Been following Apple launches for a long time......for some reason this one feels quite different. I've never heard Apple really pushing for mass production like this. Is there a super key feature outside 120hz that they feel will make it sell like crazy?
The line from this article intrigues me.
A billion people now have iPhones. According to my estimate, Apple surpassed the billion iPhone users milestone last month. Thirteen years after going on sale, the iPhone remains the perennial most popular and best-selling smartphone. Competitors continue to either shamelessly copy iPhone o
www.aboveavalon.com
My estimate does not assume a mega upgrade cycle kicked off by 5G iPhones. With the iPhone installed base having surpassed a billion users and continuing to expand by 20M to 30M people each year, Apple is in a good position to grow iPhone unit sales as the iPhone upgrade cycle plateaus between four and five years. This is where iPhone’s strong resale value enters the picture with consumers embracing various upgrading plans and options made possible by a well-functioning gray market.
If true, the likely reason is probably a lot more boring and pragmatic than the next iPhone having some killer, "must have" feature. Rather, it's a combination of existing users who are still on older iPhones finally deciding that it's time to upgrade (I am one of them who plans to upgrade from my 8+), to Apple making it easier to trade in their older iPhones (which in turn helps offset the higher prices of the next iPhone) and finance the cost of newer devices. In addition, these 2nd hand iPhones make their way to additional users, who in turn go on to purchase additional accessories, apps and services.
techpinions.com
Bottom line, with the iPhone Trade-in Program Apple has rather masterfully addressed the inevitable challenge of a slowing smartphone market. It makes the high cost of acquiring a new iPhone more tenable, allows Apple to capture a good chunk of the residual value of selling an old iPhone, and it helps Apple to continue to build out the iOS installed base. That’s a win, win, win, and I expect to hear Apple talk even more about this going forward.
I would also like to share this article on how Apple's trade-in programme helps drive sales of newer iPhones and grow Apple's install base overall.
So even if people are holding on to their devices longer on average, the fact that the iPhone install base has grown to be so large means that even if a smaller percentage of users upgrade every year, this still works out hundreds of millions of iPhones sold every year. Which works out to be a net growth overall.
Which also suggests that Apple will only go on to gain more and more momentum in the coming years.
That the next iPhone may lack Touch ID or periscope lens or some other feature they deem a "must have" completely misses the whole point - which is that apple users do not buy specs.
Business 101 is probably a lot more boring than talking about folding phones, but one only gets you headlines on a tech blog like Theverge, while the other gets you the sales.
