Analysts Predict High Price of iPhone X Will Lead to 'Weakened Demand' in Q1 2018

[The Game 161]

X is expensive but on contract the note 8 is not far off here in UK on EE

I pay £87 a month but note 8 can be £70-£85 as well

Even the 8 plus is £80 on EE

So on a monthly contract there isn’t much between the top flagships

 

[BaltimoreMediaBlog]

I’m guessing it has more to do with lack of Touch ID and that notch. Those are my reasons for passing on the X.

The price is probably the major culprit for slow sales, but I predicted this simply because of the reduced functionality of the iPhone X in any car. It's literally much more dangerous to activate FACE-ID than TOUCH-ID in a car while driving. With TOUCH-D, you can unlock the phone by a blind touch and get driving instructions. With FACE-ID, there's no way you cannot take your eyes off the road to unlock the iPhone.

It just boggles my mind with doing all the self-driving car stuff, that they didn't think of this.

Who pays more for LESS every day functionality?

 

[eyeseeyou]

I think throttlegate has officially become a bigger concern for potential Apple custom sets than the iPhone X price tag.

 

[Sakurambo-kun]

Its the price for me. I update every year but I have a hard time justifying the monthly price... I would not drastically change or improve my experience with the current iPhone.

There is no rational justification to change your telephone every year. The earth has finite amount of resources. Stop wasting them.
[doublepost=1514370932][/doublepost]

The price is probably the major culprit for slow sales, but I predicted this simply because of the reduced functionality of the iPhone X in any car. It's literally much more dangerous to activate FACE-ID than TOUCH-ID in a car while driving. With TOUCH-D, you can unlock the phone by a blind touch and get driving instructions. With FACE-ID, there's no way you cannot take your eyes off the road to unlock the iPhone.

It just boggles my mind with doing all the self-driving car stuff, that they didn't think of this.

Who pays more for LESS every day functionality?

Nobody should be touching their phone whilst driving. It's incredibly dangerous and illegal. Never do it again.

 

[MH01]

Or, you know, the fact Apple ramped up production to meet holiday demand for once.

The price is high but this narrative of too high is getting old.

If £1350 with AC+ is a fair price and getting old for some of you guys..... well for some it's a lot of money. Glad it's not for you .

 

[25ghosts]

I'm guessing that Apple bumped the price to meet initial demand, but will reduce it shortly to a more popular price. They probably have plenty of margin to play with. I'm also wondering what happened to the scalpers hoping to resell the X at a premium.

Contrary to the Analysts and many in here, I don't believe that the price is going to cause (if a decline) the forecast decline. I think Apple could have priced the iPhone X below the iPhone 8 and still see a world wide declination in sales.

Folks talk about +1000USD for a phone being a high price. But USD2000 for a laptop isn't - USD4000 would be though. But I know a LOT of people who use their phone MUCH more than they use their $2000 Laptop. Thus, in hindsight, it would have made more sense to pay $2k for the phone $1k for the laptop.

If a product meets or exaggerates one's expectations in its capabilities the price becomes tertiary or even less.
It doesn't really matter whether the product is a phone, tablet, ear-lett, watch, laptop, desktop or glasses. They are all fitting the same base-class: computers, representing electronic devices which assist human beings in their daily lives.

On a personal note, I'd rather pay $2000 for an iPhone with a supernatural battery which doesn't exceed size and has 3 days of talk time, 30 days of standby along with being able to withstand daily use-cases a bit better, a device which basically utterly meets and exceeds my expectations of it, than paying $2000 for a 2017 laptop.

The iPhone X could carry a price tag of $500 and I still wouldn't buy it due to all its limitations which anyone can find everywhere on the web. Reason being that I don't buy anything that I don't need or find non-compelling, no matter the price tag. $100 would be too much for that phone because I would never wanna use it. Unless of course I could sell it for $1000 and make $900. But that would satisfy a different and financial need, and not the need for using a phone.

If price were the only criteria that mattered to me and everyone else, we'd just go buy a huawai or Samsung.

In the end what really matters is the pudding. The software that drives the hardware. If someone hacked iOS and let it run on Samsung and Co. I doubt that Apple would sell iPhones at all. Today, I'd rather pay $1000 for iOS and have it run on third party hardware than pay $1000 for an iPhone running iOS. The moment iOS loses its edge over Android (That day will probably never come) the iPhones won't matter at all.

 

[Rogifan]

If £1350 with AC+ is a fair price and getting old for some of you guys..... well for some it's a lot of money. Glad it's not for you .

Good thing Apple offers cheaper models in their lineup.

How anyone can be treating this story as credible is beyond me. Of course I guess I shouldn’t be surprised as Apple is always in a perpetual state of doom, one quarter away from crash and burn. And like clockwork every December/January we get stories of soft iPhone demand which sends the stock plummeting. Tim Cook has said umpteen times not to believe supply chain chatter yet Wall Street does every time. And this time it comes from Chinese firms with no track record citing unnamed sources reported via a Taiwanese news source.

Riddle me this: on what planet was Apple ever going to sell 50 million iPhone X’s in the quarter after the holiday quarter? The idea that Apple was ever forecasting that is complete fiction. As is the notion that Apple would be off in their forecasting by 20 million units. When have they ever mis-forecasted that badly? Never. Also if X sales were as soft as some want us to believe Apple would have issued revised guidance for the holiday quarter by now. It’s all fiction. There are some who are obsessed with iPhone being over and they won’t stop predicting its demise until that day finally happens.

 

[PeaceMonger]

Originally, iPhones were seen as extremely innovative, highly fashionable, cutting edge tech. They were.

Possession of an iPhone got attention - and marked you as a savvy person working with the leading edge of technology. People bought more than a phone; they bought perceived social status.

No longer.

Public perception has changed and possession of a $1,000 iPhone X is more likely to mark you as a "follower" or "fanboy" than a leader.

Apple itself is increasingly being revealed as a straight up predatory, amoral, ******* of a company. The tech is stale, the devices stripped of functional ports, the cost sky high and the software quality is eroding fast.

For me, Battery/Throttle Gate was the last ****ing straw. I am no longer waiting for the modular mac pro. I will never buy another iPhone at any price.

Since battery gate look at folks with a shiny new X (or 8) as ill-informed victims at best and blatantly stupid followers at worst. Apple ****ed its customers and has stated they intend to do it in the future.

So, those who like it so, pay your money, grab your ankles and grimace for faceId.

The rest of you can join me in figuring out the Android scene. Personally, I'm waiting for delivery of my new Pixel 2 XL.

 

[MH01]

Good thing Apple offers cheaper models in their lineup.

How anyone can be treating this story as credible is beyond me. Of course I guess I shouldn’t be surprised as Apple is always in a perpetual state of doom, one quarter away from crash and burn. And like clockwork every December/January we get stories of soft iPhone demand which sends the stock plummeting. Tim Cook has said umpteen times not to believe supply chain chatter yet Wall Street does every time. And this time it comes from Chinese firms with no track record citing unnamed sources reported via a Taiwanese news source.

Riddle me this: on what planet was Apple ever going to sell 50 million iPhone X’s in the quarter after the holiday quarter? The idea that Apple was ever forecasting that is complete fiction. As is the notion that Apple would be off in their forecasting by 20 million units. When have they ever mis-forecasted that badly? Never. Also if X sales were as soft as some want us to believe Apple would have issued revised guidance for the holiday quarter by now. It’s all fiction. There are some who are obsessed with iPhone being over and they won’t stop predicting its demise until that day finally happens.

Well I replied to someone implying the x is affordable and the fake news is that it's expensive. This thread is about the X

Why does it come down to demise for you ? The iPhone is here to stay. Competition is good - Cooks pricing is not

 

[redgreenski]

I can Only speak for myself but there is nothing in that phone that is worth 1100.

It would have to be almost perfect and it’s far from perfect. Maybe if it had larger battery, no notch, Touch ID.

 

[dypeterc]

First off, the Samsung phone you are comparing is a plus size and also has additional features like SPen... The S8 is a fair comparison.... much cheaper. And you have to add Applecare given a $549 bill to replace the Xs back. But, the Note 8 has also been discounted by $300 frequently. Not asinine in the slightest. They serve different use cases to provide a better experience.

How so? They fulfill the same role. Biometric screening for security.
[doublepost=1514384301][/doublepost]

I don't understand that stance. Some people want choice. I do. I live an an area of extreme weather. Triple digits in the summer and Sub zero in the winter. I work in the desert and in the summer I often wear buffs and sunglasses to keep the dust out. I don't wear gloves so I can easily unlock my phone with my finger. In the winter I wear senstec gloves and I would prefer FaceID.

Give me the choice. If you don't want to use FaceID or touchID don't use it don't tell other people they can't use it. Your use case is not the only one, people use their devices a million different ways don't try to funnel them.

P.s An in screen fingerprint reader is a good compromise.

You do have a choice. Samsung and Android have you covered.

 

[Wide opeN]

Yeah... the $1,000 pricetag certainly got people's attention. But shouldn't they have been pausing and thinking about other prices?

$900 is a lot of money too. So is $800. Hell... some people think $700 is too much to spend on a phone.

Did people stop and think "do I really need a new phone?" when they bought their previous iPhones?

I understand people hate that Apple created an additional higher-tiered model above the already expensive iPhone product lines.

Then again... this is the device you will touch 50 times a day for the next 700+ days. It's the one thing you use more than any other thing in your life.

So yeah... this new model might cost $200 or $300 more than what you've ever spent on an iPhone before. But if it brings you joy every day for the next 2 or 3 years... it's really a small extra price amortized over that time.

Or you can buy the cheaper iPhone 8 instead of the X.

And just so we're clear... Samsung's flagship phone is $900 at the moment. I'm not really understanding why it's unfathomable to pay $1,000 for one phone... but $900 for some other phone is no problem.

There's not that much difference between $900 and $1000 when you consider the phone will be in your pocket for the next two years or more.

The difference is why retailers sell items for example at $99 vs $100 it's more palatable and mentally acceptable.

$1000 and phone until now, were words that formerly did not go together. Like I said I like the phone A LOT!!! However, common sense is winning the battle for me this time around. I just got a new iPhone 7 through AppleCare, so I essentially have a new phone. There's simply NO GOOD REASON for me to even consider spending $1149 because that's the storage level I would spring for.

Speaking of... I don't like the storage scheme of the iPhone X. Only 64GB for $1000!? APPLE ARE YOU SMOKING THAT CALI GOOD GOOD, you often infer to in your keynotes!?

I'm VERY HAPPY to be a part of the passive resistance movement that is growing against the pricing of this phone.

 

[78Bandit]

I can Only speak for myself but there is nothing in that phone that is worth 1100.

Same here. The $700 iPhone 8 has the same chipset. With the iPhone X you are paying for the addition of FaceID, a better back camera, and the AMOLED display (which is taller but essentially the same width); however, Apple is able to ditch the TouchID system which should offset most of the FaceID cost. You are basically paying $300 extra for the display which is ridiculous.

I'm waiting for the rumored 6" LCD version with minimal bezels next year in the $700 price range. That device should do everything I need a smartphone to do while having design that doesn't look like it came from half-a-decade ago. That's all I wanted this time around, a modern replacement for the iPhone 7 that could compete with the Samsung Galaxy S8.

 

[Michael Scrip]

The difference is why retailers sell items for example at $99 vs $100 it's more palatable and mentally acceptable.

$1000 and phone until now, were words that formerly did not go together. Like I said I like the phone A LOT!!! However, common sense is winning the battle for me this time around. I just got a new iPhone 7 through AppleCare, so I essentially have a new phone. There's simply NO GOOD REASON for me to even consider spending $1149 because that's the storage level I would spring for.

Speaking of... I don't like the storage scheme of the iPhone X. Only 64GB for $1000!? APPLE ARE YOU SMOKING THAT CALI GOOD GOOD, you often infer to in your keynotes!?

I'm VERY HAPPY to be a part of the passive resistance movement that is growing against the pricing of this phone.

Like I said... the iPhone 8 is still an option (or in your case the iPhone 7 is a wonderful phone too)

I'm just baffled that people are mad at Apple for creating an additional model above their standard product lines.

If that's too much... the iPhone 8 series starts at $700... and the iPhone 7 series starts at $550

Nobody has to get the $1,000 iPhone. But it's there for those who want it.

 

[78Bandit]

Folks talk about +1000USD for a phone being a high price. But USD2000 for a laptop isn't - USD4000 would be though. But I know a LOT of people who use their phone MUCH more than they use their $2000 Laptop. Thus, in hindsight, it would have made more sense to pay $2k for the phone $1k for the laptop.

Use time and capability often have very little to do with each other. I've got a $25K car that I use on a daily basis. It gets me where I need to go, was reasonably priced, and gets great gas mileage. I've also got a $50K truck for the purpose of hauling heavy items and towing on the weekend. However, it gets really crappy mileage and is simply too large for my general around-town driving. Two products for two very different use cases.

Is the car suddenly worth $50K and the truck only $25K simply because I use the car more? Of course not, I'm paying for the additional capacity and manufacturing costs for a product that meets my needs. A car simply can't do enough.

Same thing for the decision between a laptop and a smartphone. The phone does enough to get most people through the day, but when it comes time to do some real work they need the additional processing power that a laptop with a full computer operating system provides.

Ultimately it is the total cost of manufacture that drives the price of goods. A company may be able to come up with a product that defies that in the short-term, but eventually competition will level the playing field out. A laptop costs more to manufacture than a smartphone and as long as people need that capability they will continue to pay more.

 

[MyMacintosh]

Then again... this is the device you will touch 50 times a day for the next 700+ days. It's the one thing you use more than any other thing in your life.

It's more along the lines of " I have a iPhone 6-7+, that I use for email, social media that works perfectly fine. Do I really NEED to start throwing money towards a $1k+ price tag to do the exact same thing i'm already doing?"

 

[Michael Scrip]

It's more along the lines of " I have a iPhone 6-7+, that I use for email, social media that works perfectly fine. Do I really NEED to start throwing money towards a $1k+ price tag to do the exact same thing i'm already doing?"

Sure.

But you could say the same thing about an $800 iPhone too. Or a $700 iPhone.

It seems silly to spend ANY amount of money to replace a perfectly working phone.

But some people WANT a new phone. They want a new camera. Or more storage. Or they want to give their old phone to someone else in their family.

My point from the part you quoted was... the smartphone is the one device you interact with the most. So if you were gonna upgrade... you should get some joy out of it since you use it so much.

But yeah... if you're happy with your current phone... no one is forcing you to upgrade. Save the $700, $800 or $1,000.

 

[2807]

God Bless the Free Market System.
Apple and others will make better phones and pricing will go up and down as the market dictates.
We all win (if "win" is actually the word to use here?)

So, the X is a learning experience for all involved, no matter who learned what...
That is good.

Let the process continue !
It is the only way.

I did not buy the X because of PRICE.
But I would pay double the price--if the phone had features that validated that price to me.

 

[driven01]

So color me confused but the Note is still in the 950 and 960 price range which with the 10 percent sales tax where I live pushes it to over 1000.00.

Yet the iPhone X which has all types of new camera sensors etc is priced too high? The only new change for the Note were the dual cameras which the iPhone 7 Plus already had.

I just see a bit of bias that’s all.
[doublepost=1514308191][/doublepost]

You will be passing on many of the future iterations. With Apple there is no bringing back old features.

Touch ID is dead.

First: Where the heck do you live that has a 10% sales tax? Wow ... I need to not live there.

Anyway: Most places are selling the Note 8 now in the $820 - $850 range. But it has a LOT more than the iPhone X has in it. (and I say this as a longtime Apple fan that's had nearly every single iPhone since the original)

Note 8 has (that iPhone X doesn't)
- Very large AMOLED (6.3) screen without a strip of missing pixels at the top.
- Pressure sensitive s-pen (think: Apple pencil on a phablet)
- 6GB RAM (double the 3GB in Apple)
- Ability to add a 256GB to 400GB MicroSD Card (for total storage of 320GB to 464GB storage)
- Headphone Jack (had to say it) .. while still being water resistant
- Fingerprint reader
- Crappy facial recognition, but also Iris scanner
- Heart-rate sensor, blood oxygen sensor (health related built into the phone)

Yet, it's still cheaper than the iPhone X.

FaceID is nice, but it's not perfect. My daughter with TouchID liked to share her phone with her little brother. She simply added his thumb in the phone so he could use it. You can't add a second face into FaceID. (and without TouchID, you can't do it the old way). Not all of the use-cases were considered. (That is her problem with her iPhone X) For me, it solves a problem I didn't have. I don't want to pay for something new that does exactly what the old tech did.

One thing that the Note 8 doesn't have is iMessage and Facetime. For many, that's enough of a reason to stay with Apple.

Love Apple, but I'm keeping my 7 Plus for now. They take things out (touch ID, headphone jack) and raise the price in the process.


Anyway: Just my feedback to your message.

 

[JediZenMaster]

First: Where the heck do you live that has a 10% sales tax? Wow ... I need to not live there.

Anyway: Most places are selling the Note 8 now in the $820 - $850 range. But it has a LOT more than the iPhone X has in it. (and I say this as a longtime Apple fan that's had nearly every single iPhone since the original)

Note 8 has (that iPhone X doesn't)
- Very large AMOLED (6.3) screen without a strip of missing pixels at the top.
- Pressure sensitive s-pen (think: Apple pencil on a phablet)
- 6GB RAM (double the 3GB in Apple)
- Ability to add a 256GB to 400GB MicroSD Card (for total storage of 320GB to 464GB storage)
- Headphone Jack (had to say it) .. while still being water resistant
- Fingerprint reader
- Crappy facial recognition, but also Iris scanner
- Heart-rate sensor, blood oxygen sensor (health related built into the phone)

Yet, it's still cheaper than the iPhone X.

FaceID is nice, but it's not perfect. My daughter with TouchID liked to share her phone with her little brother. She simply added his thumb in the phone so he could use it. You can't add a second face into FaceID. (and without TouchID, you can't do it the old way). Not all of the use-cases were considered. (That is her problem with her iPhone X) For me, it solves a problem I didn't have. I don't want to pay for something new that does exactly what the old tech did.

One thing that the Note 8 doesn't have is iMessage and Facetime. For many, that's enough of a reason to stay with Apple.

Love Apple, but I'm keeping my 7 Plus for now. They take things out (touch ID, headphone jack) and raise the price in the process.


Anyway: Just my feedback to your message.

Seattle it’s a great place and nothing comes without a compromise. I love how you omitted the fact for the notch is the camera as well as omitting the camera as an overall feature.

No one likes the notch but folks love the camera however when ever I point out that with those sensors that’s pretty much the only option they had no one ever quite responds.

Anywho since you chock full of ideas what should they have done with the sensors?

Again though I can go to Best Buy, Verizon, AT&T, Frys, Target and none of them are selling the phone for between the 850 or so Range anymore.

 

[Smeggy]

I’m guessing it has more to do with lack of Touch ID and that notch. Those are my reasons for passing on the X.

I just got the X. Honestly, once you have used face ID for a few days you will never want touch ID again. It works 99% of the time. I went skiing and jokingly tried to unlock with my helmet and goggles on and of course it didn't work. But by the end of the day, it was working! Its amazing and much better than touch ID. RIP touch ID.

 

[Ramchi]

In markets outside USA where iPhone prices keep on increasing year after year, will soon stop growing their 2% market share and may not grow any further.

Features and functionalities (except may be security which is again subjective depending on the kind of usage) are normalised across iOS and Android. Only differentiating factor seems to be price, flexibilities, customisation, porting. Even Apple and Android App ecosystem are equal on many important areas for a common user.

Again, carer subsidies are not anymore, monthly commitments keep increasing even if it is "one coffee a day, more" this trend will follow in the future as well.

Apple might go back to its 90s with high price equipment with competitors offer much better product at far competing price points!
[doublepost=1514399182][/doublepost]

First: Where the heck do you live that has a 10% sales tax? Wow ... I need to not live there.

Anyway: Most places are selling the Note 8 now in the $820 - $850 range. But it has a LOT more than the iPhone X has in it. (and I say this as a longtime Apple fan that's had nearly every single iPhone since the original)

Note 8 has (that iPhone X doesn't)
- Very large AMOLED (6.3) screen without a strip of missing pixels at the top.
- Pressure sensitive s-pen (think: Apple pencil on a phablet)
- 6GB RAM (double the 3GB in Apple)
- Ability to add a 256GB to 400GB MicroSD Card (for total storage of 320GB to 464GB storage)
- Headphone Jack (had to say it) .. while still being water resistant
- Fingerprint reader
- Crappy facial recognition, but also Iris scanner
- Heart-rate sensor, blood oxygen sensor (health related built into the phone)

Yet, it's still cheaper than the iPhone X.

FaceID is nice, but it's not perfect. My daughter with TouchID liked to share her phone with her little brother. She simply added his thumb in the phone so he could use it. You can't add a second face into FaceID. (and without TouchID, you can't do it the old way). Not all of the use-cases were considered. (That is her problem with her iPhone X) For me, it solves a problem I didn't have. I don't want to pay for something new that does exactly what the old tech did.

One thing that the Note 8 doesn't have is iMessage and Facetime. For many, that's enough of a reason to stay with Apple.

Love Apple, but I'm keeping my 7 Plus for now. They take things out (touch ID, headphone jack) and raise the price in the process.


Anyway: Just my feedback to your message.

Ditto here!!

7 plus and a Note 8!! But looking at disposing 7 Plus as well. Difficult to justify ridiculous price points. In my place Note 8 is almost half the iPhone X 256 GB price with more capabilities! Difficult to overlook as a sane person to go over something that is NOT perceived nearly 50% more.

It is price, price,price for customers!! Just like Profit ,Profit,Profit for Apple!!!

 

[dampfnudel]

Then they don’t have to buy it. Most folks who use an iPad Pro and have seen ProMotion in action would be amazed with it.

So luckily they will have a model for everyone. I’ll be waiting for the ProMotion one though it’s worth the $$ to me.

Well, some people won’t mind when Apple is charging them $1,500+ in the future for their new iPhones because it has some “special” feature. Many however will.

 

[JediZenMaster]

Well, some people won’t mind when Apple is charging them $1,500+ in the future for their new iPhones because it has some “special” feature. Many however will.

Have you seen what ProMotion can do? Obviously not if your dismissing it as just a special feature.

I’ll never understand why people want new features for the same exact price but hey your wallet not mine.

 

[Rogifan]

Well I replied to someone implying the x is affordable and the fake news is that it's expensive. This thread is about the X

Why does it come down to demise for you ? The iPhone is here to stay. Competition is good - Cooks pricing is not

You make it sound as if Apple only offers one phone starting at $2000. False. Apple offers a range of iPhones at different price points. If the X is too expensive there’s an 8, or 7, or 6S or SE at a cheaper price point.