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

[Krizoitz]

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.
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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.

Here are the facts from the horses own mouths. Android version share vs iOS version share from each respective developer. 93% of iOS users have the two most recent majors versions of the OS as of the end of October. In contrast less than half, 49.7% of Android users can say the same. Those are the facts.

 

[jeffreyg]

No, the price

No, it’s the notch and the size.

 

[Baymowe335]

No, it’s the notch and the size.

Not only did 2018 prove that wrong, you have zero data to back that up.

218M iPhones were sold for $166B versus 217M iPhones and $141B in 2017. That increase 8n ASP was driven by the iPhone X, which was the most popular iPhone in the lineup.

Now how did the notch and size impact sales last year? Or better, now did they impact them this year with literally zero data out yet except Apple’s blowout last quarter with only 12 days of iPhone XS sales?

 

[chatin]

Not only did 2018 prove that wrong, you have zero data to back that up.

218M iPhones were sold for $166B versus 217M iPhones and $141B in 2017. That increase 8n ASP was driven by the iPhone X, which was the most popular iPhone in the lineup.

Now how did the notch and size impact sales last year? Or better, now did they impact them this year with literally zero data out yet except Apple’s blowout last quarter with only 12 days of iPhone XS sales?

The 8 is Apple's most popular model. A complete repudiation of the notch.

 

[forerunnerg34]

Nothing that iOS 13 can’t fix.

 

[iMEric984]

Correction, the market got used to bigger screens and less bezels for a cheaper price and aren’t willing to pay flagship prices for even an iphone SE.

That’s one of the main reasons why Apple is doing so shameful bad in India. Why buy a device with 6 years old tech and screen when you can have so much better for even less?

The iPhone SE was a cheap alternative with a smaller screen. It was a refresh of the 5S, which did well. It had the A9 chip, and came out after the iPhone 7 which had the A10. Cheaper phone with good performance and small form factor. Even today, the SE does not have “6 year old tech”. Six year old tech was the iPhone 5.

And since when is $349 a flagship price?

 

[Ramchi]

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.

True but the component makers and Foxconn may start charging more for the unit price/assembly charges since volumes are shrinking....or they may go after other brands (obviously, Android) for long term association. Meanwhile, Apple will squeeze the maximum out of loyal customers year after year!:Good for Apple and good for Android customers...

 

[iMcLovin]

Well, Apple was way above others in price and they now pushed it to near "not worth it" price heights. I have always updated my phone yearly and bought both previous iPad Pro, so I all ready bought more than I actually "need". With the new prices, even if I could, it simply isn't worth it anymore. And the Xs iphones are just more expensive than X, but even Apple had problems explaining what was actually new!. They are really pushing the limits of their own customers patience with this greed and lazyness. It's almost seems as if they want to test how far they can exploit their market.

 

[AgentAnonymous]

This is what happens when you increase the price without adding any meaningful new features. There's zero incentive to upgrade from the X to the Xs, realistically there's not a huge incentive to move from a 7/8 to a Xs if it means breaking a carrier contract; and if you don't view FaceID as a must-have (I certainly don't).

Yes phones were always going to become less groundbreaking year-over-year, but this increasing of the price without any justification whatsoever was always going to turn people off and away form upgrading every year.

The X is too small. The incentive to upgrade is to the Max. The better and improved hardware is just icing on top.

 

[ds2000]

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

You've got that the wrong way around. It's pressure from the board and stakeholders to keep making profit that drives up the prices. TC is just the face of it.

 

[Krizoitz]

Well, Apple was way above others in price and they now pushed it to near "not worth it" price heights.

This is simply inaccurate. When you compare the price of Apples previous phones with that of comparable top of the line Android prices they were right up there. Whether or not its near "not worth it" price is up to each individual consumer.

I have always updated my phone yearly and bought both previous iPad Pro, so I all ready bought more than I actually "need". With the new prices, even if I could, it simply isn't worth it anymore.

Hey, its your money, spend it however you want, but it rings hollow to come in talking about how you bought new iPhones every year (aka already spending hundreds of dollars on the phones) as well as the $1000+ each for the previous iPad Pros, and now say its simply too much. Don't want to upgrade every year? Fine, but if you simply upgraded every other year now you'd be paying LESS than you were before on average. Early on it probably made more sense to upgrade more often, the devices were changing at a greater pace as it often does in the early days, but now that things are stabilizing a bit more people are less likely to upgrade annually. Spending $1200 for a phone that you upgrade every 2 or 3 years is a lot cheaper than spending $800 for one you upgrade every year.

And hey, if the Xs is outside your price range you can still get the Xr which features the same processor at a significant price cut.

Meanwhile the iPhone 8 and iPhone 7 are still options if you aren't interested in the X line at even lower prices. And before you complain about the iPhone 8 being "old tech", 1. how do you think cheaper devices get sold? 2. The iPhone 8 is faster than the fastest current Android phones.

Its pretty simple, if you want the latest and greatest cutting edge models? Those are the most expensive. If you want to save money you get less cutting edge devices. Welcome to simple economics. And welcome to what Android does as well. The better the device, the higher the price.

And the Xs iphones are just more expensive than X, but even Apple had problems explaining what was actually new!. They are really pushing the limits of their own customers patience with this greed and lazyness. It's almost seems as if they want to test how far they can exploit their market.

Whats new? Improved camera, improved networking, improved Face ID, improved water resistance, dual sim capability.
Like what are you expecting them to do each year? New case? More ports? Hoverboard mode? Just because you can't physically see the differences doesn't mean they aren't there. It almost seems as if MR Forum members are looking for reasons to be upset.

If its too expensive for you, no worries, you don't have to buy it, your current phone won't get bricked because you decide to keep it.

 

[Lankyman]

Based on the numbers they just reported, things are even sweeter than I thought before the report.

To me, 20% revenue growth and 41% eps growth just reported are the latest real numbers that mean anything. Everything else afterward is speculation, as usual.

So you’re quite happy you’re contributing to making a very rich company even richer at your expense? What a bizarre philosophy.
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I am saying it’s a package deal.

Yea well not for me it’s not. My latest phone has come packaged in Android wrapping paper and I’m loving the experience along with the price.

 

[dilbert99]

Every. Year. Same. Stupid. Story.

every year do you see a drop of 15% in stock price?
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Yet, the iPhone X went on to become not only the top-selling iPhone at Apple, but in the entire world.

Can you break out some actual facts on this?
[doublepost=1542702036][/doublepost]

Google’s Pixel has a fantastic camera. One month into release, it’s being discounted at BOGO50 or $200 off, rumors of slow sales dog them

Google doesn't spend anything like what Apple spends marketing their phones.
Google is also trying to charge iPhone prices, which simply isn't going to fly. If Google made the pixel cheaper, I would jump ship.
[doublepost=1542702416][/doublepost]

I agree. No one is interested in being rigorous or doing a second more work than reading a headline and automatically assuming it's true.

I try to post numbers, facts, and real supporting evidence in my replies and mostly get people parroting back what they read on a headline designed to get clicks.

Read between the lines. Did you see how many likes some of these posts are getting. I have never seen them as high as on this thread. It is obviously resonating with many Apple customers.
There has to be a point when you increase prices so much that customers say enough is enough.
I guess like you say only time will tell. But we will only have revenue to go on.
If that continues to rise Apple is fine, so too are your shares.
But if it dips or stays flat, then we know that people have hit their limit.

Out of curiosity to you and co, what are your max iPhone prices before you change your behaviour to either stop buying one or more likely buy one less often?

I was fine paying less than $1000 AUD for a phone every 2 years but would still rather only pay the 600-700 AUD that I used to. ($654 USD in todays money, or $909 USD several years ago accounting for currency fluctuations now and then)

 

[michelepri]

Maestri said unit sales are "not particularly relevant for our company at this point,"

Probably not. There's more business in making customers pay exorbitant prices for repairs that would normally be covered by the guarantee. Repairs that other brands would cover for free, forced upon Apple customers by machines with good design but outdated specs and engineering problems.

 

[ROGmaster]

I am using a Note 9 and an iPhone X simultaneously. Skype works beautifully.

Yeah and there's also Duo which has improved a lot lately(in terms of video, sound quality) or Whatsapp video calling. Platform agnostic solutions that work great and are support by billion dollar companies.

 

[Gudi]

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.

Because, once you go Mac, you never look back. In your memory Windows will always stays what it was when you left. The most frustrating moments will live on forever. Every virus you had, every toolbar that installed itself and changed your search engine setting. You fooled me once, shame on you. You’ll never get a second chance.

Me and Android that’s strictly bias. I’ll never used one and I never will. I just know in my heart it’s trash. Yes, I’m a Apple fanboy on an Apple rumors site, shoot me! Because I’ve seen Windows, I’m not willing to give another knockoff OS running on OEM hardware a try. We know how that went the last time.

For a while it might look as if the competition has caught up. Increasing processor speeds will hide performance issues and bigger batteries will mask inefficiency. The average customer will be blinded by flashy OLED colors, but not me.

I know Google, Samsung and Qualcomm have divergent interests and no overall master plan. Apple just needs to have a notch and everyone goes crazy. Keep the fingerprint sensor, put it on the back, put it in the display, no don’t keep it. Big notch, small notch, double notch, top and bottom notch. Notchless! Slide it, Fold it, Roll it.

Samsung the company that invented ‘Tent Mode’ as a way you might want to use your laptop wants to design my phone? No thanks!

 

[iMcLovin]

Whats new? Improved camera, improved networking, improved Face ID, improved water resistance, dual sim capability.
Like what are you expecting them to do each year? New case? More ports? Hoverboard mode? Just because you can't physically see the differences doesn't mean they aren't there. It almost seems as if MR Forum members are looking for reasons to be upset.

If its too expensive for you, no worries, you don't have to buy it, your current phone won't get bricked because you decide to keep it.

I all ready bought the Xs Max so no not too expensive for me no, thats not the point. I'm just saying my own mind. I paid about 1600 usd for the Xs Max and I still don't think the phone is worth it in general, it was a lazy update from Apple. I wanted it because I missed the size. It has nothing to do with what I can afford or not, I just think Apple is pushing the envelope on prices these days. THe huge drop in share value and dropped iphone orders pretty much sums it up, even if you disagree with me.

I even seen some apple fans "up"grading from iphone X to Xr, which is closer to ridiculous than ever before IMO. Thats basically paying hundred of dollars to downgrade. Only one completely clouded by apples marketing scheme would do that.

also to the stuff you mentioned....I own the phone so I know the difference.... camera features, bare noticeable, only software, which apple declined to add to iphone X only to have a reason for people to upgrade. Face ID, thats only a MINOR software optimization, and not really noticeable for the end user anyway and definately not hardware improvements (and I know, I had the X before) . more water resistant, hardly. Its still not water proof, maybe it can hold 0.03 hours longer in the water than the previous gen, nothing an enduser will experience any different. I'm not gonna bother to list up what I want, it's a waste of my time, you seem clouded by the Apple logo anyway. If you prefer apple to keep repeating the same products and just add 30% price increase, feel free to do that.

 

[MultiMan]

Because, once you go Mac, you never look back. In your memory Windows will always stays what it was when you left. The most frustrating moments will live on forever. Every virus you had, every toolbar that installed itself and changed your search engine setting. You fooled me once, shame on you. You’ll never get a second chance.

Me and Android that’s strictly bias. I’ll never used one and I never will. I just know in my heart it’s trash. Yes, I’m a Apple fanboy on an Apple rumors site, shoot me! Because I’ve seen Windows, I’m not willing to give another knockoff OS running on OEM hardware a try. We know how that went the last time.

For a while it might look as if the competition has caught up. Increasing processor speeds will hide performance issues and bigger batteries will mask inefficiency. The average customer will be blinded by flashy OLED colors, but not me.

I know Google, Samsung and Qualcomm have divergent interests and no overall master plan. Apple just needs to have a notch and everyone goes crazy. Keep the fingerprint sensor, put it on the back, put it in the display, no don’t keep it. Big notch, small notch, double notch, top and bottom notch. Notchless! Slide it, Fold it, Roll it.

Samsung the company that invented ‘Tent Mode’ as a way you might want to use your laptop wants to design my phone? No thanks!

Then don't make false statements about things you know nothing about.

I've used Apple products for many years including still owning iPhones that's why I'm here voicing my discontent with how Apple is run at the moment. I wouldn't dream of being so dishonest to attack something with "alternative facts" I know nothing about and have never even used.

 

[Lankyman]

Because, once you go Mac, you never look back. In your memory Windows will always stays what it was when you left. The most frustrating moments will live on forever. Every virus you had, every toolbar that installed itself and changed your search engine setting. You fooled me once, shame on you. You’ll never get a second chance.

Me and Android that’s strictly bias. I’ll never used one and I never will. I just know in my heart it’s trash. Yes, I’m a Apple fanboy on an Apple rumors site, shoot me! Because I’ve seen Windows, I’m not willing to give another knockoff OS running on OEM hardware a try. We know how that went the last time.

For a while it might look as if the competition has caught up. Increasing processor speeds will hide performance issues and bigger batteries will mask inefficiency. The average customer will be blinded by flashy OLED colors, but not me.

I know Google, Samsung and Qualcomm have divergent interests and no overall master plan. Apple just needs to have a notch and everyone goes crazy. Keep the fingerprint sensor, put it on the back, put it in the display, no don’t keep it. Big notch, small notch, double notch, top and bottom notch. Notchless! Slide it, Fold it, Roll it.

Samsung the company that invented ‘Tent Mode’ as a way you might want to use your laptop wants to design my phone? No thanks!

Well you've made my day. I haven't laughed so much in ages. What complete and utter nonsense. I think this is TC posting under an alias.

 

[Gudi]

Then don't make false statements about things you know nothing about.

Only because I’m biased doesn’t mean I’m wrong. I’m arguing without personal experience, you’re arguing with anecdotal evidence.

https://fossbytes.com/most-popular-android-versions-always-updated/amp/

The facts have it that the latest four Android versions hold significant market share. Does anybody still remember the features and bugs of iOS 9? Could you imagine iOS 9 with a 17.9% usage share?

 

[halluxsinister]

Gorsh, I wonder why sales might be flatter than expected for Apple's latest dumbing-down of a formerly usable product line. OH! I know, they could maybe increase sales by adding some whiz-bang new features.

Like...

I dunno, maybe a HEADPHONE JACK? Maybe they should add one of those!

Of course, it's Apple, so it won't be 3.5mm, it will be 3.45mm, which means your existing headphones STILL won't fit. Then there'll be videos on YauTub of people boring the holes out to 3.5mm, which will cause the phones to catch fire because they'll deliberately make the jack pass THROUGH the battery specifically to keep you from doing this. Then they'll sell adapter dongles for $35.95, or new Ultra Slim iHeadphones that only work with these, for $295.99... GOD I'm tired of Apple.

PLEASE FIRE TIM COOK, and probably the rest of senior MIS-management! Apple needs to get back to being Apple.

In recent weeks, Apple slashed production orders for its latest iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR models due to "lower-than-expected demand," among other reasons, according to unnamed sources cited by The Wall Street Journal.

The report claims the production cuts have hit the iPhone XR hardest, with Apple said to have slashed its production plan for the device by "up to a third of the approximately 70 million units" it had asked some suppliers to produce between September and February, amounting to a reduction of up to 23.3 million units or so.

And in the past week, the report claims Apple told several suppliers that it cut its production plan again for the iPhone XR, as it battles a mature smartphone market and increasing competition from Chinese vendors like Huawei.

The production cuts are said to have "reignited frustration" among iPhone suppliers and "raised worries about Apple's ability to forecast demand."

We've heard this narrative before. Last year, a flurry of reports variously referred to the iPhone X as a "failure," "disappointment," and "flop." Another report said the iPhone X "did not live up to the hype." Yet, the iPhone X went on to become not only the top-selling iPhone at Apple, but in the entire world.

Apple also reported record-breaking iPhone revenue of $61.5 billion in the iPhone X launch quarter, so the device was anything but a flop.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has dismissed these kind of reports in the past. During an earnings call in January 2013, he noted that the company's supply chain is very complex and that conclusions shouldn't be drawn from singular data points:Apple's financial chief Luca Maestri has also cautioned about trying to determine iPhone demand based on potentially misleading supply chain reports.

It is possible, however, that Apple is increasingly struggling to forecast iPhone demand. Today's report claims that Apple was "excessively optimistic" about its initial production forecast for the iPhone X, which it proceeded to slash "by some 20 million units" for the first three months of 2018.

Unfortunately, iPhone sales will be less transparent going forward, as Apple announced that it will no longer disclose iPhone unit sales in its earnings reports starting with the first quarter of its 2019 fiscal year.

Justifying the move, Maestri said unit sales are "not particularly relevant for our company at this point," as they are "not necessarily representative of the underlying strength of our business." He added that Apple may provide qualitative commentary related to unit sales if the info is valuable to investors.

Apple will still disclose iPhone revenue on a quarterly basis, however, and any significant year-over-year decline in that amount would help indicate if iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR demand is truly lower than expected.

AAPL is down nearly 15 percent since Apple's earnings report on November 1.

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

 

[Steve121178]

Nothing that iOS 13 some innovation can’t fix.

Fixed.

 

[Nikhil72]

Also love when people chime in on these ridiculous stories with calls to fire people. Are we not going to acknowledge some impressive technological achievements under Cook’s Apple? Exponential growth of the iPhone; a $1000 phone that actually sold very well; the UNPARALLELLED achievements of their in-house CPU team with the A-series chips (I mean, this alone makes their achievements incredible); the taptic engine (seriously, have you used competitor devices? Pathetic at best, years behind); brilliant manufacturing of LCD screens still; the AirPods (you can’t go anywhere without seeing dozens of these at a time). I can keep going, but if you don’t want to acknowledge these things that enhanced the overall experience of their product lines, you’re being willfully ignorant.

 

[Shiro_Simba]

I predict Apple still has a good OVERALL year. They released so many new products some people have to decide between phones and macs.
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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.
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Heh..Apple is just seeing what the market will bear...this is just a test, its only a test!

Buttercup ? On a positive, happy to see that Steve and I had the same opinion after one exchange

 

[antonis]

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

It will be the day that people will stop rewarding them for being greedy.