[sidfthec]

> If you use your phone an average of 5 hours a day for two years and then throw it in a junk drawer the hardware would cost less than 50cents per hour of use.

I don't understand this type of justification.

My fridge would cost around $65k for a 15 year lifetime at $0.50/hour.

It just seems like a completely meaningless way to judge the value of something.

[LeifCarrotson]

They're hoping to sell to you based on the value it provides rather than the cost to produce the thing.

Classic sales reframing tactic for obscene 500%+ margin products: You should buy this thing far above market rate because it's worth a lot to you, not because it's priced at a realistic BOM + labor + reasonable profit margin.

[lotsofpulp]

How is this phone far above market rate? Which competing products with equivalent functionality are far below it?

[Dylan16807]

They're talking about the tactic in general.

[unpopular42]

If you sell at BOM + labor + reasonable profit margin, who pays for R&D and who covers the risks? This makes no sense

[ahoya]

Are you joking? The reasonable profit margin pays for R&D. Unreasonable margins and over priced crap hurts everyone.

[unpopular42]

Well, in this case it all boils down to a personal choice of what you label "reasonable".

[crazygringo]

The point is not to judge sticker price as an absolute or as percentage of your annual salary, say.

It's to judge it based on the value it gives you per unit of time.

It's the entire justification for investing less in things you use less, and investing more in things you use more. That we generally receive benefits not in one-offs but spread out over time.

[sidfthec]

It's completely missing a huge part of the equation though: comparison to cheaper options.

Something might not sound so expensive if you frame it as $0.50/hour of use. But it certainly does if there's an alternative that meets your needs that you can get for $0.10/hour of use.

[crazygringo]

Well of course, it seemed like that part went without saying.

There have been a bunch of times in my life when I delayed purchasing or felt guilty about purchasing something genuinely valuable but very expensive.

But then when you're in year 5 or 7 of using it daily, you're like... best use of my money ever. That's the point here.

If you spend a ton of time needing a large screen, using this for 3 years might be that expensive purchase that pays off for you.

[maxerickson]

You can sleep on the floor for ~free.

That doesn't make it worthless to figure the approximate cost per time used of a couple of different beds, maybe even a nice one.

[manojlds]

"At the price of one coffee cup" is another thing that gets me.

I brew at home and it's 10p for me, is that what you mean?

[_zoltan_]

10p? based on p I think you're in the UK? what kinda coffee is that?here a 3rd wave coffee costs around 42-50 CHF for a kilo and you need 18g for an espresso, so 0.756-0.9 CHF per espresso if I calculate 0 for amortization of equipment.

[ISL]

I've never done this arithmetic before. With a massively inefficient usage of a french-press, I get something like three cups of coffee from a press and perhaps 7 fillings of the press from a bag from my local store. That coffee is $6 USD when it's on sale and $8 when it's not.

Neglecting the cost of the $20 press, the water, the kettle, the rinse-water, the mug, and the heating of the water, that's about $0.33 USD / cup?

[manojlds]

I was just using a small number for effect, but it's closer to 30p usually for Americano/Filter coffee equivalent. Point remains the same.

[wiseowise]

You forgot heating up water, electricity and your time spent on it.

[deltree7]

Irrelevant analogy. Let me know when you can build your own Tablet.

[lo_zamoyski]

Technical sophistication is not equal to practical value.

[deltree7]

A translation service from Swedish to German has no practical value to me. But, I don't go on the internet dissing Google for providing that service to people who find it useful

[wiseowise]

Did you also calculate amount of dopamine rush and convenience that your fridge brings you compared to your phone?

[deltree7]

You'd pay double the price for double the fridge capacity (if doubling your capacity serves useful purpose for you)

You'd pay double the price for double the screen size (if more screen size serves a useful purpose to you)

It's really not that hard of a concept to grasp.

[sidfthec]

I would? I don't see how those have anything to do with the price.

The newly announced Pixel Tablet screen is 4 times larger than the newly announced Pixel 7a, and they're the same price.

Is the Pixel Tablet supposed to be $2k because the screen is 4x larger?

I really don't know what either of you are talking about with these strange thoughts on pricing.

[wiseowise]

I can twist this around and say that Pixel 7a should cost higher because it’s 4x more portable, what’s your logic?

[deltree7]

It doubles as a Tablet and a Phone and I'm willing to pay Tablet + Phone + Convenience price for it.

A concept not hard to understand.

[thaumasiotes]

Do you often buy the same product in different sizes?

[deltree7]

Yes, I bought an iPhone 4 and then upgraded to iPhone 6 which had a larger screen.

I had a 55' TV and I also bought an 85' TV.

I had a 24' monitor. I also bought a 34' monitor

Not a difficult concept to grasp

[mlyle]

> I had a 55' TV and I also bought an 85' TV.

> I had a 24' monitor. I also bought a 34' monitor

So huge! I don't think I could even fit a 24' monitor in my house. How would you get it through a door?

[wiseowise]

85 inch TV is pretty big. :)

[deltree7]

Good job. Nit picking. Have a cookie. No wonder you miss the bigger point in life focusing on irrelevant details

[dang]

We've re-banned this account for breaking the site guidelines again, badly and repeatedly. Not cool.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

[mlyle]

I thought I was just making a funny, but apparently it was a grave offense.