Recently I have been thinking about how do I spend on apple hardware and I started my inventory and Here's the cost breakdown for a family of four with teenage kids. Again I started with no zero apple devices and my foray into apple in 2007 with the launch of iPhone 1 (from my employer)

Assuming 3 Year Cost of Ownership

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------+ | Item Description | Amount | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------+ | 2 Mac Air (teenagers) = $1k per device * 2 = $2k | $2,000 | | 2 MacBook Pro (2 adults) = $1.5k per device = $3k | $3,000 | | 4 iPhones (2 newer and 2 old gen teenager): $1k avg * 2 + $500 avg * 2 = $3K | $3,000 | | 4 Earbuds (2 Pro + 2 std) $250 * 2 + 100 * 2 = $700 | $700 | | 2 Watches (Only Parents) - $400 * 2 = $800 | $800 | | 1 iPad (Whole family) : $500 | $500 | | Apple Care = 15 devices / $19.99 / 3 devices = $100 per month = $1200 per year * 3 = $3.6k | $3,600 | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------+ | TOTAL | $13,600 | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------+

Total = $14k for devices every 3 years. At the end of 3 years you may be left with 30% of value which is $4.2k

Other services that you may use iCloud Storage: 2TB $9.99 App subscriptions Music Streaming services

One more pet peeve of mine with apple is: Most of their starter models (macbooks and mini) have high cpu and low memory (8GB seriously??). I hope they seriously consider updating all starter models to come with 32GB memory which will make it last justifying the high cost of investment.