[vegetablepotpie]

Apple products are not just worth the sum of their components, they are an “experience” unto themselves.

I type that both sarcastically and with complete sincerity. Apple is vertically integrated, which puts their products in a different class than Intel/Windows, ARM/Android. If you’re an Apple user you’re not worried necessarily about the CPU or memory, your concern is whether you can run the Mac OS or iOS and the ecosystem that goes with it. So Apple doesn’t have to compete on price for its hardware, but rather on other intangibles.

[ashtonkem]

Agreed. I’m just pointing out that the price that Apple charged and the underlying price of the components is poorly correlated. Apple will charge what you’ll pay, not what it costs to produce.

[Splognosticus]

That's true of everybody who's passed econ-101, of course.