CDMA iPhone 4 Sales Below Apple's Expectations?

MacRumors · Apr 28, 2011

In an article about Pegatron's net losses for the first quarter of 2011, DigiTimes reveals that the iPhone 4 manufacturer is said to be lowering their production of CDMA (Verizon-compatible) iPhone 4s in 2011 from the originally expected 10 million units down to only 5 million units.<p class="quote"> Meanwhile, Pegatron originally expected to ship 10 million CDMA iPhone 4s in 2011, but sources from upstream component makers pointed out that Apple's orders already saw a significant reduction and the volume is estimated to drop to only five million units.</p>CDMA refers to the radio technology used by Verizon for their mobile phones. The CDMA iPhone (aka Verizon iPhone) was launched in February of this year and saw 2.2 million activations in the partial first quarter of its launch. Despite the years of speculation about a Verizon-compatible iPhone, its reception may have been ultimately tempered by the late introduction in the iPhone 4's lifecycle as well as many customers still being locked into existing contracts.

Apple is widely expected to introduce a new iPhone later this year. That new iPhone will likely be a global device, incorporating both CDMA and GSM technologies into a single design.

Article Link: CDMA iPhone 4 Sales Below Apple's Expectations?

roadbloc · Apr 28, 2011

Not surprising. Android is becoming the more dominant... thing.

aiqw9182 · Apr 28, 2011

No surprises here, the majority of people are waiting for the next iPhone.

StayingOccupied · Apr 28, 2011

I have a droid.(had iPhone on ATT but didnt get coverage at work/home) I payed an extra $100 to get the 1 year commitment in Nov 2009 just in case the CDMA iPhone came out a year later. Well it did come out a year later and my verizon contract was up. But I didnt get it because it was the same 8 month old phone and there is 0 chance I am going to get locked into a 2 year deal in january for a 8 month old phone that I wont be able to trade in until the June release 2.5 years later.

I'm surprised they are surprised.

michaelsviews · Apr 28, 2011

Android and the fact at least in my area is that Verizon is going LTE, Apple's not putting out an LTE model till next year. Also with Verizon in our area there too busy dealing with FiOS which has been a disaster and upgrading there network.

With that said I have more confidence in Verizon bringing on faster speeds that AT&T.

To buy or not to buy the white iPhone 4 or stay with the 3G, Hmmmmmm

Hustler1337 · Apr 28, 2011

aiqw9182 said:
No surprises here, the majority of people are waiting for the next iPhone.

I agree. Most people who wanted the iPhone 4 will have got one by the time the verizon version was released. Also, there was no concrete proof that a Verizon iPhone will be released when the original gsm iPhone 4 was released. As the article states, either people are stuck in contracts or are equally just going to wait fr the next generation of the iPhone, seeing as it is only a few months away.

OllyW · Apr 28, 2011

aiqw9182 said:
No surprises here, the majority of people are waiting for the next iPhone.

Too right.

The iPhone 4 is now 10 months old, that's getting a bit long in the tooth in the ever evolving tech world.

Popeye206 · Apr 28, 2011

OllyW said:
Too right.

The iPhone 4 is now 10 months old, that's getting a bit long in the tooth in the ever evolving tech world.

Agreed, and I think that Android devices finally grew up into a decent alternative many people got tired of waiting and are now under contract with something else. So the available market shrunk as more people got under contract.

Even though the iPhone4 is a great phone, the iPhone 5 is needed soon to energize things. Too many people realize that the iPhone4 is nearing the end of it's life cycle.

dethmaShine · Apr 28, 2011

OllyW said:
Too right.

The iPhone 4 is now 10 months old, that's getting a bit long in the tooth in the ever evolving tech world.

Agreed + the fact that this model was not released with the original phone; so it was going to suffer.

The real comparison would be the white iPhone 4 + the black iPhone 4 after April to iPhone 3GS when the iPhone4 came out.

Warbrain · Apr 28, 2011

roadbloc said:
Not surprising. Android is becoming the more dominant... thing.

Not the right reason...

StayingOccupied said:
I have a droid.(had iPhone on ATT but didnt get coverage at work/home) I payed an extra $100 to get the 1 year commitment in Nov 2009 just in case the CDMA iPhone came out a year later. Well it did come out a year later and my verizon contract was up. But I didnt get it because it was the same 8 month old phone and there is 0 chance I am going to get locked into a 2 year deal in january for a 8 month old phone that I wont be able to trade in until the June release 2.5 years later.

I'm surprised they are surprised.

This is. People who are or were with Verizon are now:

Waiting for their contract to be up for renewal so they can upgrade
Waiting for the iPhone 5
Already switched to AT&T and may switch back once their AT&T contract is up

It's possible that once there's a new CDMA-capable iPhone and people's contracts are expiring with their Android smartphones they bought from Verizon as a stopgap that you'll see Android's share drop a bit.

Warbrain · Apr 28, 2011

Popeye206 said:
Agreed, and I think that Android devices finally grew up into a decent alternative many people got tired of waiting and are now under contract with something else. So the available market shrunk as more people got under contract.

Even though the iPhone4 is a great phone, the iPhone 5 is needed soon to energize things. Too many people realize that the iPhone4 is nearing the end of it's life cycle.

This is the issue with a yearly product cycle. People begin to understand when that cycle starts over, avoid new purchases of the product, and even tell their friends and family to not buy right now.

D4F · Apr 28, 2011

Warbrain said:
Not the right reason...

This is. People who are or were with Verizon are now:

Waiting for their contract to be up for renewal so they can upgrade

Waiting for the iPhone 5

Already switched to AT&T and may switch back once their AT&T contract is up

It's possible that once there's a new CDMA-capable iPhone and people's contracts are expiring with their Android smartphones they bought from Verizon as a stopgap that you'll see Android's share drop a bit.

You do realize how stupid that sentence is right? Just for fun? Or you really believe what you just wrote?

crackbookpro · Apr 28, 2011

Apple...

You are/were 1 to 2 years late with putting out this Verizon iPhone.

Android has gained adoption...

Don't worry, you will be fine in the long run - a Verizon LTE iPhone 6 will get your sales kicked in within the Verizon market. I know I will be going back to an iPhone when it happens.

coder12 · Apr 28, 2011

Warbrain said:
This is the issue with a yearly product cycle. People begin to understand when that cycle starts over, avoid new purchases of the product, and even tell their friends and family to not buy right now.

You're right, remember the whole 3gs thing after the iPhone 4 was leaked? Sales fell through the floor cuz everyone just wanted the 4 and they knew it'd be releases really soon thanks to the release cycle.

onigami · Apr 28, 2011

I still use a Verizon dumbphone. I see no real reason to switch to iphone, simply because I have little interest in the device (plus, I can't afford a data plan right now, which is required when you buy a Verizon smartphone)

wilheldp · Apr 28, 2011

I was really excited about the Verizon iPhone because I absolutely hate AT&T. I had Verizon for 7 years, and never dropped a single call. But I switched to AT&T when the iPhone 3GS came out, and now I drop the call on about 90% of the calls I make (no joke).

When the Verizon iPhone was announced, I was planning to decide whether to pay the ETF to AT&T and switch immediately, or wait until June when my contract was up. When I saw that the Verizon iPhone was just the iPhone 4 with a new wireless chip, it made my decision to wait a little easier.

That was Apple's first attempt at stretching the life of the iPhone 4, and apparently, people didn't bite (since CDMA phone sales didn't meet expectations). Now, they are making their second stab at extending the life of the iPhone 4 by finally releasing the white models. The problem is that they are trying to get longevity out of a design that was heavily flawed to begin with. Not only does the death grip reduce signal strength, but Apple is stubbornly refusing to integrate LTE.

I will not make the switch back to Verizon until Apple releases an iPhone with a 4G chip in it AND completely re-designs the antenna so that I can hold the phone any way I damn well please and still have good signal. It looks like I may not get that until September or Q1 2012. Well, so be it.

Apple is starting to get the attitude that they cannot make a mistake, and Android device makers are capitalizing on Apple's arrogance.

Iskender · Apr 28, 2011

Of course it will not be sold better than GSM model. Do Apple realize that most of the people from around the world buying from USA, not from the oficial stores and making jailbreak or so on to use it in their local network, this is because its very expensive outside of the USA. Personally I hate that logic of Apple not to think about rest of the world, if Apple want to be a global brand so the pricing politics should be equal I think. And the second reason is that at the rest of the world there are so little CDMA networks so people won't buy it. Apples marketing strategy is very weird, they release everything late, but sometimes release a new technology like multitouch etc.

Popeye206 · Apr 28, 2011

wilheldp said:
I was really excited about the Verizon iPhone because I absolutely hate AT&T. I had Verizon for 7 years, and never dropped a single call. But I switched to AT&T when the iPhone 3GS came out, and now I drop the call on about 90% of the calls I make (no joke).

When the Verizon iPhone was announced, I was planning to decide whether to pay the ETF to AT&T and switch immediately, or wait until June when my contract was up. When I saw that the Verizon iPhone was just the iPhone 4 with a new wireless chip, it made my decision to wait a little easier.

That was Apple's first attempt at stretching the life of the iPhone 4, and apparently, people didn't bite (since CDMA phone sales didn't meet expectations). Now, they are making their second stab at extending the life of the iPhone 4 by finally releasing the white models. The problem is that they are trying to get longevity out of a design that was heavily flawed to begin with. Not only does the death grip reduce signal strength, but Apple is stubbornly refusing to integrate LTE.

I will not make the switch back to Verizon until Apple releases an iPhone with a 4G chip in it AND completely re-designs the antenna so that I can hold the phone any way I damn well please and still have good signal. It looks like I may not get that until September or Q1 2012. Well, so be it.

Apple is starting to get the attitude that they cannot make a mistake, and Android device makers are capitalizing on Apple's arrogance.

Dude... if you're dropping 90% of your calls on the iPhone 3G then you should have talked to AT&T. They would have given you a personal cell tower to fix your signal issue. Your iPhone has nothing to do with your poor signal strength.

ChazUK · Apr 28, 2011

i've got to agree with others and say unless you were desperate it would be silly at this point to want a CDMA iP4.

With the next revision so close, the benefit of waiting could be immense and I be a lot of other people see that too.

AaronEdwards · Apr 28, 2011

"Just wait for the Verizon iPhone 4 numbers!"
"Just wait for the White iPhone 4 numbers!"
"Just wait for the iPhone 4S numbers!"
"Just wait for the iPhone 5 numbers!"

I'm starting to see a pattern.

D4F · Apr 28, 2011

Iskender said:
Of course it will not be sold better than GSM model. Do Apple realize that most of the people from around the world buying from USA, not from the oficial stores and making jailbreak or so on to use it in their local network, this is because its very expensive outside of the USA. Personally I hate that logic of Apple not to think about rest of the world, if Apple want to be a global brand so the pricing politics should be equal I think. And the second reason is that at the rest of the world there are so little CDMA networks so people won't buy it. Apples marketing strategy is very weird, they release everything late, but sometimes release a new technology like multitouch etc.

It will never be. EU adds specific tax to all products so unless apple puts a factory somewhere in the EU it won't change.

Torrijos · Apr 28, 2011

I might add that a CDMA phone, that can't offer simultaneous data transfer and voice is annoying (has it happens I have often offered directions to friends that haven't yet jumped in the smartphone world), but more importantly if you travel to europe it's mostly GSM territory, your phone becoming useless.

I really hope that the next iteration of the iPhone be global device.

GregA · Apr 28, 2011

MacRumors said:
Apple is widely expected to introduce a new iPhone later this year. That new iPhone will likely be a global device, incorporating both CDMA and GSM technologies into a single design.

I'm starting to think the next iPhone will be the albatross of iPhones. The A5 chip is BIG.... and I hope the Qualcomm chip is just as small and efficient as the existing 3G chip (I'm assuming it won't be any better?), since this whole "world phone" really means nothing to anyone except Verizon customers (who will be able to roam to GSM).

I'm due for an upgrade (2 year cycle), but my wife on the matching 2 year cycle seems to be getting the better deal :-/

Still, rumours are rumours. We'll see what we see. I'm enjoying my iPad2

einmusiker · Apr 28, 2011

this is front page news????

Popeye206 · Apr 28, 2011

Iskender said:
Of course it will not be sold better than GSM model. Do Apple realize that most of the people from around the world buying from USA, not from the oficial stores and making jailbreak or so on to use it in their local network, this is because its very expensive outside of the USA. Personally I hate that logic of Apple not to think about rest of the world, if Apple want to be a global brand so the pricing politics should be equal I think. And the second reason is that at the rest of the world there are so little CDMA networks so people won't buy it. Apples marketing strategy is very weird, they release everything late, but sometimes release a new technology like multitouch etc.

A couple of notes... the end user price of your iPhone is really driven by your carrier and what they are willing to subsidize. Also, it's very common in many industries to price things differently from country to country based on local markets. I know in our markets, we have some countries like India that we sell at about a 20% discount of the US, but in Europe, it's about 10% more expensive. Very common.

CDMA iPhone 4 Sales Below Apple's Expectations?

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