Apple Reportedly Cuts iPhone XS and iPhone XR Production Orders Amid Lower-Than-Expected Demand

[Abazigal]

Why would anyone want the 10s/XR when the 8 Plus is available? No notch, home button/touch ID... seems like a win win.

I just bought the 12.9” iPad Pro. Face ID has its advantages over Touch ID, not least that I don’t have to manually authenticate when entering my keychain password. I can see its allure.

 

[MattMJB0188]

I just bought the 12.9” iPad Pro. Face ID has its advantages over Touch ID, not least that I don’t have to manually authenticate when entering my keychain password. I can see its allure.

I'm not saying Face ID is bad, I'm saying its just a good replacement for touch ID. Feels like it is a downgrade.

 

[cardfan]

Not true. There never was such a time. The crown of biggest mobile OS went directly from Symbian (Nokia) to Android (Google). Developers always favored iOS (Apple) with Android as second. It’s a duopoly, so don’t ask for a third platform. Phones prior to 2007 do not count as smart in my book.

I think you mean 2008. The first iPhone was hardly smart. It was a feature phone. Even so it took them even longer to be a better alternative than a palm treo (IMO the best smartphone OS prior to the modern ones). Even webOS wiped the floor with apple but was badly mismanaged. It wasn’t til iPhone 4 that Apples iPhone became the best smartphone to own. IMO of course and even then it had to jailbroken which was easier back then.

 

[ryanwarsaw]

Many companies in America are stocking up on supplies from China in anticipation of the tariff increase from 10% to 25% that happens in January. Apple has directly avoided the tariff, but things may slow down for everyone and layoffs are started to be whispered in the news. Apple may have just gotten updated data on just how much of an impact the trade war is going to be and wants to get ahead of it.

Things got heated in the APEC meeting. All stocks are down. AAPL was hit by forecast downgrades and still didn't go down more than others such as AMZN GOOGL FB BA or others. At the very least AAPL cut orders and didn't get stuck with warehouses full of Bitcoin mining rigs like NVDA.

 

[genovelle]

Here we go again. What’s interesting is that every quarter these reports have come out and tanked apple’s stock then they were completely wrong. Tim Cook has on multiple occasions warned them not to listen to single points in their supply chain because they adjust and make strategic changes all the time. They move like a much smaller company in this way.

Even after Apple would post record breaking sales numbers analyst would still makeup numbers to down play their success and create future fear that still wouldn’t happen. So, if they will not be evaluated based on their performance and history of success, why provide extra data the competitors don’t since they can use it to improve their targeting. Apple is the only company in the world that competes against the entire rest of the market as a whole like tablets, computers and phone, and instead of the retail stores competing against the other manufacturers who sell their stuff online like dell, they are expected to beat stores that sell everything including their products, all all of their competitors, plus 100s of thousands if not millions of other products. At the same time

keep robbing your customers and eventually it's going to come back to you.

[doublepost=1542680215][/doublepost]

I think you mean 2008. The first iPhone was hardly smart. It was a feature phone. Even so it took them even longer to be a better alternative than a palm treo (IMO the best smartphone OS prior to the modern ones). Even webOS wiped the floor with apple but was badly mismanaged. It wasn’t til iPhone 4 that Apples iPhone became the best smartphone to own. IMO of course and even then it had to jailbroken which was easier back then.

So, you must think Android and Chrome OS is total garbage. Chrome takes the idea The original iPhone used which was web apps and was crucified for and brings us back to the applause of those who clowned Apple. Native secure apps are much better and far more powerful than web apps. I owned 2 sets of the treos. They were great until 2007. They were a painful
Experience I would never even say
Them in the same breath as my original iPhone. I have a techie coworker who bought two of those webOS devices preceded by Android and Windows Mobile. He was a true Apple hater like I had been 5 years earlier. He was so proud that AT&T had convinced him this was finally the device that would catchup to and surpass the IPhone. A week later he was an hour late coming back from lunch. He had returned them and bought two IPhones. He has never turned back and has more Apple gear than I do.

I used to actually feel sorry for Android users. Now I think they deserve their pain.

 

[ryanwarsaw]

Here we go again. What’s interesting is that every quarter these reports have come out and tanked apple’s stock then they were completely wrong. Tim Cook has on multiple occasions warned them not to listen to single points in their supply chain because they adjust and make strategic changes all the time. They move like a much smaller company in this way.

Even after Apple would post record breaking sales numbers analyst would still makeup numbers to down play their success and create future fear that still wouldn’t happen. So, if they will not be evaluated based on their performance and history of success, why provide extra data the competitors don’t since they can use it to improve their targeting. Apple is the only company in the world that competes against the entire rest of the market as a whole like tablets, computers and phone, and instead of the retail stores competing against the other manufacturers who sell their stuff online like dell, they are expected to beat stores that sell everything including their products, all all of their competitors, plus 100s of thousands if not millions of other products. At the same time

Yes if you look at the charts you can see this happens almost predictably every year since late 2007. Here is the pattern. Before 2007 it was flat so i focused from there. Which coincidentally coincides with the first iPhone. I am editing to say every two years or so. but you can trace the dates and it was all doom and gloom for some of the more successful phones AAPl sold.

 

[MaSx]

Music to my ears. Held up on XS Max because of their greedy stance. No innovation and not much to justify a premium price.

 

[fourthtunz]

I cannot say if my experience is common, but assuming that Apple monitors these forums to see what their customers are thinking/doing, I’ll share. I was holding out for the iPhone Se2. When Apple said the SE is over, I thought, hmm, now I have a dilemma. My iPhone 5 had served me well but it was time to upgrade. Upon seeing the incredible cost of the iPhone Excess, I pulled out my credit card and bought a shiny new iPhone 7 for a bit more than one third the cost of the Excess. Me happy. I actually tried to talk my wife into upgrading to the XR phone, but she decided to get a new battery installed into her iPhone 6 for $29. So that’s us, fwiw. Wish they had kept the SE phone line going, though. I think they made an error with that decision, but life goes on.

I think they made an error by eliminating the SE too! I have an 8 Plus if you don't want a huge phone your out of luck!
I feel Apple is just getting too pushy with some of these decisions...like eliminating the headphone jack on everything, eliminate the SE, eliminating the ports on the macs... People have been saying this for ever but when you factor in the APPLE TAX, and there has always been one, I don't think apple is going out of business any time soon but Tim may be getting less of a bonus next year

 

[Abazigal]

Aboveavalon estimates that Apple is slated to sell about 215 million iPhones for the year 2018. ASPs will still rise overall, as will revenues. This is before factoring in their Apple Watch sales and services growth. Whether this means that Apple is doomed or otherwise, you all decide. But as a general rule of thumb, I have found that it doesn’t pay to bet against Apple.

 

[fourthtunz]

Good. Maybe Apple will learn the lesson that you can't just keep raising the prices. At some point, you make your products unreachable by a tremendous swath of middle class Americans and you shoot yourself in the foot. For the same reason, you can't just raise taxes an unlimited number of times -- you'll eventually end up with less money coming in.

Remember folks, when we heard that Apple was going to be more aggressive with prices to increase units sold? Remember that? What happened to that? Remember: we were going to get a less expensive MacBook Air, a less expensive (but not gutted) iPhone, etc. Instead they took the other approach.

Apple, here are the prices you should have gone with to maximize units sold and revenue. It could have been a banner year for you.

iPhone Xr: $599
iPhone Xs: $799
iPhone XS Max: $899

128 GB: +$50
256 GB: +$100

I predict Apple still has a good OVERALL year. They released so many new products some people have to decide between phones and macs.
[doublepost=1542681311][/doublepost]

It’s okay, for all the dropped unit sales , Cook just need to increase the prices .... say two years from now the max will be £2.5k

The loyal elite, Prada.... Burberry etc .... Angela’s people can keep apple running .

Just to think Jobs built the brand for average users to innovate thier life’s , it’s turned into a fashion label each year out of reach of the average user

I say its been a fashion item since the 90's when I wrote Steve jobs a letter and complained and he said I was rude.
Always been an apple tax...you can buy windows or android...not the same, sorry suck it up buttercup.
[doublepost=1542681598][/doublepost]

Apple just went too far in their price strategy. Slowing down production when Black Friday and Christmas Sales are running hot means that there is simply no customers they can reach.

It should be an alarm for Apple that if they don’t turn around, they will lose big time.

Ferrari and Porsche might be productive when selling a few cars for extraordinary grotesque prices, but they are irrelevant for the automobile market. It’s a hobby for rich freaks.

Same will happen to Apple soon. iPhones were the entry into the Apple universe. They locked this door this year. How do they want to sell their iTunes stuff? How do they want to enter the financial market if Apple Pay is a payment option for a minority?

It’s not looking good for them. Nokia cashed in big time before they disappeared within two years. Same with Apple now. Apple does not want to see that the times for expensive phones are over.

Heh..Apple is just seeing what the market will bear...this is just a test, its only a test!

 

[ryanwarsaw]

I predict Apple still has a good OVERALL year. They released so many new products some people have to decide between phones and macs.
[doublepost=1542681311][/doublepost]
I say its been a fashion item since the 90's when I wrote Steve jobs a letter and complained and he said I was rude.
Always been an apple tax...you can buy windows or android...not the same, sorry suck it up buttercup.
[doublepost=1542681598][/doublepost]
Heh..Apple is just seeing what the market will bear...this is just a test, its only a test!

They meet guidance and exceed target prices out there at the moment.

 

[fourthtunz]

Compromised to who? Tech savvy individuals, sure I’ll bite. Sure it’s compromised for people who want the latest and greatest in every facet, but for a non tech savvy consumer, nothing is compromised about that phone. It’s an excellent choice at an excellent price point, and I would disagree that the original iPhone wasn’t compromised. Pretty sure it was running EDGE and GPRS when 3G was available and used by many other devices.

It might have been compromised is some ways but when you walked into a place with an iPhone and people were using crackberries, they noticed. And where is crackberry now? Its still the same for Apple, iPhone doesn't have the latest but what it does have is damn good. Just too much $$$ right now!
[doublepost=1542682580][/doublepost]

I think you mean 2008. The first iPhone was hardly smart. It was a feature phone. Even so it took them even longer to be a better alternative than a palm treo (IMO the best smartphone OS prior to the modern ones). Even webOS wiped the floor with apple but was badly mismanaged. It wasn’t til iPhone 4 that Apples iPhone became the best smartphone to own. IMO of course and even then it had to jailbroken which was easier back then.

The first Iphone worked the best with iTunes and such so if you are also a mac person those phones were not the best. just saying! thats why I upgraded from a motorola razor to the iPhone 2g.

 

[wigby]

The point is that it seems a lot of people would like the option to buy a smaller phone that's current. It's also about the cost, but only in that prices seem high across the board.

10 million seems like a lot until you realize that 100 million including those same 10 million are willing to pay 2x

 

[ryanwarsaw]

10 million seems like a lot until you realize that 100 million including those same 10 million are willing to pay 2x

The trouble is as soon as it is offered people will cry about price. The days of charging premiums for small phones are over.

 

[jonnysods]

Good. Time to bring prices down to a sane level.

Surely some of the executive team are thinking this. The prices are crazy.

 

[Gudi]

Apple doesn't have to do all the things, but their inflexibility does bite them in rear from time to time.

It’s the other way around, flexibility kills Android. Samsung has literally produced phones and tablets with hundreds of different resolutions and aspect ratios. As a result there is no least common denominator a developer could develop against. On the other hand every iPhone since the 5s had some form of biometric ID functionality stored in a secure enclave on Apples own silicone. That’s something a developer can take for granted.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Has there ever been an iPhone release where there were *not* stories like this? Most or all have turned out to be false.

Every year. Commenters seems extra eager for it to be true this year considering the higher price for everything, but I doubt it'll turn out to be true.

 

[JonKelley]

As a consumer, I see this potential news as a good thing. It means Apple should offer more compelling products for the price the next time around.

Remember, without competition, Phil Schiller would still be up on stage holding up a base 16GB iPhone in 2018.

 

[Baymowe335]

Music to my ears. Held up on XS Max because of their greedy stance. No innovation and not much to justify a premium price.

This is speculation. The music won’t come until Apple reports their numbers, which will likely be fantastic as usual.

 

[pika2000]

When will Apple’s Board of Directors realize that Tim Cook’s greed is a threat to this company in a long-term?

Because they know a bit or two more about investing than you do?

 

[shyam09]

Next year:

Apple: We had the best sale of any iPhone ever. Introducing iPhone 11R and 11S. 11R started at $849 for 64 GB and the 11S starts at $1099, and the 11S Max starts at $1299!!

Few months later:

Apple cuts production orders amid lower-than-expected demand.

 

[ghanwani]

So how does what you ascert fit with the Apple yearly upgrade programme?

There are always people that want the latest and the greatest regardless of whether they actually need it. The upgrade program is for them. My assertion is Apple isn't building their phones so that upgrading every year (or even every two years) becomes a necessity. I am now on Year 3 with my SE and I don't feel any need to upgrade. I can't say the same of my iPhone 4 and 5s.

 

[MultiMan]

Compromised to who? Tech savvy individuals, sure I’ll bite. Sure it’s compromised for people who want the latest and greatest in every facet, but for a non tech savvy consumer, nothing is compromised about that phone. It’s an excellent choice at an excellent price point, and I would disagree that the original iPhone wasn’t compromised. Pretty sure it was running EDGE and GPRS when 3G was available and used by many other devices.

The excellent price point is basically only valid in North America (and I still think $749 is too high for what it offers). In Europe it's priced out of competition, like in Sweden where it's about the same price as Mate 20 Pro and Samsung Note 9.
[doublepost=1542690837][/doublepost]

And my retired iPhone 4 has iOS which Android still misses. The XR looks ahead at years of feature and performance upgrades, whereas ~95% of Androids will die with the same version they shipped with.

Simply not true anymore for many brands. All my 3 Huawei phones have gotten a newer version of Android than it shipped with and frequent updates every month or two at most. Why don't you at least try to stay with the facts instead of rehashing old news that isn't true anymore. We live in 2018 and the Android competition is far stronger than just 3 years ago.

 

[Krizoitz]

The fact they decided to hide what they used to announce with pride, the number of devices sold, says it all.

Not really, because they were basically the only ones doing it which puts them at a potential competitive disadvantage. Why give away information for free just to entertain a bunch of posters on an internet forum?

 

[MultiMan]

I have never in my life seen a more toxic forum than what I see regularly at the MacRumors forum. I recall there used to be a lot more discussion and a lot less insulting and arguing.

Well, I'm a new member here and don't know how it used to be, but most of the bullying, insults and degrading comments I read come from the Apple fans towards any critics, doesn't matter if it's factual or not.