Apple Provides Reason for iPhone 16e's Lack of MagSafe
Apple has offered a reason why the iPhone 16e doesn't include MagSafe, one of the more notable omissions from its latest entry-level smartphone. ...
You're viewing a single thread.
MagSafe is not included in the iPhone 16e because "most people in the iPhone 16e's target audience exclusively charge their phones by plugging them into a charging cable."
...well how did they determine that?
Poor people obviously can’t afford a MagSafe charger. Target market is poor people who can’t afford a $1000 phone. Ergo.
But seriously, i suspect that it’s something along those lines. People who hold onto their phone longer and/or buy older model phones may not use MagSafe. Personally, I only use it in the car. I’m not a huge fan of the idea of charging losses, and I’ve had trouble finding chargers that fit my desires (ie desk charger; I don’t own a watch or AirPods).
If their target market is poor people why did they increase the price by $170 USD?
I suspect it's for all the usual reasons. They explicitly removed features to create a distinction from higher end models and hit a specific price point. Same reason the iPhone 16 gets archaic file transfer speeds.
Artificial segmentation is definitely part of the reasons. However I would have imagined that potential magsafe accessory sales and the (minor) additional longterm lock-in effect into the ecosystem those provide might be large enough to outweigh the need to cut this particular feature.
The archaic file transfer speeds serve the additional purpose of up selling iCloud storage to customers. Particularly those, who dare to use a windows or Linux PC, which make transferring anything a pain.