A flagship phone or laptop falls substantially in price within a year of release. The size of that fall says more about how launch prices are set than about the product.
Launch prices are positional
The price at launch establishes where a product sits relative to competitors and to the maker's own range, and that position is a marketing decision.
Build cost sets a floor, but the distance above that floor is chosen, and for premium devices the distance is considerable.
That gap is what makes a later reduction possible without the product becoming unprofitable, since the margin absorbs the cut.
Early buyers are a distinct group
People who buy at launch value having the newest device and are the least sensitive to price, so charging them the maximum captures the most revenue.
Once that group has bought, the remaining audience is more price-sensitive, and reaching it requires a lower price rather than more advertising.
Staged reductions therefore harvest each layer of willingness to pay in sequence, which yields more total revenue than a single price would.
Why the successor forces the drop
A new model reframes the old one as previous generation, and the perceived value of the older device falls faster than its capability does.
Retailers holding remaining stock must clear it before the replacement occupies the shelf, and they discount to whatever moves the units.
Trade-in values fall at the same moment for the same reason, which is why the second-hand market moves in step with the launch calendar.
What the older device gives up
Software support is the main consideration, because operating system and security updates run for a defined period from the original release.
Buying a year late spends a year of that window, which matters more on devices with shorter support commitments than on those with long ones.
Battery condition is the other factor for stock that has been sitting, since cells age on the shelf as well as in use.
Where the discount is largest
Reductions are steepest on configurations and colours that sold least, and on models whose successor changed something buyers particularly wanted.
They are shallowest where the older device remains in the official range as a cheaper option, since the maker is then managing the price deliberately.
The pattern is consistent enough that timing a purchase to the weeks after a launch event is the simplest way to buy a premium device below its launch price.