Beats Me Why the Price Increased

Around the same day that I ordered iPhone 13 Proone for my wife and another for me—my sister called and the audio quality was crystal clear. For months she struggled to find a satisfactory Bluetooth headset, with little luck. She tried a different approach: Look on Apple Store, from which she bought Beats Flex for $49.99. Sis spends lots of time on the phone, computer, and video chats; she does software support for a non-profit. Outgoing audio quality matters. People need to hear her clearly.

I had already planned to buy something. While I carry my smartphones bareback, calling no longer would be device to ear starting with the 13 Pro. I can’t imagine that holding a 5G radio to my head is healthy behavior. My sister and I typically walk and talk during her hour lunch break; that’s too long 5G proximity to my brain. If the Beats Flex worked so well for her, surely they could for me. So on Sept. 22, 2021, I ordered a set from Apple Store and picked them up the next day from the Fashion Valley location.

The story should end there, boringly enough that this post wouldn’t otherwise be. But there is a surprising twist. On September 27, in my newsfeed, several Apple blogs reported that the fruit-logo company raised the selling price to $69.99. Say what? By my quick calculation that $20 more is a 40-percent hike. For $50, Apple could take my money. But seventy bucks—no sale. Value was part of the appeal.

To illustrate this post, I captured the Featured Image, today, using Leica Q2. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/4, ISO 250, 1/125 sec, 28mm; 12:42 p.m. PDT. One of the camera’s outstanding extras is the Macro mode activated by turning a ring around the Summilux lens, which I did for this shot.