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The “Apple Tax” Is Quietly Disappearing

Tech

An iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, MacBook, and AirPods—all for $1,925? Is it too good to be true?! Try the Anker soundcore Liberty 5 Pro and Pro Max BEFORE YOU PAY for 30-days (Limited Spots!) - https://soundcore.tech/D120304_LDP_launch_Snazzy_Labs_1_294353 Buy Liberty 5 Pro on Amazon - https://soundcore.tech/D1203_product_launch_Snazzy_Labs_1_617075 Buy Liberty 5 Pro Max on Amazon - https://soundcore.tech/D1204_product_launch_Snazzy_Labs_1_803929 *Buy FANTASTIC merch at Copland Supply* - https://copland.supply Follow Snazzy Labs on Twitter - https://twitter.com/snazzylabs Follow me on Bluesky - https://snazzy.fm/UW Follow me on Threads - https://snazzy.fm/XV Follow me on Mastodon - https://snazzy.fm/NN Follow me on Instagram - https://instagram.com/snazzyq Apple’s budget lineup just got dangerously good, and a complete current-generation ecosystem—iPhone 17E, MacBook Neo, the entry-level iPad, Apple Watch SE 3, and AirPods 4—now costs just $1,925 at Apple, or under $1,700 on Amazon, versus the $7,000 flagship setup of an iPhone Air, M5 MacBook Pro, M5 iPad Pro, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and AirPods Pro 3. The $599 iPhone 17E borrows the iPhone Air’s gorgeous thin design with ceramic shield 2, the C1X modem, and an A19 chip, but drops to a 60Hz display, 8GB of RAM, Wi-Fi 6, and the notch over the Dynamic Island. The $599 MacBook Neo packs an A18 Pro that benchmarks near M1 multi-core and M3 single-core, yet its 8GB RAM ceiling, single 4K external display limit, and USB 2 port reveal the compromises, while the $299 iPad’s A16, non-laminated 60Hz panel, and lack of Apple Intelligence test how far cheap can go. The Apple Watch SE 3 surprises with flagship-grade S10 silicon, sleep apnea detection, always-on display, and double tap for $249—losing only ECG, blood oxygen, and dual-frequency GPS—and the AirPods 4 keep the ecosystem magic but sacrifice fit, seal, bass, and serious ANC. A 30-day budget Apple challenge that asks whether the Apple tax is finally dead. #apple #budgettech #macbookneo #soundcore #liberty5pro #liberty5promax #bestearbudsforcalls #bestwirelessearbuds 0:00 The $7,000 Apple Tax Myth 0:36 A Whole Ecosystem for $1,925 2:36 30 Days, Zero Flagships 3:07 The Beautiful Budget iPhone 9:58 No Seal, No Bass, No Thanks 12:08 A World Record in Your Ears 14:24 Measuring Lag in Frames Per Minute 21:36 Secretly a Flagship Watch 29:49 8 Gigabytes Is Not Enough 35:01 What Would You Compromise On?

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océane.blin 2 weeks, 4 days ago

That pink iPad looks INCREDIBLE

gabinoirizarry390
gabinoirizarry390 2 weeks, 4 days ago

I’m an apple bottom feeder. I had the Pro phone, the MacBook Pro and the iPad Pro. Then it came time to upgrade as they all aged out. After really looking at my day to day use of the devices, I realised I could use the base models of everything and it would make no real difference. I now have the neo, the watch SE3 and the 17e. I’m saving £££’s and they do everything I need. A weird side effect is I don’t feel the need to baby them. Sure, it would suck if they broke, but it’s nowhere near as expensive to replace one of these devices (also AppleCare is cheaper!)

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liesalangern86 2 weeks, 4 days ago

11:50 I got them. Because I HATE the tips on the Pros. I hate having something shoved into my ear canal. It's not comfortable at all. I'm so happy that Apple still makes the non-tip Airpods. For me, the bass is just fine and the noise cancellation works well enough. Is it as good as the Airpods Max? No, but the last flight I took I left the Max's at home and only used my 4's with ANC and it was just fine and I didn't have the extra bulk of the Max's (and that terrible carrying case). I also got the ANC 4s for about the same prices that the non-ANC ones are usually (Black Friday sale) so there's that.

diego_almeida
diego_almeida 2 weeks, 5 days ago

17:30 Where I'm from, pocket wifi routers (sometimes marketed as "mifi") are very common. Those things give you the best of both worlds, being convenient and powersaving for each connected device (because they don't have to act as their own modems), while being connected to the internet all the time and only having to pay for a single internet plan.

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mohammed.barrett 2 weeks, 5 days ago

23:00 The Apple Watch SE (1st generation) started at $280 brand-new.

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rodneyserene4 2 weeks, 5 days ago

This is a great video! Apple has seriously gotten so much better at offering better value with their base products. The reality is that most of us (me included), never really needed the expensive stuff, just out of desire. For example, I'm still on an iPhone 14 Pro, and I even wonder if I'd actually go for a regular model, come time to need a new phone. They're just that good now. Sure, the latest tech is exciting and way beyond what we could have expected, but I also believe that, no surprise, we are wanting greater value for every dollar that we spend these days, and Apple has consistently maintained as best pricing as they can. I look forward to seeing your results Quinn!

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udarshsolara37 2 weeks, 5 days ago

i love my ipad a16 coming from a 6th gen ipad its miles better plus with what i use it for, as a sound engineer (mixing station) and a script reader or showing chords for guitar its amazing for those simple tasks, especially at £300

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ray_lewis 2 weeks, 5 days ago

the camera sensor on the se is was smaller. like a quarter the area

annshah455
annshah455 2 weeks, 5 days ago

I'll be finally getting my lemon Neo this week, ordered it over 2 weeks ago, the 512. Only need it for lite work when not at my iMac (still got the M1) so not a power user but I couldn't justify the extra cost of the Air when most of the time i'll be using my iMac. Saving the money to upgrade the iMac once the 27" model comes out!

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liesalangern86 2 weeks, 5 days ago

By the way. The base ipad with base storage is about 30% slower than the one with 256gigs as confirmed by benchmarks the reads and writes i get on my 256 gig unit is almost equal 1350+ MB/s On top of having slower tier memory you seem to have lost the lottery even in the slow tier memory from the looks of it.

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justin_brown 2 weeks, 5 days ago

I have the iPhone 17e, the base MacBook Neo (without Touch ID), and Apple Watch SE 2. I also had the AirPods 4 ANC, but I sold it because they physically didn’t fit my ears and I had to adjust them constantly. (I reverted back to my 6+ year old AirPods Pro 1s, and may cough up for the Pro 3s once these die.) My ecosystem works quite well for my use case as an executive headhunter who works remote. It doesn’t feel like I settled for the budget options, because Apple is still Apple. I feel like there’s very little compromise between the baseline or even pro models.

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leon_williams 2 weeks, 5 days ago

18:46 Okay in terms of speed, yeah Touch ID on my 2020 MacBook Air isn't as fast and snappy as my s23. but do have to say it is MUCH more reliable and faster compared to my 2019 xps 13. like so much so to think that its a great fingerprint sensor.

irene.humphries
irene.humphries 2 weeks, 5 days ago

I want to call out that AirPods 4 are NOT the true budget option. If you are actually shopping for the cheapest possible Apple product, the EarPods with usb-c would be the option you would go to.

micheal_santiago
micheal_santiago 2 weeks, 5 days ago

Regarding the notch, comparing my previous iPhone 15 pro to the 14 I got from work (same chassis as 17e) I noticed that for 18:9 content dynamic island always cuts into it, whereas the notch actually is less noticeable, doesn't interfere with the content at all or at least minimally.

paulvaleon6
paulvaleon6 2 weeks, 5 days ago

0:51 crikey that’s expensive! It cost more than my car 😂 Though, jokes aside, that is a really good price. I mean, a fully working Citroen C1 WITH AIRCON for £950? Banging deal! That Apple stuff is also very well priced though

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dalton_gentry 2 weeks, 5 days ago

Looking forward to your review! Next challenge: A week with PPC and iPods, Nokia or SonyErricson?;-)

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christine_ferrand 2 weeks, 5 days ago

I’ve noticed quite a bit how much cheaper an Apple ecosystem is now compared to 10 years ago). Honestly it’s really good value for those who always choose the budget devices. My ecosystem is a mix of budget, mid-range and high-end devices. Prices in the years I got them may be different to what the prices are now of the newer generation devices. 2024: Apple Watch SE 2 (in Midnight with a Lake Green braided strap and 32GB of storage) - £269* MacBook Air M3 (in Midnight with 512GB of storage and 16GB of ram) - £1,399* on a student discount, £100 more without the discount. 2025: iPad (A16) (in Blue with 128GB of storage) - £309* on a student discount, £20 more without the discount. 2026: iPhone 17 (in Blue with 256GB of storage) - £799* AirPods Max 2 (in Blue) - £499* *Prices I paid were at the time of buying and Apple may change them in the future, and the prices for the products don’t include the price of cases (first or third-party) or any extras I got such as AppleCare+.

thibaultpixel54
thibaultpixel54 2 weeks, 5 days ago

Also a fellow SLC resident and I daily the iPhone Air! I’ve probably seen this phone out there like once. Most people just go for the base or the Pro Max. I really like the thinness and sometimes even wish that it’s thinner (not asking Apple to break physics or anything lol). It’s sad that this is probably going to be a one-off product. Would be nice to have another camera or a silicon carbon battery in this.

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manyadaylight5 2 weeks, 5 days ago

My MacBook Pro intel 2017 still works. The fan is going out and the lidrubber seals are cracking but hey it still googles stuff. Only got another used laptop cause I wanted to try Linux.

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irmela_bärer 2 weeks, 5 days ago

I'm living with a 64 GB iPhone SE 2, 2018 iPad, AirPods 4 ANC and Garmin watch I bought for $108 at Walmart 5 years ago. That you deign to levels still above me is funny to me because I'm happy with this stuff. I was doing the same with the Macs, living with no newer than a 2012 until 2020 when I began replacing all 5 Macs here with M1 and M4 and paid $3,300 for the M4 Max Mac Studio. Most of those I expect to keep for 10+ years.