iPhones & other £50 per month mobiles

NineDeuce

john22 wrote: »

i don't care about your spending habits and the main reason I have left posts in this forum to push back against people who judge others for what they spend their money on.

That's the whole essence of a discussion about consumer credit. How can anyone talk about this obviously big topic without pointing out what people spend money on?

There are frequent programmes/documentaries on television highlighting how much people overspend on food and other regular consumer goods which involves the host telling others that they are spending too much money. Presumably you are in contact with every single of those organisations on a weekly basis too...

There is quite obviously a case that consumer credit is partially aided by ignorance or denial about how much is being spent.

hunters

So the thread is really nothing to do with phones?

System

NineDeuce wrote: »

That's the whole essence of a discussion about consumer credit. How can anyone talk about this obviously big topic without pointing out what people spend money on?

There are frequent programmes/documentaries on television highlighting how much people overspend on food and other regular consumer goods which involves the host telling others that they are spending too much money. Presumably you are in contact with every single of those organisations on a weekly basis too...

There is quite obviously a case that consumer credit is partially aided by ignorance or denial about how much is being spent.

You don't have to judge people and single out a spending habit (i.e. buying a expensive smart phone) when you want to talk about consumer credit.

What people do with their own money is their own business (as long as its not illegal)

If people take out a loan or credit card debt it is their own business (as long as its not illegally obtained)

Now if you want to talk about putting controls on consumer credit then thats a whole different topic that will require the government in power changing laws and the electorate accepting those changes.

But regardless of how much money i have or what access i have to money I can buy as many expensive iPhones as I wish and use them as paper weight because it's nobody else's business :rotfl:

System

hunters wrote: »

So the thread is really nothing to do with phones?

Correct :T

Petethespider

NineDeuce wrote: »

As far as I can see, they arent worth it in a million years....

People nowadays largely buy mobiles for 3 main functions - calling, texting, social media - all which can be done with a £10 per month Android phone, for example.

So what do you get for the extra £40 per month? To me, it seems like gimmicks, or 'better software', although I cannot see how the process of texting or calling somebody on an iPhone is a vast improvement on a cheaper counterpart,

The misconception is that iPhones are affordable. £50 per month over a 2 year contract, however, is a total £1,200, whereas your basic £10/month phone comes to £240.

Who would honestly pay an extra £960 for an item which for 95% of it use provides the same service as its cheaper alternative?

I heard on TV that 1 in 3 people have iPhones. Is this true? The world has gone mad, and perhaps there is something in the UK consumer debt argument that people are just spending money they dont have on things they dont need to impress people they dont like.

Not everyone buys a phone for the above
I buy my phones because they are hand held computers
I've never been interested in mobile phones until the advent of the IPhone
I'm now on my third, a 124gb SE which has all the capabilities of a 6 yet is only costing me £9 a month for 2 years

My hand held computer is faster and more portable then my laptop and much more versatile. I can use it for everything I'd use a laptop for and it also has the added bonus of making phone calls. I no longer need a landline and I'm reachable wherever I am. Best of all because I can connect to wifi wherever I am it's basically free to use. I rarely if ever use any data or calls

Using it for payments, loyalty cards, boarding passes, cinema tickets etc means I no longer need to carry anything more then that. A small computer that fits in my back pocket, not a phone

mattyprice4004

I don't have a £50+ contract, but buy a brand new iPhone every year as it's essential to my business.
I just don't get on with android handsets - I've had many, and iPhones are just more fluid in operation and don't crash as much.

Some people choose to spend money on shoes, I spend it on a phone because I look silly in stilettos

[Deleted User]

NineDeuce wrote: »

Except for that you can get other phone models for significantly cheaper. You missed that out of the argument.

Of course you can shop around but £50 per month is probably a fair average figure.

On the 'unlimited calls' argument, phone companies make their money out of selling packages such as this when people just dont need it.

To get a 'matching specification' Android phone, you're still looking at similar price to the iphone. E.g. the Samsung Galaxy S8. The expensive contracts are mostly down to data packages. It doesn't matter what your handset costs, the data costs the same and bulks up contract prices.

I've tried 'cheap' Android phones. They are the reason people think android is bad. I don't like iPhones. I'm not a fan of the OS. It lacks flexibility and it reminds me of my time trying to use a one button Apple laptop. But that's me. My wife loves them. I know lots of people that do.

BTW - a £50 a month phone contract is roughly the same price as someone who buys 3 or 4 pints a week in a pub. One gives you liver cirrhosis, the other doesn't.

(On a side note, my phone is also an AMAZING VR headset when plugged into my Samsung Gear VR)

almillar

NineDeuce:

because they largely do the same thing as the much cheaper options

I was going to challenge you to show us one of these cheaper options, but that 'largely' word would get you out of a lot of the improvements.

Feel free to make your recommendation for a better value smart phone, but prepare for criticism 'camera not as good, screen not as good' etc. Or do you think phones are just for making calls on?!

iPhones, Androids. Hmm. There are cheap Android phones and expensive ones. There are only expensive iPhones. You need to compare them price-for-price.

boatman

NineDeuce wrote: »

It is more about marketing and selling which has convinced people that more expensive items are worth the money, when they essentially aren't, because they largely do the same thing as the much cheaper options.

I think this is fair comment. We are overwhelmed by marketing, I think sometimes its difficult to see past the hype. If it makes people happy to spend so much then so be it, it keeps us all in jobs. Perhaps its just that I see people I know who have spent so much and know they could have spent their money more wisely, but they have fallen for the marketing and peer pressure.