Brandon Uralowich
Prof. Eileen James
Comp I
September 28, 2018
Critical Review of iPhones
In todays world cellphones are almost, if not are, an essential item to carry or own. Some would argue that this is, in fact, not a step in the right direction for society, while others would say it is absolutely needed in todays social world. Technically speaking, they are not even referred to as cellphones any longer, instead being referred to as smartphones with all the advancements and “smart” things they can do. Although the whole “smartphones taking over the world” concept is, in itself, a controversial subject and could be reviewed on weather, as a whole, they are good or bad for society; today I will be reviewing just one type of smartphone, the ever-so popular iPhone and why you, as a consumer, shouldn’t give into their marketing ploys so easily.
Have you ever seen a advertisement on TV from Apple showing off their brand new iPhone? I can answer that for you, of course you have because they come out with an “all-new platform and design” almost annually. When watching these televised advertisements, you will most likely notice only two things, one being this new iPhone panning around the screen, the other will be the cinematic and dramatic affect they add to the commercial itself, almost resembling an movie trailer. If you look at this through the three rhetorical appeals of literature this would be a method of appealing to the emotions of the audience or pathos. In most of the advertisements of apples new iPhone they will normally have a pitch black backdrop behind the phone itself, as well as close-up shots of the “new details’’ and “new features”, all while usually playing a fancy or dramatic track in the background. If you look at it as a whole, they are keeping it plain and simple, wanting the viewers to keep their eyes solely on this new shiny device, hopefully appealing to the audience’s emotions and getting those “wows” to make these viewers potential buyers.
As I mentioned previously, Apple likes to go on to advertise their “new features and designs’’ for each and every year they make a new iPhone. If you look at it in retrospect, are they realistically adding to their new phones? I myself have some credibility in this aspect being a buyer of Apple’s iPhones and can say you may be paying more for that new iPhone for less features and accessibility. iPhones first started off as pretty generic and simple smartphones, having volume buttons on the side, a home button, plug- in location for your headphones, etc. Well the newest iPhone has almost half of those physical accessibilities that the original one had. That plug-in location for your headphones has since been removed, leaving people to wonder “how are we suppose to listen to our music?’’. Now instead, you need to purchase an adapter that can then plug in to your iPhone, allowing you to finally enjoy using headphones on your one thousand dollar smart phone. Before buying you must also consider, even if they are adding some “new features”, are they realistically worth the price tag?
The newest release from Apple is the “iPhone XS” which can have a retail price of up to fifteen thousand dollars. I believe most people today would agree this is an absurd price for a phone, but if we go even further and look at last years model iPhone the “iPhone X’’ it was sold for around the same retail price at the time. If we were to look at this logically you can begin to see the scam or tactic in apples annual releasing of iPhones. Since you are now allowed to finance or make monthly payments on phones, based on their, again, absurd prices, releasing a “all-new phone” every year can trick the once viewers, now buyers, into a never ending loop of paying Apple. iPhones today are one of the most used and purchased smartphones in the world and almost all of the people that have them want to stay up to date with them and the new technology that is advertised with them. Lets say, for instance, someone bought the “iPhone X” last year, make a couple hundred dollar downpayment, leading to around a forty dollar monthly payment. They go on to enjoy their new phone for a few months, only to see a new advertisement about the next iPhone now the “iPhone XS” coming into stores soon. Well that person that has only had their now “iPhone X” for a few months is going to want stay up to date and want this new fancy iPhone because now they are outdated. So they go on to get the newest “iPhone XS’’ only to find out they have yet to pay off their now “outdated” iPhone, and must do so before upgrading to the newest platform. Now the controversial issue is to pay off the old phone, only to start a new payment on a phone that will be “outdated” in several months to come, or keep what you have until you eventually pay it off.
If you choose to constantly upgrade your phone each release, I believe you are falling into Apples overall scam to reel people in to a never ending payment on phones. The scam starts from the beginning, just being a viewer of the new iPhone taking interest in the distraction of a fancy smartphone panning around your television followed by dramatic and cinematic effects. The ploy goes on to show off its “new added features” that could honestly be less accessible for the consumer and may actually take away from the integrity of a smartphone. All of this ending in a opportunity for that consumer to be making endless payments on these new phones that may not actually be all that different from the previous models.
