{"id":7612,"date":"2018-11-12T19:56:28","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T19:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/?p=7612"},"modified":"2018-11-12T19:56:28","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T19:56:28","slug":"the-cost-of-apple-fanboyism-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2018\/11\/12\/the-cost-of-apple-fanboyism-in-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cost of Apple-Fanboyism in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:1842,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.flickr.com\\\/photos\\\/adamjackson\\\/44935802355&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20251103221006\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.flickr.com\\\/photos\\\/adamjackson\\\/44935802355&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-02 20:25:09&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-15 15:57:46&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-24 06:31:23&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-29 22:48:41&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-24 16:57:07&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-24 16:57:07&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>This is one of those posts that some people will respect because they\u2019ve been loyal Apple fans for decades and others will come down on as a wholly first world problem that shouldn\u2019t be an issue anyone should face. However, I feel as if this is certainly a topic we all should be discussing when it comes to those of us who have for years loved Apple and wanted to buy most of it comes up with. It used to be that you could do things like I used to do which was every 3 years, you\u2019d be on a cycle of iPod, iPhone, iMac, MacBook (or iBook). You could upgrade all 4 devices every 3 years and have good enough and be pretty happy without major changes happening. I thought in assembling this piece that I would look back at my Apple purchases since the year 2000. There\u2019s not too hard but I\u2019d then be tempted to roll all of that cost into a stock calculator showing if I had put $2500 into AAPL in 2009 instead of buying a 17\u201d MacBook Pro, I\u2019d have enough to pay off my car today. So\u2026I\u2019m not going to do that.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I think Apple has entered an era where most of their customers buy just one device from them every 3 years and that\u2019s why their prices have gone up so much. You have a person who last year bought an iPhone X for $999 and an iPad Pro 2018 this year for $799 and Apple will see them in a couple of years for the next iPad and iPhone. In 2016, Asymco had estimated every Apple customer spends on average a dollar per day. That\u2019s comically low but I guess not and now in 2018, I\u2019d estimate it\u2019s $5 a day. Let\u2019s look at the prices of Apple\u2019s flagship devices:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>iPhone XS: $999<\/li>\n<li>iPad Pro: $799 but add $129 for a pencil and $179 for a Keyboard<\/li>\n<li>MacBook Air, $1199<\/li>\n<li>iMac: $1999 (for the one worth buying)<\/li>\n<li>AppleCare $129 for iPhone, $129 for iPad, $149 for MacBook, $129 for iMac<\/li>\n<li>$12 a year for iCloud<\/li>\n<li>$120 a year for Apple Music<\/li>\n<li>Add in $60 for a monthly $5 rental<\/li>\n<li>$149 for Apple TV + $29 for AppleCare\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>$450 for the regular AppleWatch\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>$159 for AirPods<\/li>\n<li>$349 for HomePod<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If an Apple fan were to purchase everything Apple Makes without configuring them at the highest price, they\u2019d spend $7,162 on 12 months to own all of Apple\u2019s technology products and all of these are on a yearly cadence. If you spread this out over 3 years (which is the cycle time Apple tends to like for their customers), it\u2019s $2387 each year to keep current with Apple\u2019s eco-system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This is far beyond what most people have in spending money\u2026$2500 roughly a year before you buy cases, apps, software, dongles and HomeKit accessories is for some people, all of their spending money for the entire year. Perhaps Apple\u2019s user-base is way more segmented. We should assume that everyone owns an iPhone so $999 every 3 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I think iPhone + AirPods + HomePod + Services will be a majority of users. You could swap HomePod for AppleTV I think those two devices don\u2019t have to both exist and could be owned completely separate since you can pump tunes to your stereo hooked up to an AppleTV\/Television. This user would have a run rate of around $464 per year before buying AppleCare.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s another user who is iPhone + MacBook Air and AirPods and now they\u2019re at around $850 per year. I would think that the majority of Apple\u2019s customers average in around this per year which is $2.30 a day to Apple. I\u2019m looking at the Apple devices my girlfriend and I currently own. We are a family according to Apple and therefore we are seen as one household which I\u2019m sure Apple keeps metrics on. She currently owns:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>2015 13\u201d MacBook Pro Core i7, 16GB RAM, 128GB SSD +AppleCare ($1899)<\/li>\n<li>iPhone 7 Plus +AppleCare ($969)<\/li>\n<li>AirPods ($159)<\/li>\n<li>AppleTV 4K +AppleCare ($178)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here\u2019s my current Apple devices list and everything here is used on a daily basis:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>iMac 5K (late 2015) ($2639)\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>MacBook Pro (2018) ($3899)<\/li>\n<li>iPad Pro (2018) with Pencil and Folio Keyboard ($1257)<\/li>\n<li>iPhone XS with Apple Leather Case ($1098)<\/li>\n<li>Apple Watch Series 4, 44mm Space Black with Stainless Steel Link Bracelet and AppleCare ($1377)<\/li>\n<li>AirPods ($159)<\/li>\n<li>AppleTV 4K + AppleCare ($228)<\/li>\n<li>Dongles and chargers that I\u2019ve bought to make everything work including my thunderbolt 3 dock ($350)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you look at Apple devices I\u2019ve owned over the last 3 years, I\u2019d have to add:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>iPad mini 4 &#8211; $400<\/li>\n<li>iPad Pro 9.7\u201d &#8211; $1029<\/li>\n<li>iPhone 8 Plus &#8211; $949<\/li>\n<li>iPhone 7 &#8211; 849<\/li>\n<li>Apple Watch Series 2 Space Black with Black sport band &#8211; $499<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Finally, we spend each month $14.99 for a Family Apple Music Plan and $9.99 for 1TB Shared iCloud and an average of $7 a month on Apple iTunes Movie Rentals for an annual run-rate of $383.76<\/p>\n<p><strong>The cost of being an Apple Fanboy household over 3 years = $18,240 or $6,080 per year with buying middle to high-end hardware.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I make more money than I did 10 years ago and I have always bought top of the line Apple hardware but 10 years ago, Apple didn\u2019t make home speakers, set top boxes for your television, headphones (at least not ones that didn\u2019t already come in the iPod box) and there was no iPhone (well exactly 10 years ago yes) or iPad and you didn\u2019t have to spend $300 on a Thunderbolt 3 dock or $29 times 5 on a ton of dongles to make USB-C work for you. It was a time in my life when every year I would buy a new iMac for around $2200 and a new MacBook Pro the next year for around $2500 so I was spending each year $2300 roughly for a MacBook or an iMac and I\u2019d alternate them on 2 year refresh cycles and to put all of this out in writing, it\u2019s now ballooned by twice as much thanks for the iPad and iPhone mostly along with services.<\/p>\n<p>Even I 2011 with the iPhone and iPad around, iPhone was $650 and iPad was $499. MacBook Air was $999 and Pro was $1499. The iMac\u2019s $1999 model was still quite good. The last 3 years specifically, Apple\u2019s entry point has gone up by $250 across the board on all of their flagship products.<\/p>\n<p>Now, when I login to AppleCare I see this:<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"View &#039;AppleCare - My Devices&#039; on Flickr.com\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/adamjackson\/44935802355\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img  loading=\"lazy\"  decoding=\"async\"  title=\"AppleCare - My Devices\"  src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABAQMAAAAl21bKAAAAA1BMVEUAAP+KeNJXAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAAAlwSFlzAAAOxAAADsQBlSsOGwAAAApJREFUCNdjYAAAAAIAAeIhvDMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=\"  alt=\"AppleCare  My Devices\"  width=\"471\"  height=\"500\"  border=\"0\"  class=\" pk-lazyload\"  data-pk-sizes=\"auto\"  data-pk-src=\"https:\/\/farm5.staticflickr.com\/4861\/44935802355_b3276a7d17.jpg\" ><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While I may be an outlier among Apple\u2019s 1 billion customers, I can\u2019t be alone in this. The cost of being an Apple Fanboy and wanting to fully participate in their ecosystem is now $500 a month or $16 a day. I am now in a situation where I\u2019d prefer to give Apple $250 a month every month than go through this and in 2019, I\u2019ll likely be upgrading my iMac which is becoming long in the tooth at handling 40K 60FPS HEVC files.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I had to put this all out there because we\u2019ve now reached a point where I can\u2019t keep up with Apple. I can\u2019t just go out and buy AirPods 2.0 when they come out or AirPower when it ships or an Apple television if that ever happens. If they introduce AR\/VR goggles, I\u2019m out, no thanks and I also think that I need to move to a 5 year upgrade cycle on my Macintosh computers, a 3 year cycle on my iPads and iPhones and a 3 year cycle on AppleWatch. Purchasing a new iPad every 2 years and iPhone every year is too often and far too expensive. Just Sunday, I added AppleCare to my iPhone XS. I hadn\u2019t done that since the iPhone 6s when I decided to just succumb to Verizon\u2019s 12 month upgrade plan where you agree to pay the phone off in 24 months and in 12 months, you can upgrade. I decided to run that game plan for 4 years and skip AppleCare but the iPhone XS is finally a phone that I do think I\u2019ll keep for at least 2 years and possibly 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So if Apple\u2019s goal is to make their product last longer, I\u2019m all for it but they\u2019re partially doing it by raising prices which I really don\u2019t agree with. And if you\u2019e like me and always want to own the latest Apple Hardware, it\u2019s now an impossible chore, one that most people can\u2019t possibly keep up with. If I upgraded all of my Apple Hardware every year, I\u2019d do nothing but buy Apple hardware and eat ramen every meal. It\u2019s already a difficult task being a home owner and Apple fanboy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Looking at these figures again, I\u2019m not even sure if I want to publish this.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is one of those posts that some people will respect because they\u2019ve been loyal Apple fans for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2018-11-12T19:56:38Z","apple_news_api_id":"02793f4c-1a90-44ff-bff4-d3212492a318","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2018-11-12T19:56:42Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AAnk_TBqQRP-_9NMhJJKjGA","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-technology","7":"cs-entry","8":"cs-video-wrap"},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-1YM","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14631,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2026\/04\/24\/the-cost-of-apple-fanboyism-in-2026\/","url_meta":{"origin":7612,"position":0},"title":"The Cost of Apple-Fanboyism in 2026","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"April 24, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Previous updates: 2018, 2020, 2021 MacRumors on 4\/23\/2026: \"A Full Apple Ecosystem Now Costs Less Than a MacBook Pro\" iPhone 17e: $599 MacBook Neo: $599 iPad (11th generation): $349 Magic Keyboard Folio: $249 Apple Pencil (USB-C): $79 Apple Watch SE 3: $249 AirPods 4: $129 Apple TV 4K: $129 HomePod\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8607,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2021\/11\/08\/the-cost-of-apple-fanboyism-in-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":7612,"position":1},"title":"The Cost of Apple-Fanboyism in 2021","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"November 8, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"See 2018 and 2020 costs here What I hope will continue as a semi-annual tradition, I\u2019ve been tracking Apple\u2019s costs informally for a while. The price of an iPhone from $499 to $1599 has come alongside inflation and technology improvements. It\u2019s okay for costs to increase over time but, as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6649,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2017\/02\/05\/technology-apple-homekit-deployment-plan-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":7612,"position":2},"title":"Technology: Apple HomeKit Deployment Plan (2017)","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"February 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Apple\u2019s HomeKit API is a system Apple owns, only works on Apple devices, requires an always-on iOS or TvOS device in the home and requires manufacturers to adhere to strict security policies set by Apple to become HomeKit Certified \u201cWorks with Apple HomeKit\u201d. I\u2019ve always joked about how Apple\u2019s \u201cWorks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;My House&quot;","block_context":{"text":"My House","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/my-house\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5051,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2015\/09\/18\/technology-ive-cancelled-my-apple-music-subscription-living-in-the-future-is-rough\/","url_meta":{"origin":7612,"position":3},"title":"Technology: I&#8217;ve cancelled my Apple Music Subscription + Living in the future is rough","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"September 18, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Apple\u2019s 3 Month Music subscription will end soon and I\u2019ve decided to cancel. Why? It\u2019s kind of funny but like most technology use cases, I live on the fringe. What do I use Apple music for? I open iTunes, iOS Music or Apple CarPlay and click the \u201cFor You\u201d Tab\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8376,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2020\/10\/13\/the-cost-of-apple-fanboyism-in-2020\/","url_meta":{"origin":7612,"position":4},"title":"The Cost of Apple-Fanboyism in 2020","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"October 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I published this post in 2018 where I break down pricing of someone like myself who wants to buy in to the Apple ecosystem whole-hog. Note, inflation I supposedly 3.7% from 2018 to 2020 so we can factor that int to my math. Here are prices from 2018: iPhone XS:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8300,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2020\/08\/20\/linked-where-did-macs-resale-value-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":7612,"position":5},"title":"Linked: &#8220;Where did Mac\u2019s resale value go?&#8221;","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"August 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Via Om: So I wondered, how much can I get for my 8-month old Macbook Pro? I mean if it was not too much, I would be happy to upgrade to new model. Unfortunately, the cost is too much. Apple\u2019s official trade-in says that I could get $1530, which is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}