Jack Renick
Mrs.Straub
Economics - B3
7 October 2014
What has Apple done!?
The new iPhone came out! Let’s all go and buy it! A week later...Why is my phone bent? Many people place their phones in their back pocket. Even though this is a convenient place to put them, it also changes the way your iPhone looks. With Apple trying to make a better and more efficient phone, there are some components they had to take out in order to do so. The way Apple made their new iPhone 6 Plus was supposed to be durable and withstand bending. The software for the new iPhone 6 Plus is great, the hardware needs some work.
A way Apple wanted to enhance their products was to make them lighter so it doesn’t feel like the user is carrying around a pound or two of phone. The demand for a new iPhone every year causes Apple to expand their abilities and resources to make a phone everyone will love and won’t have complaints about. Now with the new release of the iPhone 6 Plus, their has been some issue’s with the phone already! There could have been so many different things that could have changed about the phone, but one thing they really focused on, was the weight. Apple could have changed the materials the phone was made with, or the way the interior elements were arranged, to help physically support the phone. Their opportunity cost could have been to make sure that the material they were going to use was tested by everyday iPhone users. Not just by their machines because now they have to deal with this negative externality.
From the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 6, there has been a slight change in hardware. An example of hardware advancements is the all-aluminum casing. They also want to maintain their phones around an average weight so the users are happy. According to Apple’s website, the iPhone 6 Plus weighs in at 6.07 ounces, the iPhone 5 weighs 3.95 ounces, and the iPhone 4 weighs 4.8 ounces.
Why did Apple not take more precaution on their new device? If Apple had done proper testing before releasing to the market, they would not have had these issues. According to Joshua Ho from anandtech.com, “...it seems that there is a significant amount of force needed in the first place in order to cause permanent deformation” (anandtech.com). Even though it takes a significant amount of force to bend this phone, it shouldn’t bend at all! Looking at the Moto X from Mortola, their phone doesn’t bend at all. Looking at another phone, that is bigger in size, the Galaxy note 3 has been tested as well and doesn’t bend at all! And yet they used a different material to help protect this device. The Galaxy Note 3 has a “plastic leather” back cover and polycarbonate exterior. The iPhone 6 Plus is made of all aluminum. Apple should have conducted more tests on this phone so they wouldn’t have to worry about encountering any negative externalities; or at least the phone bending. Looking at Unbox therapy’s video, Apple used aluminum to protect their phone. Maybe if they went with another stronger material, they could have achieved a much better product. What do you think Apple will do to solve this issue?
Resources:
"CompareSee all iPhone models.." Apple. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2014. <http://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/>
"How much does an iPhone 4 weigh?."Answers. Answers Corporation, n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2014. <http://www.answers.com/Q/How_much_does_an_iPhone_4_weigh>.
"The iPhone 6 Plus Mini-Review: Apple's First Phablet." RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2014. <http://www.anandtech.com/show/8572/the-iphone-6-plus-review-apples-first-phablet>.
"Apple - iPhone 6 - Technical Specifications." Apple. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2014. <https://www.apple.com/iphone-6/specs/>.
"Apple iPhone 4." - Full phone specifications. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2014. <http://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_4-3275.php>.
As I was reading this article, I appreciated the idea, but as an Apple user and advocate, couldn't help but disagree with a few things. A lot of what you said is and continues to be true, however, I believe that a lot of these problems are blown out of proportion. Because Apple is such a large company, and a major threat to any other, any problems experienced by even a small handful of people are made to be a very large deal. Yes, I do agree that they should have taken more time to test and properly make adjustments to the new phone, but it is significantly larger, and in an aluminum casing as well. And of course, aluminum bends easier than a plastic casing, but what looks nicer, has a better feel, and gives a classy look? Aluminum. Reinforcements should have been made, I admit, but Apple made the right decision by sticking to the smooth aluminum finish. Don’t stick the 5.5 inch screened phone in the back pocket of your skinny jeans and sit on it, and you’ll be perfectly fine. These fears are overblown and overshadow all of the great improvements that Apple has been making. The brand new A8 chip, 64 bit architecture, and M8 motion co-processor have made amazing improvements to graphics, resolution and daily ease and speed of use. And if that doesn't mean anything to you, the rear camera can take videos with up to 240 frames per second with an all new designed crystal sapphire lens. Not to mention the only two phones with Apple Pay and an NFC (near field contact) chip in the top of the phone frame. Innovation at its best, and I stand by my 64 gigabyte gold iPhone 6.
ReplyDeleteI liked your ideas especially when your talking about opportunity costs of making the phone out of polycarbon like the galaxy phones or the cheaper aluminum. would the opportunity cost be higher to spend a little more on the phones that would not bend, or would it be better to make them out of the cheaper aluminium and allow them to bend. Apple consumers will probably still buy I phones, and look at all the media coverage that comes out of the bending.
ReplyDeleteProper testing? Seems odd for a company that is making products that you want would test a phone by sitting on it. The bend never would have happened had the users not caused the externality in the first place. Also the aluminum isn't to protect the phone, it's to make it lighter and thinner. The same concept they have used on their laptops for years. Also the casing hardly counts as hardware. And what does it matter to them? It was the users who wanted the larger and thinner phone. Apple profits from customizing its devices. That why we have stupidly large phones that are more of a hassle than a benefit. The consumers in a way brought this upon themselves. But yet you still pay for it. It doesn't seem like much of an externality in that sense at all.
ReplyDeleteEvery company tries to utilize productive efficiency while producing products. This efficiency is the production of a good in the least costly way, and companies would be foolish to avoid such benchmarks. Apple, in this example, has considered its own productive efficiency and decided not to spend more on exterior support for seemingly equivalent results. Unfortunately, Apple engineers mistakenly judged this productive efficiency, as the results have negatively impacted consumer satisfaction. Because we operate in a market economy in the United States, domestic consumers will likely be hesitant to purchase iPhone 6 Plus devices because of this design dilemma. This consumer sovereignty may result in competitor gains, as rival cellular phone manufacturers are currently producing substitutable goods. As the demand decreases for iPhone 6 Plus devices because of decreased consumer tastes, more purchases of Galaxy S5 or Moto X devices will be made. As a result, Apple could be under great fire until they reengineer their new megaphone.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the topic and subject of this piece! It was an interesting read and could be understood easily. I like how you brought up the demand of iphones. Apple is a major company that relies on the total revenue of mostly iphones and ipads to keep their business at a high ranking. By releasing another bigger and better product, this will make Apple even bigger! While making these new iphones, Apple producers have to think of the opportunity cost of the constant problem we see all over the news. Bending. The opportunity cost would be the next alternative, which would be to have the iphone not as flexible as it could be! The marginal benefit of having a flexible, thin and light weight iphone must exceed the marginal cost. All Apple producers have to think of these things while making their new product. Good thoughts and ideas about this specific topic.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those weird people who has Apple products out the wazoo but an Android phone, mostly due to cost. It's ridiculous that Apple could be charging at least $300 for their new phone that will bend if you so much as sit on it and also will pull out your hair where the aluminum meets the glass. It's also interesting to note that phones like the Galaxy Note 4 are more expensive to produce but have a lower price, and those things ain't bending under the extreme pressure of ones buttocks. Why Apple, why you no test your product for the consumer?
ReplyDeleteIt seems rather odd that even though Apple does not produce the highest quality of phones, so many people would choose their iPhone over more durable alternatives, myself included. Who would have thought you have to be careful of your phone bending? I mean, that’s pretty crazy. Even this though isn’t enough to turn me away from Apple products. I am sure I’m not the only one this applies to, but the brand name really means a lot to me. That’s mainly why I wouldn’t switch to a Samsung or Motorola. I like the brand name of Apple. Also, most of my friends and peers have iPhones as well. It seems to make communication easier when everyone possesses an Apple phone. It has been proven that the iPhone is more popular for the younger generation while Samsung and Motorola are more common with adults.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good current event issue that people are really fired up about right now and the back pocket example is ok but a bit suddenly and doesn’t fully add to the paragraph. I also wish you would have gotten more into how the how demand of the iphone could change because of this phenomena of bent Apple phones. You did talk about the negative externality to the phone buyers but maybe some more about the negative externality of the company and how people could have been potential consumers of Apple have been driven away and those that were common consumers may have changed brands due to the obvious lack of quality of the phones. I do like how you explained that this whole problem arose because Apple was looking at the opportunity cost of these phones and made a bad decision that has affected thousands with this product and cost the company millions.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the topic of this article, because obviously as teenagers we are all obsessed with getting the newest form of technology, which may not be the best. It is interesting that so many people are obsessed with apple products when they are having way more issues than the galaxy, although I do own an iPhone instead. It intrigues me that they would not put these phones to everyday use before putting it out on the market, considering it is made with different materials than the last, which could react to wear and tear differently than the last. Clearly their demand for a new product on the market was high so they needed to supply the technology hungry public with this new phone, but the opportunity cost of getting it out there as soon as possible turned into a negative one, considering in more time the negative externalities could've been tested and fixed.
ReplyDeleteJack, I think that you hit a major topic that has been talked about recently. I believe that over the years, however, Apple has lost some of their existing customers but gaining new. This would be due to slow phones, easily broken screens and now the bending of their phone. And now that this is one of the biggest things to talk about, I think that Apple is going to lose money. New customers to Apple will now go with the now cheaper iPhone 5 if anything. Apple is going to be spending much more money on making the phones than they will from selling it.
ReplyDeleteI like your article. The first thing I want to ask is the effect of the bending does to the phone. Is it only a appearance issue or does it affect the hardware of the device? I personally have the LG G Flex which is a purposely curved phone and for me it is convenient. Especially when I'm playing videogames on it. There is no real downside to the curve for when I put it in y pocket it is sleek enough to fir right in smoothly.
ReplyDeleteI own a good amount of apple products, including the iPhone 5S. The new iPhone 6 Plus cost around $300 about $200 dollars more than the 5S. It’s a ripoff that apple is trying to sell phones for $300 to people when the phones don’t even keep their shape. If apple did more additional test for the new iPhone 6 Plus they could have found using aluminum to protect the phones wouldn't work and then switch to a different material. It would have saved apple time and money if they did more test on their new product.
ReplyDeleteI like this article a lot. I have owned most iPhone's since they have come out and always seem to end up with the new one until recently. I switched to the Galaxy family. It just seemed like Apple was handing out the same thing over and over again but now I realize that isn't true. They're handing out worse and worse phones each year! I find it comical actually that their phones are bending. My Galaxy s5 is completely straight!
ReplyDeleteI agree that the price for the Iphones is way too high, when they're not even the best phones on the market. There are cheaper Android devices that have better screens and don't break in a week. So why is the Iphone 6 the best selling Iphone ever? Because it's an Iphone. Economic principles don't seem to apply when it comes to Apple, even though the company puts out a product that has serious issues, and also charge too much for it, people still buy it because it's made by Apple. This speaks to the genius of Steve Jobs and the Apple marketing team because even though their phones are terrible, they still sell better than than the competition.
ReplyDeleteI don't own any apple products, because it has been proven time and time again that android based phones are more durable and last longer than iPhones. Even though iPhones are more popular than any other phone on the market, it may be one of most poorly protected. Even Nokia 3310 from 20 years ago has been proven to be stronger then iPhones. I am all for android devices, because of the build quality.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with what you said about they should have focused more on the hardware instead of the software. I think the overall quality of apple products are going down the drain. In the future im going to think about buying another apple product.
ReplyDeleteWow this brings up are great point on why the Iphones are bending. One of the things that you said they could have changed were to rearrange the hardware inside of the phone to make the phone lighter. Also people are going to want to stay with the Iphone because they don't want to waste their time on learning a new software that they already know.
ReplyDeleteThis is a strange occurrence I think. I have always felt that apple has always made the most reliable phones every year. Sure they do seem to have some bugs, but the security and higher quality materials have seemed to be superior than other major phone companies like Samsung. I guess apple may have taken a step backward this year instead of forward. I would agree the software improvements this year do look pretty reasonable but they might have skipped out on the hardware.
ReplyDeleteI am extremely intrigued by this article as the new Iphone comes out. Being in the society that we are at right now, people what the lastest more sleek looking phone we can have, and that's what we thought the Iphone 6 would be. The need for Apple to supply a new phone was so great that they wanted to have something to supply their consumers with something that they wouldn't just go off and buy a different type of smartphone. Now, because they needed a phone to give to the consumers, they didn't spend as much focus into the frame and the actual phone.
ReplyDeletei think apple should just keep it the way it is becasue most people dont care about what its made of they just get it because its the new best thing and everyone else has it so they have to get it.
ReplyDeleteI am extremely intrigued by this article as the new Iphone comes out. Being in the society that we are at right now, people what the lastes more sleek looking phone we can have, and that's what we thought the Iphone 6 would be. The need for Apple to supply a new phone was so great that they wanted to have something to supply their consumers with something that they wouldn't just go off and buy a different type of smartphone. Now, because they needed a phone to give to the consumers, they didn't spend as much focus into the frame and the actual phone.
ReplyDelete