Its a 2200$ device which does the same thing as a 500$ tablet or any other optio...

dgellow · 2026-09-09T19:42:57

We (the HN audience) have disposable income for that type of thing, I don’t see the issue with being a casual user of an expensive device

officeplant · 2026-09-09T19:59:04

I can't even afford the 17e, who is this we?

dgellow · 2026-09-09T20:02:11

The audience at large. It’s obviously not every single individual

yesitcan · 2026-09-10T02:48:29

That’s a roundabout way of saying “you’re unusually broke.”

paganel · 2026-09-10T06:27:56

I also can't fathom paying $2,200 for a phone, which is to say that we're not all working for US big tech companies in here.

dgellow · 2026-09-10T07:37:50

I have the disposable income and would still not pay 2k USD for a phone a FWIW. But I spend that on other hobbies (just ordered a programmable power supply and an oscilloscope earlier this week, close to that price when taken together)

justinator · 2026-09-09T20:07:51

>We (the HN audience) have disposable income

Ah the fallacy of thinking a collection of individuals as being a homogeneity.

dgellow · 2026-09-09T20:16:43

See the sibling response, not sure how you missed it before commenting. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49633340

justinator · 2026-09-09T20:37:43

I cannot with good faith tell you the financials of every HN user to any degree of accuracy to defend a statement like you're defending.

What you have is a "guess".

Maybe one data point is that this forum is open to all, without any gatekeeping based on salary?

dgellow · 2026-09-09T20:40:06

It’s of course a guess, I don’t know how else you would read such a large generalization. Most of the HN audience is based in the US, most people here work in software. It’s not a crazy stretch

justinator · 2026-09-09T20:41:49

[flagged]

dgellow · 2026-09-09T21:06:19

I intended to generalize, which is what I’ve done. There is nothing wrong with that. You can skip the patronizing tone

shepherdjerred · 2026-09-09T20:12:40

The typical HN user likely has more disposable income than most people

justinator · 2026-09-09T20:40:27

Doesn't ycombinator run a business where they let people borrow money with a high degree of likelihood that the venture will be a complete failure?

If I was the receiver of such a loan, am I just going to give myself a huge salary, or what it is that you do, here?

groundzeros2015 · 2026-09-10T01:04:22

Work in a white collar job instead of for example part time retail. That will put you well above average earnings.

nik282000 · 2026-09-10T02:12:54

Blue collar maintenance worker here. I will have a yearly average income much higher than most of my peers because I'll likely die before I can retire and spend it ;)

let_rec · 2026-09-11T12:24:12

No, VC investment is rarely a loan. It's typically a purchase of stock.

bluescrn · 2026-09-09T22:14:18

A $2200 device and still limited to running dumbed-down touchscreen 'apps' from the App Store.

Danox · 2026-09-09T20:07:24

It does far more than just a tablet. If it was easy, there would be one or two other companies out there who is this other vertical computer company?

sajithdilshan · 2026-09-09T21:20:21

OP is 75 years old and belongs to the generation that already own a house and pretty much comfortable in their lives and any money they have/earn is just to consume things and live life. So why not spend it on a first generation device

zer0zzz · 2026-09-10T04:24:00

They can charge as much as they think people will pay for.

Fact is, having a better pocket computer (that is your only pocket computer I might add) is probably going to have a lot of value for people.

ThrowawayR2 · 2026-09-09T21:47:01

Most tablets can't make cellular phone calls.

daseiner1 · 2026-09-09T18:55:05

i've been hearing this critique of new apple products for about two decades now and inevitably: - apple's product "does the same thing" as [device sold at 25% of the cost] AND - apple's product "does the thing" at a level of polish that's in an entirely different league from every competitor.

siri is the great exception here. jesus christ what a piece of shit

Dlemlo · 2026-09-09T19:26:27

Thats not the point. There is a difference between someone spending a lot of money on compute and never use it vs. doing the same thing.

Its like buying a porsch and driving it always at 100km only.

eldaisfish · 2026-09-09T19:43:25

a better analogy would be a toyota hybrid, which is basically the same as any other hybrid car, except for the one issue of reliability.

So yes, a toyota hybrid and a chevrolet hybrid should be exactly the same, but they are not, the price difference reflects it, as does the number of twenty year old toyota hybrids still on the road.

soperj · 2026-09-09T19:57:29

My wife has gone through a large number of iPhones in the past 14 years, where as I've had a total of 2 android phones. Way easier to repair, and add software well past the end of life date.

josephg · 2026-09-09T21:28:45

Why has she gone through so many iPhones? I’m typing this on my iPhone 12 from 2020. Before that I had an iPhone 6s from 2015. I’m considering upgrading this year, but I could hold off for another few years if I wanted to. My phone still runs like it did when it was new. I get through most days with 60%+ battery remaining.

The biggest problem with my phone is modern software bloat. I only have the 64gb model. Modern software - especially iOS itself - has gotten ginormous. Every time a patch comes out I’ve gotta delete a bunch of stuff in order to update. And running unpatched software seems pretty dangerous right about now.

soperj · 2026-09-11T05:09:24

They were slowing down to the point of unusable.

I had a Galaxy S3 from 2012 to 2024, then got a hand me down Galaxy S9 for free.

I don't like that I can't remove the battery, but it's got a SD card so I don't have to worry about storage ever and a headphone jack, so I don't have to worry about my headphones running out of batteries.

brailsafe · 2026-09-09T20:02:40

Perhaps a bit pedantic, but ironically I don't think Chevrolet makes any normal price range hybrids atm

MYEUHD · 2026-09-09T19:09:47

The $500 tablet could be an Apple iPad

In fact iPads start at $429

Findecanor · 2026-09-09T19:55:44

The iPad Mini starts at $599, with a more comparable screen size.

And there isn't really any competitive tablet with Android in that size. I've only seen cheaper tablets with lower specs.

officeplant · 2026-09-09T20:00:37

Hell before the recent price hikes $2000 would get you a Macbook Neo, an iPad Mini, and an iPhone 17e.

cheeze · 2026-09-09T19:56:53

The classic slashdot comment!

gregglain · 2026-09-10T07:43:49

This year it's the most ___ ever.

(I hope so, would be embarrassing to say last years iphone was faster but used more power, so ....)

wombat-man · 2026-09-09T19:14:46

There used to be a pretty big gap between iPhone and android in terms of polish. that gap keeps narrowing, but it is still there for sure.

microtonal · 2026-09-09T20:33:24

I have an iPhone and an Android phone and I don't see the gap at all when it comes to software. Quite the opposite, I think iOS regressed a lot with iOS 26 to the point where I see quite a lot of render stutters on an iPhone Air and 17 Pro. Besides that, Android is much more configurable (especially OneUI).

Apple is still the indisputable leader when it comes to hardware though. Great SoC, great cameras, great build quality.

Too bad it doesn't have GrapheneOS :).

toyg · 2026-09-09T19:24:10

Is there, though? The last few iOS releases have been pretty classless and inconsistent, imho.

Danox · 2026-09-09T20:19:14

That gap isn’t closing when it comes to the total package software plus hardware, and fit and finish there is a huge gap between Apple being a vertical computer company and whatever PC, Linux, Android product you look at, someone else brought up Toyota or Honda when you look at those two companies and you compare what they make to what GM and Ford make there is still a gap and you can also still see a gap when you talk about some of the other German companies when it comes to fit and finish too.

greedo · 2026-09-09T19:32:39

You sound like ESR ranting about how Apple was doomed by Android back when the iPhone came out. He would rant and rant every time about how there was no conceivable way that Apple could survive. Somehow, Apple has managed to survive by the skin of it's teeth.../s

1234letshaveatw · 2026-09-09T18:59:17

Nah, let's just throw a new web framework at them that consumes all their newfound computing capacity. Always leave em' wanting more

shepherdjerred · 2026-09-09T20:15:07

Do you think there’s some cabal of executives trying to use more resources so that users are forced buy newer hardware?

Or is it more likely that software companies are making a tradeoff based on typical consumer hardware and would rather prioritize making $$$ over optimizing their software?

1234letshaveatw · 2026-09-10T18:38:56

I would describe it morso as a collective of developers adding layer upon layer all with the best of intentions

roundabout-host · 2026-09-09T19:22:04

And liquid ass.