Apple CEO Tim Cook Attributes a 'Pause' in iPhone Purchases to 2017 iPhone Rumors

[kdarling]

The problem isn't Apple's lack of innovation. It's the ridiculously absurd expectations some customers have, often fueled by sites like this looking for clicks and ad revenue.

While there are indeed ridiculous expectations at times (micro LED for instance) on fansites, that's a result of Apple constantly claiming magical features in the past, plus the chestnut about how "Apple will do it right".

Outside of the forums though, the majority of people are simply looking for a good reason to upgrade. At the least, a new style helps. That's true for anything from clothes to cars. Apple has dropped that ball lately.

New and meaningful features are also incentives. I think Apple's done okay there with camera updates, faster TouchId, etc.

On the flipside, my teen daughter's friends are all avoiding the latest models without headphone jacks. Eventually they'll have no choice, of course.

 

[Ex2bot]

Saturation. Intense competition on *price* in China/Asia markets with dirt cheap Android iPhone-design clones. iPhone sales are going away drip drip drip...

What is the next product Apple has to supplant the iPhone as the majority revenue source, Tim? MacBooks with gimmicky touch strips and no "Pro" hardware features? Eventually redoing the Mac Mini for 20% more MSRP?

I Know! More SJW time wasting and virtue signaling! Talk about how you will reclaim every iPhone ever to avoid mining rare earth materials (which are actually dirt cheap because China cornered that industry several years back).

Yes. Teh Apple is falling hard. Real hard. Samsung is winning. Real winning. Winning wit a bang, as they say.

Meanwhile Apple will have trouble making payroll soon. Microsoft, as predicted by the brilliant pundits has SCHOOLED Apple with Windows Phone by 2017. Surface sales have blown the doors off the failing Mac line.

Apple, being proprietary will lose out to Android and become a niche player without influence in 3, 2, 1 …

You guyz should be paid analysts because you put the "an" in "analysts."

 

[TwoBytes]

I only glanced at it and so I haven't had time to study it, but in general..... I don't know, but we are seeing that, in full transparency.

Sounds like a fumbling excuse.

Maybe they should go for a 2 year cycle which means great hardware with a big software focus. That's what some people do with their phones anyway. A new iOS is better than a phone upgrade some years. Apple can only innovate a new phone every year for so long without it becoming predictable and borning. It's adding one new thing to justify another $1000 on a new device.

 

[elberto1]

Here's why, iphone 6/6+ were the last new iphones in terms of new features people care about. I used a 7 plus, eh didnt see anything that was worth another $900 when my 6+ works great. I skipped the 7 and the 6s and waiting for something new in the 8.

I suspect we will see a BIG bump in sales if the 8 is actually something different after 3 years of waiting..

I'm in the EXACT same boat. I don't feel like I'm missing anything with my 2014 Iphone 6 Plus versus the current models.

 

[Starfyre]

And he brings this "pause" into existence after the Galaxy S8 is released. If it were just the rumors of the iPhone 8, he could have said this before Samsung released their new products. Pretty certain Samsung had something to do with it. Ah, the smell of competition!

 

[Tech198]

How else can u design a phone ? I think Apple wants to keep round corners. Its the 'symbol'

 

[rp2011]

Yes. Teh Apple is falling hard. Real hard. Samsung is winning. Real winning. Winning wit a bang, as they say.

Meanwhile Apple will have trouble making payroll soon. Microsoft, as predicted by the brilliant pundits has SCHOOLED Apple with Windows Phone by 2017. Surface sales have blown the doors off the failing Mac line.

Apple, being proprietary will lose out to Android and become a niche player without influence in 3, 2, 1 …

You guyz should be paid analysts because you put the "an" in "analysts."

Exactly!
As Micheal Dell so presciently once said, "Apple should just fire up the bulldozers and give back the mountains of cash back to its shareholders "

 

[Aston441]

If they actually release a phone with a button on the back, the board is going to have to decide whether they are going to replace senior management, or let the ship sink.

 

[jonnysods]

You bet your butt I'm pausing! Looking forward to the new phone!

 

[BeyondtheTech]

"We're going to double down on secrecy on products."

- Tim Cook, D10 Conference, May 29, 2012. (Original article)​

Doesn't look like it's gotten better in the past five years, has it? Someone should've called his bluff.

 

[Aston441]

We all know the end game is a solid black glass or sapphire slab, completely sealed, without ports or holes anywhere, everything done wirelessly, without bezels. Certainly they have prototypes in the lab already.

Thing is, they are going to wait as long as possible to release that. Because after they do, after they release that holy grail phone, there will be nothing left to do in the design space.

The question is, will some Android manufacturer release the design first, and force Apple to release the cold black slab sooner than they otherwise would.

 

[RC Mike]

Yeah, it's all the soccer moms reading about the next phone while they're waiting to pick their kids up from school. Has to be the rumors, and how everyone is aware of them. Couldn't be because of something irrational, like the lack of a headphone jack.

When the source for 66% of your revenue has a "pause" that should be alarming.

 

[kingofwale]

I can't believe there's still people whining about the headphone jack, move on.

half of million people have, likely to Android.

 

[Ladybug]

My 6s still works just fine Tim. Of course I haven't let you slow it down with your ultra fast updates you keep releasing. I should be good for at least another year or so.

 

[rp2011]

The thing is, that all of these rumors from bank "analysts" do as intended. They push these rumors to pander to their investors or prospective investors. They could give an f if they are true or not, just that they motivate their investors.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

The Steve one is cool.

 

[bopajuice]

During today's second quarter earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple was seeing a "pause" in purchases of the iPhone, which he attributed to "earlier and much more frequent reports about future iPhones."

The comment came in response to a question about a 451 research survey, which mentioned a nine year low in iPhone purchase intent. Cook said he hadn't read the survey in depth, but explained Apple was seeing slower iPhone sales.

iPhone 8 concept based on alleged leaked design renderings​

Rumors about the iPhone 8, coming in 2017, started before the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus were even released, despite Apple's ever-increasing focus on secrecy. Major changes are rumored to be in the works for the 2017 iPhone, and those changes have been difficult for Apple to keep quiet.

The device is expected to feature the biggest overhaul to the iPhone in a number of years, with an edge-to-edge OLED display with no Home button, a glass body with stainless steel frame, Touch ID embedded under the screen, new biometric features, a revamped camera, and more.

With the number of rumors circulating about improvements coming to the iPhone, it should come as no surprise that customers are holding off on an iPhone purchase until 2017, when the entirely revamped iPhone debuts.

Article Link: Apple CEO Tim Cook Attributes a 'Pause' in iPhone Purchases to 2017 iPhone Rumors

This just affirms my belief this whole Apple secrecy thing is a joke.

 

[britboyj]

Am I the only one who thought that was a sketch of Steve on the toilet before scrolling all the way?

 

[Hackintoshihope]

Only? Hardware is improved. Better processor. More memory. Improved camera. Water resistance. Etc. Each revision has improved upon the previous one. People complaining about the iPhone need to get a grip and lose this absurd unrealistic expectation that every model is going to be a radical improvement/redesign over the predecessor. Those days are over and never coming back. The tech has matured. It's time the fanboys matured too.

The iPhone is a pocket computer. I don't see fanboys crying over the fact that they don't get a complete reimagining of the Mac every single year. The expectations are ridiculous when it comes to the iPhone. I think Tim is right on this one. The press and rumor sites pump up the expectations every year, then act shocked when Apple delivers a great new model that doesn't meet those absurd expectations. And this year the expectation machine is going nuts. I frankly think a lot of people are going to be disappointed...no matter what Apple releases.

The smartest thing Apple could do is slow the iPhone release schedule to every 18-24 months and drop the S model altogether.

Every two years... not every year...

 

[otternonsense]

iPads haven't improved in 3+ years, iPhones haven't improved much since the 6/6+, the MBPr is essentially the same as it was in 2012, iMac? Gets worse on each refresh. Mac mini hasn't seen a refresh in 3 years same as the Mac Pro. What are these engineers doing?

Who knows. A car? That rumor is shot down too.

 

[RamGuy]

So let me get this straight. Samsung sells a total of 50 million Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge for the entire year of 2016 and everyone is calling it amazing, record breaking etc.. And they sell 7.2 million of S7 and S7 Edge for Q1 2017 and people keep calling it impressive.

Apple sells 50 million iPhone's in Q1 2017 alone, and people starts complaining about poor sales? What planet are we living on when selling these ridiculous amounts of high cost phones is considered disappointing? Apple is completely demolishing the sales of other phones in the same price range out of the water and yet people complain? Like really?

 

[tech3475]

I can't believe there's still people whining about the headphone jack, move on.

In a discussion on why people aren't buying phones, you're saying we shouldn't discuss a reason why people may not be buying phones?

 

[otternonsense]

What about all those people who loved their 7 and found it worth the upgrade?

I'd get their enthusiasm if they've upgraded from a 4S. Having used an (firm-provided) iPhone 7 next to my 6S, there's exactly nothing that makes the experience distinct in a more delightful manner. Feels the same, camera shoots the same, the home button feels weird, battery drains just as fast, and I'd rather use the 3.5mm jack over the lightning earpods anyday (I already lost the adapter, and imagine swapping inputs between phone and macbook with the lightning ones). The subtle buzzes during iOS animations are certainly quaint, yet utterly forgettable.

In fact, I always just reach out for my 6S when I simply need a phone, and fiddling with my 7 kinda puts me off using a mobile phone in general. If this is Apple's ulterior motive, breaking people's addiction to their phones.. then it's a job well done.

My 6s still works just fine Tim. Of course I haven't let you slow it down with your ultra fast updates you keep releasing. I should be good for at least another year or so.

iOS 9.3.5 remains the nicest iOS I've used to date (i.e. unified control centre!). Unfortunately I got my 6S merely a week or two after Apple stopped digitally signing it so I'm stuck with iOS 10 ever since

 

[BvizioN]

The dip in sales couldn't have been because the iPhone 7 looks virtually identical to the one that came out last year AND the year before. And it certainly wasn't because the only distinguishing aspect is the loss of a headphone jack

I was waiting for the iPhone 8. Was quite tempted to get 7 but I knew 8 was around the corner. iPhone jack does not bother me as I have not used it on my iPhone 6 for over a year, no way of going back to warping myself with wires again. But then the Galaxy S8 came out and the unavoidable happen! While I was waiting for the iPhone 8 I bought the Galaxy 8. So just taking a short break from iOS until Apple comes up with something refreshing.

I think there is some truth to what he is saying as even people who are not tech junkie seem to know Apple have some special iPhone coming this year. Then there is that category of people who take one good look at the phone and say: It looks exactly like the older one....! I will get something else. As for the 3.5mm..... I believe that didn't stop too many from buying it. It is not a matter of if..... is a matter of time before all other manufactures do exactly the same. 3.5mm is a dead technology.... people just don't know it yet.

 

[mib1800]

So let me get this straight. Samsung sells a total of 50 million Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge for the entire year of 2016 and everyone is calling it amazing, record breaking etc.. And they sell 7.2 million of S7 and S7 Edge for Q1 2017 and people keep calling it impressive.

Apple sells 50 million iPhone's in Q1 2017 alone, and people starts complaining about poor sales? What planet are we living on when selling these ridiculous amounts of high cost phones is considered disappointing? Apple is completely demolishing the sales of other phones in the same price range out of the water and yet people complain? Like really?

How many millions of those were SE, 6, 6s selling at upper mid range price?