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

[skinned66]

Not being critical, just practical, but there was a story prior to the release of these phones, that with the iPhone 6s battery issue, with it being fixed for $29, that there would be at least 16 million fewer phones being bought (or maybe larger number), i fixed a few of those phones so far with a new battery and their owners are quite content. As far as the pricing for the new phones, this takes the "Apple Tax" to new levels. Seriously I wanted the new phone and on JOD with T-mobile they want $300 down for the XS, that is just beyond absurd, so like last year with the X release I passed and will continue too unless the price is dropped. There is no reason for this, to me and IMHO this is pure greed for these devices, they would sell more in volume is perhaps the XS was priced at $850.

It's a good point, I loved my 6S and did the battery thing as well. It still worked great. I planned to keep it for at least another year.

Unfortunately this weekend I accidentally ran over it with my snowblower (pics available upon request! LOL) and it isn't an iPhone that will be replacing it for the first time since the 3G. I did the only thing I can do to protest XS & XR carrier deals & off contract prices: not buy any of them.

 

[HiVolt]

I think there are a quite a few of us out there that still like Touch ID and don’t want the phone to unlock with our face. I’m hanging on to my “old” 7 for as long as I can. Still does everything I need it to do.

Yep, I'm not sold on FaceID yet. I prefer a home button. Its just more intuitive for me. I don't like the gesture required to get to the app icons. With Touch ID, It's just one push and its done.

Maybe if FaceID got the option to actually open the phone, it could work better. Not sure why that isn't an option.

I'll be sticking with my iPhone 8 and iPad Pro 2nd gen with trusty TouchID.

The prices of the new iPhones are ridiculous.

 

[Tijdelijk]

It's the notch

 

[nt5672]

It would be nice if all the features that were introduced with the rollout of the Xs, Xs Max and Xr actually worked. I purchased the Xs to be able to get rid of my work Samsung but we are over two months later and the eSim technology is not supported by any carriers in the United States. Come on Apple, get with your carrier partners and get the eSim dual-sim technology working.

I think this is a big part of the problem. Not only is it features, but bugs and design issues also. Right now, no one in their right mind (of course, excluding multimillionaire fanboys or girls, or those that blog about Apple) would buy a new generation Apple phone.

We know the facts. Any major problems or design issues will be denied, then blamed on the user, then after 2+ years of frustration Apple will roll out a few replacements for specific serial numbers. Simply too little, too late at the cost of the brand. Which obviously a finance / supply chain guy cannot clearly understand.

 

[I7guy]

Don’t think this alleged cut will matter. Apple will meet its guidance and no one will know how many units were sold.

 

[repoman016]

I keep seeing people talk about how hardware improvements aren't as much as years prior and how expensive apple devices are now. I think people tend to forget that when you buy an Apple product, you're not just paying for the hardware. You're paying for that sweet sweet ecosystem. Which is why I will never get the latest and greatest. Wait a year and it will be just as fast and cheaper

 

[shanson27]

Is the Huawei Mate 20 Pro the better option ?

 

[MacGod]

Well - when it costs you less than $400 to make a device, but you sell it for 3x that amount... there used to be a time when Apple really cared about the consumer and they plastered the market with their devices. The XR should be a bit cheaper and the XS should be just sub $1000 (not the beginning prices for the anemic 64GB version).

I have in-laws who are hanging onto their iPhone 5's with 16 GB of RAM, because the prices are just to high to upgrade. Love to see a $400 version or subsidized version. This installment crap with vendors... is just that. You are still paying for the device in full.

Is the 256 GB XS Max I have worth the $1300 I paid for it... no. but it would have been great to see this one around $999. (just another opinion).

 

[cocky jeremy]

Wow, misleading much? That statement makes it sound like it's the best selling iPhone of all time for Apple. Of course it was the best selling iPhone of that quarter as it was the latest model.

So was the 8 and 8 Plus.

 

[segundo]

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. Same. Stupid. Story.

The iPhone 6 is an excellent example of the opposite narrative as suppliers scrambled to meet unexpected high demand.

I don't think this should be trivially dismissed as fake news.

 

[serpico007]

Price is what made me decide not to upgrade, couldn't justify the carrier on contract pricing as well for the new phones. I was planning on upgrading my iPhone, iPad Pro 12.9 and Mac Mini this year but 20% increases was enough to leave it as is. I used to update on an annual basis as well as my family and friends. I only know one co-worker with a X and everyone is still on the older phones and computers.

I used to hear my co-workers, family and friends excited about Apple products but now all they talk about is the high prices or nothing at all.

 

[tentales]

Guess that strategy to increase margins to keep shareholders happy is finally backfiring. PiP=Peak-iPhone-Pricing.

 

[StevieD100]

Hey Apple! Not everyone wants a mega sized phone and a mega sized price.
I voted with my feet and bought a used iPhone 8.
Just another thing where you are really out of touch with the common people. SillyCon Valley is not the rest of the world.

 

[Tapiture]

Headline should read: “Apple is surprised that demand quantity decreases when price increases.” Does nobody at this company have a grasp of microeconomic principles? If their sales are decreasing in this enconomy, they’ve got problems. It should be a signal that their prices are too high.

 

[groadyho]

For us it was an easy decision $950 for 2 galaxy s9+'s or $2400 for 2 iphones X's. We have galaxies and with the savings the wife got a remodeled master bath.

 

[Abazigal]

Someone should totally do a story compiling wsj’s clockwork stories over last 5 years with headlines like “apple slashing iPhone production orders”.

Apple will do just fine. In the meantime...

Sighs...

 

[78Bandit]

Wow, misleading much? That statement makes it sound like it's the best selling iPhone of all time for Apple. Of course it was the best selling iPhone of that quarter as it was the latest model.

Also not hard to do when Apple is selling a huge mix of devices. They had the X, 8, 8 Plus, 7, 7 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, and SE available worldwide. They also continued to sell the 6 and 6 Plus in India. The X very likely made up less than 25% of all phones sold.

Gone are the good old days of FY 2015 when all Apple had was the 6, 6 Plus, 5S, and 5C and the newest devices made up 75% of sales. People are buying many more of the prior years' models because they are cheaper and still good enough.

 

[coolkid93]

Need to cut the price & innovate better

 

[LordVic]

Wow, misleading much? That statement makes it sound like it's the best selling iPhone of all time for Apple. Of course it was the best selling iPhone of that quarter as it was the latest model.

Typical though for MacRumours and Apple to have a lot of misleading facts, that aren't necessary wrong, but being used in wrong places.

yes, the X was the single best selling iPhone last year. It was however not the bulk of iPhone sales. From the numbers I saw (IIRC, been a while and will take ma while to find again), but the iPhone 7 and 8 models combined outsold the X by a decent margin. And overall, the iPhone X sold less in the year than the iPhone 7 sold during its first year, showcasing that the iPhone X was not necessarily the company changing phone that I believe they hoped it to be.

 

[3dayslater]

Need to cut the price, not the orders.

Exactly. I'm in the market for several upgrades (Mac and iPhone); however, I'm finding an abnormal amount trade-offs to be had. For example, the iPhone: get the XS...oh, forgot I needed to upgrade the storage on it - cha ching...oh wait...the notch. Ok, I'll learn to deal with the notch...oh, what about the PWM thanks to Apple doing a lower refresh rate on the screen...ok, the XR...the bezels. Then I think...wow, all of this is more expensive then what I already have which is operating perfectly fine. Nope.

Then I think about upgrading my laptop: get the 15" MacBook Pro...oh wait, I've got to upgrade to 512GB SSD...ouch...ok, I'm cool with that...oh, I'm actually going to be really frustrated with no USB-A port or SD slot on this machine...and why is this thing so expensive again...oh, the Touch Bar that I will have to force myself to like. Nope, not paying so high a price for that.

I've been really wanting to get an 12.9" iPad Pro...definitely upgrade the storage on this thing...oh wait, to make this worth my while, I need a $129 pencil...oh, but I definitely need the $199 keyboard because if I must type in a program, I'll be needing that keyboard...wait...why am I not just buying a laptop...oh no, if I look at this thing, it's going to bend into a pretzel...this thing better lend to my net worth because it's $$$

The sad things is that the technology itself is excellent - it's the little details (Steve Jobs) that really matter in real life that they are just messing up on. Plus, they are charging more for products that are missing the details.

 

[shanson27]

It's the notch

No, the price

 

[hybroid]

If Apple would simply cut the size (and the price) of just one model, I believe they'd sell more than they can imagine. As it stands, every new iPhone is big. Some of us don't want a bigger phone, just a more advanced one. Come on, Apple! Listen up!

I'm SO glad Apple has clued up fans like yourself as no way they can figure it out for themselves nor have business analysts on tap to tell them the optimum sales strategy...

This story is the same every single year and it's false each and every one.

 

[revmacian]

I wonder if Apple will ever realize that their price points are getting too high for some consumers.

 

[drewyboy]

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

It's impossible for us to ever know. Do their sales end up being good, yes. But what we've never known is what did Apple "sell" to the supplier? Maybe every rumor about this is true in that Apple tells the supplier that they're expecting 100 million units of x device and for them to plan on it, which is convenient when striking up a deal for lower cost on the suppliers parts, only for Apple a month after release to tell the supplier "oh yeah, it looks like we're actually only going to need parts for 70 million units." So the supplier went to all the trouble of making sure they can produce 100 million units, only to have it slashed by 30%.

Point is, Apple's reported sales could easily not equal what they told their suppliers to expect. Again, we'll never know if these rumors are false or true.

 

[Novus John]

The first is extremely expensive for a phone, the second is an expensive dinosaur from the past. No wonder Apple is slashing production orders. People have gotten fed up with Apple's never-ending price increases.