🫨 20 years later and people around the world are still lining up outside Apple stores to buy the latest iPhone [China, India, etc]

[Hamartia Antidote]

Exactly! why go out and be a productive member of society if I could just sit in my basement and play video games and have everything else handed to me

Or have the government put you in apartment buildings surrounded by government controlled cameras to make you feel safe from the "dreaded bogeyman" so you can act like obedient identical anonymous sheep.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

Yes, you have completely figured it out. Capitalism has been around for ages and suddenly at this point in time it all collapses like a house of cards.



You yourselves have turned your back on true Socialism..so you don't have a foot to stand on.

There are two types of revolutionists currently exist within your country: socialist revolutionists and capitalist revolutionists.

Socialist revolutionists: mostly supported by the Gen-Z democratic socialists, and they want to revolution to overthrow the current capitalistic system.

Capitalist revolutionists: mostly supported by the libertarians and some disgruntled former MAGA supporters, and they want to overthrow the current crony capitalism controlled by the oligarch class, and revert back to the primordial capitalism where everyone has equal opportunity to make a fortune.

The Gen-Z socialists do believe that the capitalism will be eventually replaced the socialism, and the libertarian MAGA supporters believe that the capitalism is running on cycle, and the current cycle is done, and it needs a complete reset and to start a new cycle of capitalism.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

There are two types of revolutionists currently exist within your country: socialist revolutionists and capitalist revolutionists.

There has always been groups like this. Ever hear of the flower children of the 1960's who started socialist communes. Like Charles Manson and his revolutionists ideas.

What you see as "distinct" sentiment today is actually nothing new.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Agreed.

There is still lots of opportunities here in the US if you're willing to put in the work. Too many people refuse to do that part.

 

[Watandar]

Yeah then the Gen-Z get real jobs, a gym membership at Life Time, a $7 latte addiction, and a Tesla and that socialism phase they had while being a poor college student goes right out the window.

That's what foxnews tells you what Gen Z is, because they don't vote GOP. Before the current Genz, the Millenials were being bashed day and night and before them some else was the "kids these days".

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

That's what foxnews tells you what Gen Z is, because they don't vote GOP.

Oh brother...who is the one wearing the distorted glasses.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max sold 1.3 million units in China during the first week, beating the 17 Pros

What's interesting is that the two Pro models came very close to matching the sales numbers of the full 2025 lineup last year during the first week after launch.

www.gsmarena.com

iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max sold 1.3 million units in China during the first week, beating the 17 Pros

During the pre-order period in China, retailers quickly ran out of available iPhone 18 Pro series units – according to estimates, 7 million units were pre-ordered. Some stores saw double the revenue compared to the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max launch last year.

This momentum has carried over into actual sales too. According to information by blogger RD Observation, the new iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max have sold approximately 1.3 million units during the first week of availability in China.

This is 15% more units than what the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max sold last year during their first week. Of course, they were competing with the vanilla iPhone 17 and the iPhone Air.

But here’s the more impressive stat – sales of the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max are 90% of what the whole iPhone 2025 lineup sold in China during the first week of availability. The absence of a new vanilla and a new Air model isn’t hurting Apple’s bottom line, it seems. Anyone who wants a new iPhone now has to get a Pro. And if you don’t, in a few months, Apple will release the new vanilla (and likely the new Air) model.

Interestingly, these estimates point to the iPhone 18 Pro Max as the more popular model of the two – it sold 55.5% of the total. During the pre-order stage it was the other way around – 60% of people picked the smaller Pro.

Apple raised the prices of its new models, but it was clever about it. The 256GB and 512GB models only went up by CNY 1,000 (around $150). Meanwhile, the already expensive 1TB and 2TB models' prices were hiked up by CNY 2,500 and CNY 3,500, respectively. This is despite Apple using slow QLC chips.

The new iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max may not be doing as hot in other regions, though. Data compiled by BigGo shows that the prices for a 256GB model in China went up by around 11%. In the US, the $100 price hike for the same capacity comes out to around 9%.

In Japan, however, the 256GB iPhone 18 Pro is JPY 40,000 more expensive – a notable 22% increase. Before the 18 Pro launch, Apple increased the iPhone 17 Pro price from the original JPY 179,800 to JPY 194,800. But the 18 Pro launched at JPY 219,800, so even compared to the revised 17 Pro price, the 18 Pro is more than JPY 20,000 more expensive.

 

[Zhuge Liang]

iPhones are overpriced.

 

[KAL-EL]

iPhones are overpriced.

That's true, but so are a few other phones. For example, Google pixels I feel are overpriced.

Full disclosure though, I have a Google pixel 10 and I bought it well below MSRP