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

[Shiro_Simba]

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

 

[Baymowe335]

Well, when the latest iPhone can’t beat LAST YEARS Google Pixel 2 in the camera, this will happen

Welcome to competition Apple

Stop spreading fake news.

1) The XS has a better overall camera than the Pixel 2, period. Tested by DxoMark.
2) The XS has a better camera than the Pixel 2 or Pixel 3 for video, period. DxoMark again.
3) Many images between the Pixel 3 and iPhone XS Max are subjective, with both producing great results and some better than others in certain cases.
4) The iPhone XS has far better audio recording than the Pixel 3.
5) If "competition" from the Pixel 3 has done anything, it's to other Android phones. Google sold 4M Pixels in 2017. Apple sold 218M iPhones, so Pixel isn't hurting iPhone. If people aren't upgrading, it's because they are just waiting...not switching to Android.

Just as an example. The iPhone XS performs better than the Pixel 3 in many photos, is better with video, and the audio comparison is not even close. This is from a reviewer (Supersaf) who is normally leaning Android.

 

[Mr. Dee]

Market is saturated. I still have my iPhone 6s which works just fine and I have the maxed out iPhone X. I personally am not looking to upgrade until 2020 and that is if I am going to. There are changes going on in my life right now and I want to cut the upgrade for technology sake. Would rather spend the money on insurance and retirement plan.

 

[MarkB786]

No surprise here. Boring is boring, no matter how well you try to dress it up.

 

[alm99]

If true, can’t say I’m surprised. I am keeping my 6s plus for another year. The new battery and iOS 12 gave it new life and does everything I need. I would love the XS Max, but the price is just stupid even when factored into a payment plan with a carrier.

I’m not going to add $50/month to a bill let alone two or more phones. The carriers are not doing Apple any favors either with their BOGO promo of requiring a new line of service or your first born child to get that free phone. I get it, they are a business, and need to do what’s best for them. Alas, the four phones on our family plan will stay in a mix of 6s and 6s plus phones, all with new batteries.

 

[obiwan]

Maybe they are charging too much? Just a thought...

 

[Kabeyun]

Buckle your seat belts. Here comes another selloff.

 

[smulji]

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.

The iPhone X was the single best-selling iPhone model for all of fiscal year 2018

 

[NT1440]

Well it’s November, so it’s time for analysts to yet again dust off their pre-written report and type in this years model.


Seriously, I’d love if MR would link to the literal 5 years this same article has been written...

 

[Baymowe335]

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

When earnings stop growing at 40% and revenue at 20%. (Most recent results).

You people are hilarious. Apple is owned by SHAREHOLDERS who want a return. This isn't a charity.

Based on the results, the company has never performed better and continues to dominate their industry. $60B in profit in 2018, double digit growth in all geographic segments, 30% EPS growth, services growing like crazy, wearables growing like crazy, iPhone revenue growing like crazy, iPhone units sales STILL up versus 2017, and the largest buyback in history.

Tell me why the strategy isn't working? Oh, an "unnamed report" about cutting iPhone orders that has literally never been right when it's reported every single year?

Good story.

 

[wigby]

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!

Why do people think that Apple hasn't already heavily researched the most popular size and pricing and that they somehow anecdotally know so much more than Apple? Of course they would sell more at a cheaper price and they would also unlock a new customer base if they offered a smaller model too. But Apple knows better than anyone (analysts, stock manipulator, forum commenters, etc.) that they can and will make more money by doing exactly what they did. Maybe they are wrong this time but I cannot remember the last time they were wrong.

And if this rumor is true, it only proves that introducing a low priced XR phone (like the SE and C models) is a mistake so there will only be price hikes in the future.

 

[Oldfash33]

Apple also slashed iPhone SE production — to zero.

That's when they lost me as a phone customer.

Curious, which phone do you know use?

 

[mctrials23]

Just Apples stupid strategy of pricing all their good devices out of the reach of 80% of their target market coming back to bite them. You can ask people to buy a device that lasts years for a lot of money and they might do it. They're not going to do it again the next year and the year after though. First year you make a lot of profit and after that you have far less demand along with the slow exodus of customers who grow tired of your profit focus and leave the ecosystem for cheaper companies offering 95% of the same experience.

The iPhone was something a lot of people were happy to upgrade yearly because their old device had a high resale value relative to the RRP and the new one wasn't obscenely priced. People who didn't care about the latest and greatest got a nice discount on a year old phone and die hard fans got the latest model.

Now the die hard fans are struggling to pay £1000+ yearly and those who don't want to will only want to pay £500-£600 for those year old phones still because its not worth any more to them.

There are a few apple devices I would love to won but I won't because they don't give me enough for the money I would spend. New iPads are lovely and I want one but theres no way I can justify the cost of them for what I would use them for. They are pricing them outside that impulse buy and "go on then" pricing and into the "wow, I need to be really rich or have a damn good reason for owning this (work)" pricing.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Every. Year. Same. Stupid. Story.

Thank you. Every year it’s the same thing. Nevermind that maybe, just maybe, Apple had an abnormally high production rate going in advance of launch to meet initial demand. The last story Apple really wants is to hear is if people went to buy their new iPhone and there wasn’t enough supply.

 

[Baymowe335]

Need to cut the price, not the orders.

No they don't.

This maybe have 50 likes by people hoping for lower prices, but the real financials say Apple's strategy is working brilliantly and people are willing to pay.

Revenue up 20%
EPS up 40%
iPhone unit sales in 2018 were UP by 1M units from 2017 with far higher ASPs - This shows the pricing power.

 

[TitanicManDC]

That's what happens when you squeeze every drop out of your customers. Looks like they squeezed too hard this time.

 

[Baymowe335]

Just Apples stupid strategy of pricing all their good devices out of the reach of 80% of their target market coming back to bite them. You can ask people to buy a device that lasts years for a lot of money and they might do it. They're not going to do it again the next year and the year after though. First year you make a lot of profit and after that you have far less demand along with the slow exodus of customers who grow tired of your profit focus and leave the ecosystem for cheaper companies offering 95% of the same experience.

The iPhone was something a lot of people were happy to upgrade yearly because their old device had a high resale value relative to the RRP and the new one wasn't obscenely priced. People who didn't care about the latest and greatest got a nice discount on a year old phone and die hard fans got the latest model.

Now the die hard fans are struggling to pay £1000+ yearly and those who don't want to will only want to pay £500-£600 for those year old phones still because its not worth any more to them.

There are a few apple devices I would love to won but I won't because they don't give me enough for the money I would spend. New iPads are lovely and I want one but theres no way I can justify the cost of them for what I would use them for. They are pricing them outside that impulse buy and "go on then" pricing and into the "wow, I need to be really rich or have a damn good reason for owning this (work)" pricing.

You are speculating and the numbers say you're flat out wrong. Their "stupid strategy" is working brilliantly.

Where is your data that "die hard fans are struggling to pay £1000+"?

Where is your upgrade rate data? Apple sold more iPhones in 2018 at these new higher prices than they did in 2017. Fact. iPhone revenue was HUGE. More units, higher prices.

My data shows revenue was up 20%, EPS was up 40%, and iPhone unit sales were UP in 2018. Apple has never had a better year, so the strategy is WORKING.

More data, less speculation please.

 

[mctrials23]

And if this rumor is true, it only proves that introducing a low priced XR phone (like the SE and C models) is a mistake so there will only be price hikes in the future.

It doesn't prove that at all. Thats a really simple way of looking at things. £750 for a second tier device is a lot of money. You can either say the XR isn't successful because its too cheap or you can say that apple have basically made all their phones too expensive and people are completely breaking from the idea of replacing their phones every year or even 2 years.

The fact they have reduced all expectations on their iPhones tells your they have screwed up somewhere. Whats the betting its on pricing....

 

[wyarp]

Too expensive. Too big.

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

I would consider the XR to be a very reasonably priced iPhone. Do we not remember that the original iPhone launched the 8gb model for $599 with a 2 year contract? So you’re telling me the iPhone XR only went up $150 in 11 years? A 20% increase over 11 years is pretty reasonable considering much of the market is about to take a 25% increase on goods due to the tariff? Oh did I mention you also get a slight bump in features on the XR vs the iP1.

 

[stevearm]

They'll release an iPhone with 10" screen next, that's what people want right? A giant screen for... no... reason.

Bring back the SE!

 

[Baymowe335]

That's what happens when you squeeze every drop out of your customers. Looks like they squeezed too hard this time.

Based on what? The usual wrong report that cites "unnamed sources" in the supply chain? LOL!! Look at the real numbers. Look at the 10-k.

Let's see how "bad" sales were Feb 1. This "reporting" is all speculation, manipulation, and always wrong.

 

[threesixty360]

These supply chain leaks to move the share price so that investors can make money should kind of be illegal.
Can no one see the problem with such incomplete information?

The reality as the quote says is that we have no idea how the supply chain works. They could be buying x amount of widgets that fit devices beyond the iphone and then decide they dont want to release the other product next year so cut the order for that reason. How would anyone know?

Also, this thing about price. I dont like the fact that Apple charge seemingly 20% more than I would think is reasonable. But the reality is they wouldnt sell more of anything if they lowered the price. So what madman prices a product for lower if they wouldnt sell any more of them?

If you are going to spend £1000 on a phone you are already setting yourself up to be nickel and dimed for anything within 20/25% of that figure. And there really is no option for buyers who want the phone because the eco system is so strong. For Android to be an alternative for most iphone buyers it would literally have to be free. It would be that much of a hassle to change. (in fact if google wanted higher adoption to really battle the iphone maybe they should find a way of doing that).

What Apple are doing with their product is making the OS features work for a lot longer on older and cheaper phones. So in reality you can get a pretty similar iOS experience from a low price of £300 (ipad 2018) to £1200 (iphone Xs). But you can pretty much do the same things with all of them. No one seems to focus that Apple in a trade off between higher prices have pretty much improved dramatically the value to cost ratio for iOS completely.

Other phone and tablet companies cant match that value proposition throughout their range, and android cant guarantee that service level between their various OEMs. And thats why Apple gains and retains customers and why people would rather hold on to their iphone 7 or 6 until they can afford the upgrade than jump ship.

 

[luvbug]

Hmmm ... supply chain manufacturing targets for suppliers and reporting unit iPhone sales in quarterly reports has *nothing* to do with each other; the first is before the fact (estimated demand), while the latter is after the fact (actual sales in units).

 

[Lankyman]

Stop spreading fake news.

1) The XS has a better overall camera than the Pixel 2, period. Tested by DxoMark.
2) The XS has a better camera than the Pixel 2 or Pixel 3 for video, period. DxoMark again.
3) Many images between the Pixel 3 and iPhone XS Max are subjective, with both producing great results and some better than others in certain cases.
4) The iPhone XS has far better audio recording than the Pixel 3.
5) If "competition" from the Pixel 3 has done anything, it's to other Android phones. Google sold 4M Pixels in 2017. Apple sold 218M iPhones, so Pixel isn't hurting iPhone. If people aren't upgrading, it's because they are just waiting...not switching to Android.

Just as an example. The iPhone XS performs better than the Pixel 3 in many photos, is better with video, and the audio comparison is not even close. This is from a reviewer (Supersaf) who is normally leaning Android.

It's companies like Hauwei who are beginning to hurt Apple especially in the far East markets which have become very important to Apple. Then you have companies like OnePlus who are really starting to get consumers interested in a flagship killer at half the price of the iPhone. And to be perfectly honest even the old iOS Android debate is no longer enough to put customers off.

If you have two phones pretty evenly matched (for the average consumer) and one is half the price of the other, why is it savvy to pay for the one which costs twice as much?

 

[Joniz]

Eventually, Apple will sell one iPhone per year at USD$23,736,399.