coming soon to KaiOS) and just get rid of the distraction altogether.

[matwood]

That's one part. The other is that iOS 12 really did focus on speed improvements. For many (most?) people, an iPhone 7 with a new battery is still a great phone.

[jseliger]

I replaced an iPhone 6 or 6s with a 7. I also find $1,000 just obscene for a phone. I'm a person could have afforded the OLED versions and chose not to.

[graeme]

And ios 11 may have shifted sales forward. I was still doing ok on ios 10 on my iphone 6. Ios 11 slowed it down (even with a replaced battery) so I got an iphone 8.

Now on ios 12 my iphone 6 is fast again. But, I probably would have bought the iphone 8 by now anyway, just because of camera quality, etc. The speed trouble just pulled my purchase up by a year. (I even bought a stopgap SE in the summer of 2017)

I suspect others also upgraded early in 2011 due to ios 11. Of course this situation is better long run now that its fixed. I'm so pleased with ios 12.

[epanchin]

I’ve just replaced a SE with a 7, couldn’t be happier.

[mattsidesinger]

In an attempt to get more mileage from my iPhone 6S and prolong a future phone purchase, I recently did the $29 battery replacement. I hoping that I avoid getting a new phone for another 2 years.

[joelrunyon]

Or

> Why spend $1,449 on an XS Max?

Period.

This is the cost of what an entry level macbook was...

[oflannabhra]

Believe it or not, some people get more value from their smartphones than from a laptop.

[sorokod]

I would argue that such people didn't need a laptop to start with but did have a need to project the fact that they have money to spend.

[disishhsha]

I’ve found that considering positive explanations for other people’s behavior helps me enjoy life.

[spiritcat]

ya but the xs max is faster

[saagarjha]

iPhone XS Max starts at $1099, and it's a newer phone?

[colejohnson66]

I’ve noticed that people like to spout the price for the highest tiered item as a reason for not buying a product. Like the original Apple Watch with the $10k Apple Watch Edition.

[AznHisoka]

Just one anecdote, but I got my battery replaced and initially my phone was super-fast. After a few months though, it slowed down considerably, and is now as slow as it was before I replaced the battery.

[sjburt]

The battery-protection performance throttling is either on or of, and you can check the status in iOS 12 (settings>battery>battery health). If it's off ("Peak performance mode") and your phone is slow, it's something else (bloated apps or web pages perhaps)

[isodude]

Do you charge your battery 100% each day? That eats charge cycles like crazy. Never go beyond 80% and your battery will last much longer.

[eridius]

I'm pretty sure this advice was obsolete at least a decade ago.

[londons_explore]

Not true - lithium cells see most 'wear' when used and stored above 90 percent charge and below 10 percent charge.

The effect is so dramatic that some manufacturers rescale the indicator so it isn't possible to reach those charge levels, and makers of electric cars won't charge above 90 percent by default.

[eridius]

Right but we're talking about the whole battery, not individual cells. I thought "prevent the cells from charging too high or dropping too low" was standard practice these days for everybody, and so at the battery level the "don't charge to 100%" advice is obsolete.

[05]

I don’t think you got that quite right. Most cellphone batteries are single cell (L shaped ones excluded). All cells have the property of degradation per cycle depending on range of charge/discharge (0-100 worse than 10-90 worse than 20-80). Standard cell phone BMS charges 0-100 because most manufacturers optimize for battery life per unit weight, not cycle count. Planned obsolescence and all that..

[isodude]

After reading both Apple and Samsungs recommendation they even say don't go below 20%.

[SlowRobotAhead]

Why do you believe that? (It's so very wrong, but I'm curious if someone told you, or you came to this conclusion on your own)

[vel0city]

This site seems like a decently credible source on battery life, and they recommend setting devices into a mode to leave the charge at around 80% if its not going to be really used heavily as a mobile device.

https://batteryuniversity.com/index.php/learn/article/how_to...

"A laptop battery could be prolonged by lowering the charge voltage when connected to the AC grid. To make this feature user-friendly, a device should feature a “Long Life” mode that keeps the battery at 4.05V/cell and offers a SoC of about 80 percent."

I've had a lot of laptops with this kind of mode on them from several different manufacturers. I think Samsung, Lenovo, and HP have some knowledge of extending the life of their batteries. https://support-us.samsung.com/cyber/popup/iframe/pop_troubl...

"...it is strongly recommended to select "Optimize for Battery Lifesapn mode" or Conservation Mode and keep AC adapter connected alll the time. This mode will enable the battery to be fully charged to 80% or 60% of its design capacity." https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht069687

I have little reason to think a similar concept applies to phone batteries, as they're usually a similar chemistry these days.

[isodude]

Common knowledge and from what I've read about batteries the last two decades. And from using AccuBattery. Please do state why it is wrong, so we can sort it out :)

Samsung recommmends not going under 20% charge, but nothing about going over 80% https://www.samsung.com/uk/support/mobile-devices/how-can-i-...

gadgethacks thinks that we should avoid going over 80% https://android.gadgethacks.com/how-to/set-charging-limit-yo...

Apple has fantastic information: Don't charge past 80%, if it's too hot! https://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/ The expected battery cycles are around 500 and then you have at least 80% capacity left on the battery. https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208387

Both samsung and apple says that you should have at least 50% charge if you store the device long term and also avoid going too low and leave it empty.

I get that apple/samsung will not recommend not charging 100%, from using accubattery (play store) they say that a full charge uses about one charge cycle, but charging to 82% does not take any charge cycle.

From what I've read the best thing for the longevity of the battery would then be to have it between 20 and 80%. But if you will replace the battery or phone after 500 charging cycles you could just charge it to 100% as much as you like. But never go below 20%.

AccuBattery should really add a warning about the battery health when going under 20%.

I did not know that it's possible to monitor battery health in iphone settings nowadays, that's great!

[lorenzhs]

Can you share why it's wrong? I learned the same thing as the OP and would love to learn more. As far as I learned, the more harmful part is discharging to very low levels, especially if you use it until it shuts off and then don't connect it to the charger for a long time. Is that also no longer the case?

I know that manufacturers sometimes gate off some of the capacity so that the battery doesn't actually reach extremely high or low levels of charge, but that would still imply that avoiding the very high and low ends of the reachable spectrum would still be helpful, just maybe not as much.

[londons_explore]

Why do Tesla cars not charge over 90 percent by default then...?

[baybal2]

>Why spend $1,449 on an XS Max when you could have replaced the battery on your phone for $29?

Just have to crack that digitally signed battery cable ;)

Jokes aside, Apple been deliberately reducing their products' repairability since at least iphone 3. I myself had a side business of selling factory refurbished phones when I was an exchange student in Singapore from 2007 to 2009. Malaysian refurbishers told me that in the middle of production run, Apple deliberately began gluing their front glass to the display with impossible to undo glue to nuke any chance of profitable refurbishment.

In contrast to "dumb" phones of Japanese brands, that were designed for extreme manufacturability, Apple's products are unique in that regard to be engineered with an opposite goal.

[scarface74]

Or they could have glued the front glass to the display to make the display look better.

That’s true for most modern high end phones and has been since 2012.

https://ifixsmartphone.com/2012/11/16/smartphones-with-glass...

[baybal2]

They used an optical bonding gel before, but switched to an optically inferior glue

[raverbashing]

Yes please let me spend more on an "inferior product" (without a headphone jack) instead of replacing the battery

Funnily enough I got an email about availability of the new models for a discounted price "for a limited time only". Maybe their prices will be reviewed?

[bdcravens]

Once you lose that giant bezel it looks really jarring on phones that still have it. As for the headphone jack, for many, it doesn't make the phone inferior any more than the MacBook is inferior for not including an ethernet port.

[int_19h]

Once you lose that giant bezel, you get it back immediately by putting that phone in a case.

And very few people won't do it to a phone that costs several hundred dollars to buy, and that will likely suffer considerable damage if you ever drop it on any hard surface without a case.

[sneakernets]

We once waited until the tech matured before removing older legacy components. Last I checked, Bluetooth audio still sucks, and Apple knows it, which is why they supplied a dongle to get around the justified complaints.

[bdcravens]

I guess that depends on your definition of sucking. Between AirPods, random $10 BT speakers, my car, and a pair of Bose QC's, my phone (X) works well with BT, but I may not be a discerning audiophile.

[londons_explore]

I have never found any pair of Bluetooth devices which can play audio all evening without at least one click or stutter.

[JustSomeNobody]

It isn't even the clicks or stutters, though that can be annoying. It's the stickiness. I turn on my bluetooth speaker and ... it connects to a phone in the other room. So, now I have to walk through the house to find it and turn off bluetooth. Now I can connect to the speaker with my phone.

Headphones, same issue, phone wants to initially connect to any other bluetooth device except the headphones in my hand. So, now I have to dig into settings, etc... I don't have that issue with 3.5mm jacks.

[therealx]

My Sennheiser bluetooth monitors work just fine all night without clicks or stutters.

[threeseed]

I have the AirPods, Sony 1000mx3 and Sennheiser Momentum and Bluetooth audio quality is perfectly acceptable to me.

[bigwheeler]

Agreed. I can’t even get through a phone call without one of my AirPods losing the signal at least once.

[zozbot123]

> Once you lose that giant bezel it looks really jarring on phones that still have it.

And now the Iphone XR has brought the side-bezel back! It almost looks like a rubber case.

[craigc]

I totally agree with you. This also does not make any sense to me:

> US dollar strength-related price increases

A weaker dollar (due to inflation, etc.) is the reason that consumer prices increase. A stronger dollar in theory should make the prices decrease.

EDIT: I understand that a stronger dollar means the prices in other currencies will increase, but I was referring to specifically the price in US markets. Pretty sure the iPhone prices in the United States increased as well.

[maw]

A stronger dollar in theory should make the prices decrease.

But for whom? If you're outside the US, and I'll remind you that most of the world, including China, is, then goods effectively priced in US dollars will be more expensive.

[baybal2]

Electronic parts are priced in USD, because USA is the biggest buyer of electronic toys...

This is what I think 99% of business people don't get when they are confused by counterintuitive price dynamics of the industry.

[craigc]

I totally understand that. I should have clarified that I meant in US markets. Cause the iPhone prices also increased in the United States IIRC.

[smileysteve]

> US dollar strength-related price increases

strength-related price increases can be ambiguously read, whether the U.S. dollar strength increased or decreased, it led to price increases.

[eisa01]

Apple raises prices outside the US when the dollar strengthens. Prices in Norway have gone up considerably in the last five years due to this

[craigc]

Mmm I should have clarified my comment. I understand that, but in this case the prices also increased in the US.

[function_seven]

The US price increases aren't being attributed to the strong dollar. The letter is referring to the reasons Chinese sales are weaker than predicted. The stronger dollar is one of those reasons.

But I'm still a bit confused on it. How is Foxconn being paid? In dollars or in yuan? If the dollar is strong, shouldn't the BOM and manufacturing costs decline in lockstep with the Chinese buyers' purchasing power (relative to USD)?

[vel0city]

I imagine the BOM and manufacturing costs aren't as big as paying all of those employees at 1 Apple Park Way, their IP holding companies overseas, or all their construction costs on billion dollar campuses they're building, who are being paid in dollars.

[tanilama]

They increase the price in US, they also increase the price in local currency ON top of that, to hedge the currency fluctuations. In the end, the oversea consumers pay much more even in terms of us dollars.

So US probably has the cheapest iPhone in the world.

[a_c_s]

A strong dollar increases prices in non-US markets, which is most of Apple's revenue now.