An anonymous Quora post posited a solid theory as to why the iPhone and the iPad seem to so handily beat out the competition every year. Its because Apple can get their guts literally years before anyone can even respond. Heres what he or she had to say: What Apple does is use its cash hoard to pay for the construction cost or a significant fraction of it of the factory in exchange for exclusive rights to the output production of the factory for a set period of time maybe 6 – 36 months, and then for a discounted rate afterwards. This yields two advantages: 1. Apple has access to new component technology months or years before its rivals. This allows it to release groundbreaking products that are actually impossible to duplicate… 2. Eventually its competitors catch up in component production technology, but by then Apple has their arrangement in place whereby it can source those parts at a lower cost due to the discounted rate they have negotiated with the now most-experienced and skilled provider of those parts – who has probably also brought his production costs down too…

via Is Apple So Far Ahead Because They Use Tech From the Future?.