Apple makes some good looking products and that is a fact. Matter of fact, I am typing this on an old school MacBook that is over 5 years old and still looks good. The ONLY way I would buy something like this is as a refurbie. Now, to the point of this blog-rant-vent-whatever. On Tom's Guide website, they have an article titled "iPhone 8 Will Be a Smash Hit Even at $1,200" (the link is below). I have not read the article, but I want to deal with a notion, which is based upon the title. People have lost their freakin' minds if they believe $1200 for a phone is a good deal. Apple, or better yet the late Steve Jobs, figured out a way to maximize the value of a product by way of creating a cult like following, while selling to the MINDS of people. I believed he referred to it as making the Apple sexy. Well he succeeded. "You must have this product" has been etched into the minds of the people of today. For a while it was dang near impossible to watch a phone review video without someone comparing the product to the iPhone. Now, back to the "excusable" price. If or when Samsung does the same thing with their phone, and they reaching that price level slowly, people will balk at it because, well, heck, it is Samsung. However, Apple gets a continuous free price hike pass. Yes, Tom's Guide's title is correct, but it is because people have been mentally "worked" to a point that they really believe $1200 is justifiable for a PHONE. I will stop at this point because I can hear the rapid smacking of the feet of fanboy on the pavement coming to the defense of Apple.