They just raised prices bigly, so maybe they make up revenue by higher average sales price even though volumes are down.
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Apple Has Reportedly Cut iPhone 17 Lineup Production
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Its a shame we have to wait till spring to see if the 18 is worth the inevitable price hike over the 17. And I bet the 17 goes up in price when the 18 pro is announced this September too due to margin pressure. Still a good time to get a 17 in my opinion since the 18 isnt out till Spring.
kiranmk2
macrumors 68020
They do, but the iPhone 18 isn't coming out until next Spring, so the iPhone 17 will continue to be the base model for a further 8-9 months, even after the 18 Pro is released
This is likely the reason Apple are cutting production of the whole iPhone 17 line: the 17 Pro will be discontinued soon and Apple have likely modelled the anticipated drop-off in sales of the 17 and Air when the prices rise $100-200 when the 18 Pro is released and they have to market them alongside a "new" iPhone 18 Pro family.
CWallace
macrumors G5
If recent history holds, the iPhone 17 models will be discontinued as their iPhone 18 replacements are announced / shipped.
For clarity, this would be the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max this September and the iPhone 17 (and possibly iPhone Air) in the Spring.
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ChrisChaval
macrumors 6502a
transpo1
macrumors 68000
Agree that it will probably be weaker. However, I believe the Fold is the only thing that will help it because it will generate buzz and clicks and bring people into stores, both online and in person.
It may just be a more normal cycle— the inevitable 18 Pro price hikes, though, do concern me. Many will hold off.
zarmanto
macrumors 65816
Nah... given the first page discussions, I'd speculate that Apple is just going to follow the same basic practices they've always followed: discontinue the highest end and lowest end products in favor of the new models, allow the retail chains to flush out their remaining inventory with discounts, retain one or two middle tier models from the previous year to fill in price gaps, and sell the new models at or slightly above the previous model prices. Maybe more than slightly this year, given the issues with Micron aren't likely to go away soon.
But hey, think of the publicity blitz if Apple somehow manages to avoid raising prices on their new iPhones models, this year... (A guy can dream, eh?)
Phone Junky
macrumors 68030
Well, what do you know. For the first time in my life I'm "doing it right". Albeit this is according to a random person on a forum, but I'll take it. I got my new iPhone 17 Pro this morning.
ChrisChaval
macrumors 6502a
well, they just raised Mac and iPad prices mid to end cycle by a significant amount
and they do not follow their own basic best practices with regards to the usual launch cycle of the base iPhone
at that point, the question is: the money they are continue to "lose" on iPhones and watches, who is going to pay for it and for how long? the shareholders or the clients?
kiranmk2
macrumors 68020
History won't be holding as the iPhone 17 and Air will not be replaced when the iPhone 18 Pro comes out in September. The iPhone 18 and Air 2 are not coming until Spring 2027.
Royksöpp
macrumors 68030
The Vision Pro also had a lot of buzz initially, and look at how quickly that evaporated.
transpo1
macrumors 68000
But it probably sold phones because it brought people to the stores; same with the iPhone Air. It generated buzz and clicks. Many people thought it was cool but most opted for the other devices, the regular 17 or Pros because they're better value. But nevertheless, it sold phones.
CWallace
macrumors G5
I want to believe Apple raised the price on most everything else so they could hold the line on the iPhone and Apple Watch (though we might see them raise the base storage and by extension raise the price by what that used to cost as an upgrade option).
However, Apple is likely not getting the "first customer discount" on the A20 family (which will launch on 2nm) because NVIDIA has first dibs on that process so Apple might have to pay more to get sufficient capacity (and with their margins, NVIDIA likely don't care what they are paying).
I am aware of this (and said as much in Reply #12), but I will edit for clarity, nonetheless. 😉
Royksöpp
macrumors 68030
The fold is going to be a tough sell. Once the early adopters take their pick it will be interesting to see how the rest of the quarter plays out. Air production was reduced within a couple of months, and production ceased by December.
transpo1
macrumors 68000
Apple must be aware of this materializing strategy, though— introduce new devices regularly to generate interest, sell more phones overall. Of course, they would prefer the Air and Fold sell well, but even if they don’t— they will increase the halo around the other phones. I don’t expect the Fold to sell particularly well at that price point but let’s see.
adrianlondon
macrumors 604
johnsawyercjs
macrumors 68000
Frantisekj
macrumors 65816
It wont be discontinued this year but next year. But who knows what they will do with price when introducing 18 Pro. They can raise 17 price as well.
Isn’t the actually really simple explanation that with just two months before new phones will be released it’s normal to ramp down production of the previous model? Especially if the product in question had record sales meaning most of people that wanted at this point of its lifecycle bought already? Also, iPhone prices weren’t increased so…
zarmanto
macrumors 65816
Yeah, yeah... I already pointed that out, when I ate crow on page one.
Upon further reflection, I suspect it's much less complex for Apple than the rest of us are willing to believe. If we were to look closely at Apple's BOMs for the products that received increases, I think what we're likely to find is that those affected products were the ones which started out with comparatively "narrow" profit margins. Understand of course that we're still talking about Apple here, and none of their profit margins have ever been as low as their historical competitors... but I don't think that's what matters in this scenario. What matters is that the products which didn't get price jacked likely have even higher profit margins, right out of the gate.
We all know it, and we've all complained about it at one time or another: the iPhone is an incredible cash cow for Apple. It's arguably one of the biggest reasons they still exist, today, what with all of the times in the past that popular media has predicted Apple's doom. So maybe, just maybe, the iPhones are actually still paying for themselves, and Apple's just accepting slightly reduced profit margins in the short term. If that's even close to true, we can indeed anticipate slightly higher prices on the newer models than usual.
As to the other products which escaped hikes... I kind'a think that they just don't have very high RAM requirements, and so their margins weren't as strongly affected by this issue.
Sort of. Upon further research, it seems likely that Apple is indeed mirroring their past wind downs... it's just not as obvious from the outside, because (according to various articles I was able to dig up) they would usually wind down production in October... but I think maybe their shifting of the standard models from a fall release to a spring release in the upcoming product cycle has changed that paradigm, slightly.
So that aspect of it may just be business as usual, as you're alluding; only time will tell for sure.
Let me know how this works out! I'm thinking of upgrading my wife...😁