Apple Lowers Revenue Guidance for Q1 2019 Citing 'Fewer iPhone Upgrades' Than Anticipated

[Breaking Good]

Not be direct or maybe I will be — are you a international soothsayer ? How would you or anyone know all the ins and outs of every single carriers offers globally? Do you even know just how many they are?

I mean forest through the trees people.

It’s mindboggling to think that a corporation whether it’s Tim Cook or anyone else just somehow sits there and just makes stuff up...

I mean really folks. C’mon. really !

And earth to MANY OF YOU — if he is including AMERICAN CARRIERS - yes to many many iPhone owners that have not upgraded in years - YES years - they would
NOT be inclined to do so without the old subsidy paradigm - I mean what is so “shocking and untrue” about that?

There’s no doubt the lack of subsidies for
cell phone carriers is now having a material impact on ANYONES decision to upgrade or not. Not every consumer upgrades their electronics yearly, every other year or even every three years.

The lack of getting a $1k phone for $250 as a carrier subsidy IS having a serious impact on upgrades — period.

U.S. carriers haven’t had subsidies for several years now. However, they now offer “carrier financing” which in substance is the same thing.

If Tim Cook said that Apple was making less because the cellular carriers are being greedy and charging more, then I could see some validity to your claim.

Looking at the totality of the market with Samsung’s r cent announcement, it does appear we are close to reaching market saturation in regards to smartphones. The difference is that Samsung has multiple revenue streams which will allow it to adapt faster to the new normal. However, as much as Apple has attempted to diversify its business, it is still a very much a one-trick pony with iPhone sales accounting for well and over one-half its revenue.

We wil have to see if Apple considers opening up its sevices to Android devices. That may be one way for Apple to increase demand for its services but runs the risk of reducing demand for iPhones even more.

They can try to make another play for MacBooks in Enterprise. But again their high prices and difficulty in repairs make them a nonstarter for many businesses.

I liken this problem to one Starbucks has had for a while now. What do you do once you have a coffee shop on every corner?

 

[cardfan]

If iPhone sales fell last quarter, that means iPhone sales have fallen in 6 of the last 12 quarters. Sales of iPhone have declined year over year since 2015 - when they released the iPhone 6. iPhone makes up 2/3 of Apple’s revenue.

This is a huge problem.

A huge problem for Apple maybe but not us. In fact you should be cheering the bad news if you’re an Apple customer because it means they have to try harder. Already it’s paying off as iOS features come to TVs and amazon speakers.

Is this what Apple should be doing for themselves? Nope. I think they’re just making more bad decisions in a panic.

Apple was never going to sustain its market cap without evolving beyond iPhones and iPads and whatever half baked services they could grow on them.

Apple cannot figure out what they’re in business for. I guarantee it’s not to become the next Netflix. Or an app on someone’s hardware. Post flat iPhone sales and they seem like a fish out of water with no plan. They knew it was coming. Weak foundations in search of constant short term profits leaves them in a bad position.

Cost accountant mgmt with no vision. That’s Cook.

 

[Abazigal]

Tech media when Apple adjusts revenue due to China: “Apple is doomed forever! Everyone hates iPhone!” Tech media when Samsung and LG do the same: “Hmmm, there must be a China issue.”

 

[haydn!]

Tech media when Apple adjusts revenue due to China: “Apple is doomed forever! Everyone hates iPhone!” Tech media when Samsung and LG do the same: “Hmmm, there must be a China issue.”

Only, Samsung and LGs current scale and revenue are not heavily reliant on premium smartphone sales. Apples is. So it is a bigger deal for Apple, regardless of true cause.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Declaring "Facts. Not conjecture or opinion" when you engage in conjecture and opinion doesn't magically make things so. But to be clear, I was referring predominantly to the US in this part, where it would be pretty hard to argue that there isn't saturation.

Also, any time someone alleges that something happened to a stock price "because" of X, I laugh. Corporate valuation experts are not so naively simplistic.

Hmm. I stated a fact regarding Apple making the statement their iOS products were lowering in sales in China along with costs rising. I say Fact because it’s been a week since their statement and for 30days prior to current day still only Apple stating they’re affected. Conjecture maybe because other competitors are not saying anything.


What’s your statistics of smartphone users in the us vs cellphone users? Once we have that data then we can evaluate saturation levels. I’d say the uk populace is much more saturated than the USA and yet they still manage quite frequent upgrade cycles

There maybe several factors for Chinese citizens not buying iPhones as much as last quarter. I’m shocked cook did not try to mention existing user base to help consensus Apple is doing well there.

Yet a lot of reports point to retail n contractural pricing being the key factor or the top factor. Cook mentioned both topics in his reports. Revenue guidance drop 30 days prior to financial reporting is also shocking. Either way you want to twist perception cost is a factor being looked at vs features.

 

[kevinbeared]

I think we should open a money pot to help Apple in this terrible crisis

 

[AgentOSX]

I hope customers are top priority.

When are you going to buy me that computer? I met your challenge. Just wondering.

 

[jinnyman]

The market situation on its own explains the slowdown of Apple's growth since Apple is iphone company nowadays. It's heavily saturated, and iphone is no longer the only special thing in the market. It's still the best, but the price level does not justify.

In the same sense, I think Samsung and LG is shooting on their feet by following Apple. In order to look competitive compared to iPhone in USA and Europe market, Samsung has to follow the price increase or otherwise their phone, at least by looking at the price, looks inferior or not top of the lines. But then, hardwares only cannot justify the increase in price, and thus emergence of Chinese phone company with almost or near same quality but cheaper price.

I'm more curious about what Apple would do now? Keep focusing on phone has limitation, and due to easy money Apple's been enjoying, they are vastly behind in other business front. Because of their crazy design over functionality, their Mac is no longer as attractive as it once was. They gave up airport business when it has finally became a pivotal device in home networking. Their software improvement is pretty much non existant. When's the last time you saw a great software stuff from Apple? Their Mac OS looks all the same, with minor stuff added to it. What happened to Siri? Are they doing anything relating to machnine learning and AI? What about icloud? Their icloud, other than seamless integration with Mac OS and iOS, in general, sucks. iCloud as 3rd party clouding service, nobody would use it.

What will they do? They look vastly interested in entertainment and car stuff lately (car i don't know now) . Is it Apple's future? I hope not.

 

[Abazigal]

What will they do? They look vastly interested in entertainment and car stuff lately (car i don't know now) . Is it Apple's future? I hope not.

Apple’s future is likely in wearables, health, self driving cars, AR, and services (and these are just the few we know about). The iPhone will likely still be profitable for 5-6 years minimum (Apple selling less of them means that Apple is still selling a crap ton of them at handsome profits).