iPhone 6 was Spain's best-selling mobile from December to February

The iPhone 6, Spain's best-selling mobile between December and February

The iPhone 6 was the best-selling phone in Spain. The consultancy Kantar WorldPanel places Apple's device at the head of the Spanish market between December 2014 and February 2015, a three-month period during which the Cupertino company maintained its positive momentum. The data is fruta and, at the same time, subject to interpretation: leading sales for a quarter does not make a mobile the best, nor its owner someone who has done the math. The list of grievances accumulated against the trendy phone is long, and not all of them stem from envy.

Is it so hard to be number one for three months?

The first caveat comes from the nature of the data itself. A newly released high-end mobile, with the brand pull that Apple carries, has no trouble dominating quarterly sales. The real antiestéticat would be to hold that position for a couple of years. From that point on, the disagreement becomes economic.

The iPhone 6 was being sold for 664 euros according to the prices at the time, compared to 590 for a Galaxy Note 4, the rival that some forum users considered technically superior. Some argue that spending that much money on a phone is an increasing scam, especially when actual use is reduced to messaging and a quick photo between tasks.

The other reproach points to replacement rather than the initial outlay. It is not the first payment that hurts, but the habit of repeating it every one or two years at 600 or 900 euros per device. At that point, the expense stops being a one-off whim and becomes a fixed fee, a recurring consumption disguised as technological renewal.

A camera that aimed to compete with a professional DSLR

The technical front that consumed the most energy had a single protagonist: the camera. The most ambitious thesis was defended by a professional architecture photographer who claimed, with his own samples, that the iPhone 6 sensor was on par in some aspects with a Canon 5D Mark II and that the phone could replace a DSLR for normal use. His argument: the size of the image sensor, the 1.5 µm he attributed to the iPhone 6 pixels compared to the 1.1 of the competition, and software he considered exclusive to Apple.

The response was blunt. It was argued that the sensor is always the most important part and that a Sony sensor of nearly three years old and a quarter of an inch cannot beat much larger sensors. Another analysis maintained that the famous 1.5 µm corresponds only to the focus pixels and that the rest are 1.2 µm, just like a Galaxy S6 which, according to this reading, leaves the iPhone in the dust.

Other names appeared in the middle. The Nokia Lumia 1020, with its 41-megapixel camera and RAW files; the Lumia 930; or the Sony Xperia Z3, with up to three days of battery life, 2 GB of RAM, and water resistance, all cheaper than the iPhone 6. As a final endorsement, the phone's defense turned to the iPhone Photography Awards 2015: if photos taken with this mobile win awards, there must be something to it. The counter-reply was as simple as it was forceful: in a photo contest of photos taken with an iPhone, it is obvious that the winner will be a photo taken with an iPhone.

Fast WhatsApp and the food photo

The actual use of the device is another open front. Some argue that most people who buy an iPhone do not need a professional camera to post a photo of their meal on social media or to forward memes via messaging. A mobile is, fundamentally, a camera of opportunity: the one you carry when you have no other at hand. Any modern device serves that purpose. And if one wants more, one can always turn to an advanced compact or a dedicated camera.

Some even attribute a function to the iPhone that has nothing to do with technology: flirting. The scene of an expensive phone in one hand and an even more expensive watch on the other sparks conversation, demonstrates spending power, and, under this cynical view, proves profitable as a social investment. It is the most blatant version of status-seeking: the device as a status marker, not as a tool.

664 euros: status-seeking or money well spent?

Behind the camera lies the uncomfortable question: why is it being bought? Some accuse the iPhone of being pure status-seeking and place its success in a country of appearances, where television gossip rules and people go into debt for a German car they don't need. The opposite reading does not dispute the diagnosis, but flips it: if someone wants to spend 700 euros on a mobile, it is their money; what is worrying is who ends up paying the bill.

The second-hand market feeds both sides. One seller claimed to have put a Galaxy S6 up for sale for 650 euros and received four offers in a week; a 16 GB iPhone 6 sold in less than 24 hours, with a waiting list. The iPhone holds its value; the rest depreciates. Some point out that those who cannot afford the new one look for that increasingly robust second-hand market, with resale chains full of practically brand-new devices.

99 iPhone 6s for the Corts Valencianes

The political issue entered through the back door. The acquisition of 64,200 euros in 99 iPhone 6s for the Valencian regional parliament (the Corts Valencianes), linked to the parties Compromís and Podemos, became the perfect example of what was being criticized: the elite changing their political labels, but not their devices. The scandal forced a rectification and postponed the purchase. And it left a bitter conclusion for the skeptics: the new ones are not better than the old ones, they simply arrived at the store sooner.

What to expect from all this

The most repeated prediction is that the cycle will only burst when a 100-euro mobile does the same for half the price. That could happen. Or it could repeat for another year, with the current iPhone at the head and the same discussion about sensors, cameras, and status-seeking. The only certainty is that the best-seller will make news again, and that almost no one will change their mind.