(06-17-2021, 04:39 PM)Kururin Wrote: Apple during 6 and 6s is a different thing than now. I went to my Apple store during pandemic that after two year of use my XS MAX died on me. They replaced me on the spot and I had AppleCare+. They tried changing the battery for free (which wasn't the problem) With other phone manufacturer like Samsung they would just tell you to straight up pay for repair, atleast that what they told me when I had a Galaxy. There was a battery gate controversy with Apple yes, but as with anything Lithium-ion battery do degrade over time and Apple even replaced the battery for the people who were affected so its not really they trying to do planned obsolesce just that the new features caused a strain on the old technology that is 6S/6.

Again you are talking about bells and whistles, not sure where you got that from, Apple doesn't force you to buy their accessories and you can always buy cheaper alternative at a different brand or retailer. Also Apple does not force you to upgrade its your choice whether you do or not. They will tell you when you go to their store but you have a choice!

I have a MacBook Pro 16" and I have not payed for one accessories ever and I am not to buy straight from Apple if I have to because there are cheaper better alternative accessories and Apple do not stop me from using it.

There is a legit reason why it is hyped. It because of their premium product. I use my MacBook everyday for professional development and it saved me many headaches I would get otherwise if I were to use Windows. It works for me and it works for countless million/billion people. Apple is just like any other company, they just trying to make money. You cannot just slap greedy on their face because they are trying to make money. If you think they are trying to sell bell and whistle just do not buy it, simple. If you do not like their upgraded phone just do not upgrade. Its all simple.

(06-18-2021, 08:05 AM)Littlemaster Wrote: In my view, Apple trademark has great goodwill which they can use for overpricing their products. Some people won't buy cheap quality product or service. Apple is focusing these customers who think the more price the more quality product. If you are selling something in a cheap price the demand will get reduced after a while, you can't get high profit to make expenses in the future. While they take this high profit they can provide better service. There will be a policy strategy and plan for fixing the product price. Business is something which we need to learn customers' psychology. Overpriced items get much attraction.

(06-19-2021, 05:23 AM)fChk Wrote: I guess that the image posted by @OldMeister in Post#6 best summarizes Apple's MO(/Modus Operandi).

Apple is all about the brand. The vast majority of Apple's Customers -if not all-, when they buy something from Apple, they don't buy for the product itself BUT for the BRAND!.. and they are willing to pay big bucks for it!!.. That's it!.. To them buying Apple stuff is a way to make THAT implicit social class statement!..

Apple ceased to be about the products a long long time ago!.. It has always been about the brand and the 'social status' image it tries to project.. to the eyes of the gullible beholders...

So where this attitude came from?.. It has of course a historic context that's essentially due to the fact that Apple's computers were manufactured in-house, from bottom up(hardware + software) making their prices way too expensive to be accessible to everybody else. In contrast to the IBM-clones (PCs) whose hardware where manufactured by anybody willing to do it and the software(/OS) supplied by the rising M$$ company.

This commercial situation made Apple to carve itself a niche in the high-end market of desktop computers (essentially by polishing the design), just the same way it did subsequently in the smartphone market and the other gizmos and services they currently sell, including their cloud services of course!..

Nothing unusual really at this point; it's essentially a celebration of the Neoliberal attitude of the "Greed is Good" immoertalized in the classic Oliver Stone's movie 'Wall Street (1987)' during the Reagan years in the US:

What's more unorthodox about Apple is when they were caught 'deliberately slowing down older iPhone models ...'; a deed for which they were fined and they did apologies for it...

I would guess these kind of practices may be common among smartphones vendors as well -I don't really know as I'm not a smartphone and other gizmos fan- but Apple was caught doing it in addition to the fact that it's  a pioneer in US Tax evasion and job outsourcing and so on and so forth... So, YES, Apple Inc. is TOO GREEDY!