[merb]

Before the iPhone came we actually had replaceable batteries on most phones and it worked really well. Battery contacts degrading is definitely not a problem for a phone that has a lifetime of maximum of like 7 years. Yes waterproofing becomes harder but it is not impossible. Manufacturing costs are also not an issue since most phones have margins beyond 300%.

[tgma]

Most phones sold have very low and sometimes negative margins, actually. The high-end phones arena which Apple dominates is actually a minority of total phones sold.

[fragmede]

How do you get a margin over 100%?

[Qwertious]

If you spend $100 making a phone and sell it for $200, you have a margin of 100%. If you sell it for $800, you have a margin of 700%.

[fragmede]

that's markup, not margin. At $200, the margin is 50% → (200 - 100) / 200 = 0.5.