Apple Reportedly Plans to Cut Price of iPhone XR in Japan Due to Poor Sales and Restart iPhone X Production

[44267547]

Realistically, I don’t know how much I actually believe in these analyst predictions. Last year, as an example, the 2017 iPhone X was rumored to be decreased in production early on after its initial release, yet Tim Cook stated that the X was the most popular selling iPhone every week for that quarter. So what does that tell you?

Analysts don’t have inside information to Apple suppliers, they merely are making predictions based off what they believe, not what they know.

 

[Matthew.H]

Are you really trying to make a point that iPhones aren't (also) used as status symbols?

They may be useful, powerful, you name it, computers but nowadays iPhones are probably one of the most used objects as a status symbol.

Some people may consider an iPhone a status symbol and that's fine. I just don't consider them a status symbol myself due to how many I see around where I live.

 

[timber]

They’re both correct. Apple overplayed it’s hand by increasing their prices and the cheapest XR is too expensive in comparison the competition has to offer. To be fair, name one product from Apple you think is fairly priced

Well, while I do agree almost all of Apple's line is overpriced I would say the regular iPad is fairly priced.

It can almost be considered cheap particularly if you look at it when launched.
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Some people may consider an iPhone a status symbol and that's fine. I just don't consider them a status symbol myself due to how many I see around where I live.

Some brands/products manage to have that status while selling quite a lot.

Another curious example is for example the fact that nowadays the Mercedes C class (or the BMW 3 or Audi A4) sell a lot more than a Ford Mondeo and the status symbol isn't the Mondeo.

 

[tromboneaholic]

All stocks go up and down although this is probably a good time for people to sell Apple shares and lock in their earnings (it would have been better a month ago).

That's obviously the point driving this yearly press cycle, but the key is to buy low and sell high. It used to be Apple's product cycle that was predictable, now it's the "pump & dump" stories.

 

[sracer]

Price increases can mask slight declines but only for so long. What happens when the price increase card can’t be played anymore?

Should that happen, Apple will simply wait it out for a cycle or two... because it won't take much time before current iPhone owners will have to upgrade. That is when they will be forced to buy the latest model at the high price. Apple is also making newer iPhones more difficult to repair and replace the battery as a way to prevent extending the life of those phones.

 

[Baymowe335]

iPhone product range was a disaster in the making and the current news is the pinnacle, so far.

The iPhone X was innovative, OK, and great for people, who used the 6/7/8 PLUS. Same screen size and compact size.

The X Plus was a size overkill but hey, there are peolple who want phablets and I am fine with that.

And there are surely people with too much money who buy the XS or XSMax despite the lack of any true innovation, again, why should I care for that? I don’t!

The X should not have been discontinued but should have received a significant price drop, as did the iPhone 6 and 7 after a year or so.

The XR is just a ridiculous product, a flop like the 5c. There is no need for a cheap expensive phablet. That product is nonsense.

The XR should have been equipped with a 4inch screen or it should not have been bigger in size than the SE for people who would look for a cheaper phone with a totally different FORM FACTOR. A market niche, that out of stupidity no company wants to serve.

Hell even an upgraded SE with bezels and home button would sell like hot cake!

Their fault!

Losers!

Good thing you take all this nonsense as fact before the real story is even out. You call the XR a flop a month after release and base your entire opinion on clickbait fake news that is pure speculation.

You'll be wrong, as usual, come January 31 when the numbers are reported. This is the same news cycle Apple gets every year.

 

[9081094]

Well, while I do agree almost all of Apple's line is overpriced I would say the regular iPad is fairly priced.

It can almost be considered cheap particularly if you look at it when launched.
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Some brands/products manage to have that status while selling quite a lot.

Another curious example is for example the fact that nowadays the Mercedes C class (or the BMW 3 or Audi A4) sell a lot more than a Ford Mondeo and the status symbol isn't the Mondeo.

I agree with you. The regular iPad is fairly priced but surely not cheap.

 

[tromboneaholic]

Restarting iPhone X production means customers want the superior Qualcomm vs Intel modem and Samsung vs LG OLED display and without the excessively greedy iPhone Xs markup.

Customers don't pay attention to that, only market-watchers and industry insiders do.

 

[hans1972]

Apples guidance is predicting a ~1% to ~5% gain in revenue. For Apple to expect such meager gains in revenue, they must be expecting lower unit sales or at best, flat unit sales. iPhones account for an outsized proportion of Apple's revenue and have an equally outsized impact on their gains/declines.

If Apple posts $89 Billion... that's flat YoY. For AAPL's sake, Apple shouldn't post $89 Billion.

Yearly iPhones sales have been flat for about three years. I don't see why anyone would expect any signifiant increase in unit sales.

2015: ≈231 million units
2016: ≈212 million units
2017: ≈217 million units
2018: ≈218 million units

 

[Baymowe335]

I don't understand the hate for the XR, I love mine. A good upgrade from my old work 6S and personal 5S. But Apple has to realize that upgrade cycles averaging four years will become the norm, some will upgrade every year or two and some will upgrade every six+. I have three inlaws still happy on their 5S.

The hate is confined to people here that are ready to jump at any story with a negative speculative outlook on iPhone sales, especially XR.

The truth is, no one knows and we see fake story like this all the time, designed to manipulate the stock.

Why people still take these articles as fact when they are proven wrong over and over continues to baffle me.

 

[tromboneaholic]

I agree with you. The regular iPad is fairly priced but surely not cheap.

Amazon (not a third party) was selling the 2018 iPad for $250 today until it ran out of inventory.

 

[Matthew.H]

Some brands/products manage to have that status while selling quite a lot.

Another curious example is for example the fact that nowadays the Mercedes C class (or the BMW 3 or Audi A4) sell a lot more than a Ford Mondeo and the status symbol isn't the Mondeo.

Fair point well made. Another example with the Mondeo was an episode on Top Gear years ago. The Mondeo ST220 models sold less units than the Aston Martin DB9 yet the Aston was considered the status symbol even though the Mondeo ST220 was a rarer car.

 

[tromboneaholic]

Realistically, I don’t know how much I actually believe in these analyst predictions. Last year, as an example, the 2017 iPhone X was rumored to be decreased in production early on after its initial release, yet Tim Cook stated that the X was the most popular selling iPhone every week for that quarter. So what does that tell you?

Analysts don’t have inside information to Apple suppliers, they merely are making predictions based off what they believe, not what they know.

iPhone X wound up being the top selling smartphone worldwide for its first 6 months, despite similar reports last year from the same sources.

 

[Baymowe335]

Apples guidance is predicting a ~1% to ~5% gain in revenue. For Apple to expect such meager gains in revenue, they must be expecting lower unit sales or at best, flat unit sales. iPhones account for an outsized proportion of Apple's revenue and have an equally outsized impact on their gains/declines.

If Apple posts $89 Billion... that's flat YoY. For AAPL's sake, Apple shouldn't post $89 Billion.

a 5.6% revenue gain on $88B is still a lot. It's $5B, which is larger than most entire company revenue. Let's say they post $94B (as they have beaten upper end guidance 2 Xmas quarters in a row by ~$1B). That would be close to 7% growth in the toughest compare quarter possible.

They just posted 20% revenue growth in the prior quarter, so the 90 day clock for 1 quarter doesn't matter as much as putting up consistently positive revenue growth over the entire year. Long term investors see the profit machine and lower growth with the buyback will still produce double digit EPS growth over time. The truth is, Apple doesn't have to grow quickly if they are buying back $100B in stock per year. That alone will be 12% growth with flat profit at current valuation.

 

[skitidetdu]

Anyone surprised? The XS Max should have been 999$ and the rest downward from that in my opinion.

And they are also encouraging people NOT to upgrade unless they are not happy with their current phone...

 

[AppleHaterLover]

It’s simple economics: wages are stagnant, inflation is rising so fewer people can justify spending a months mortgage payment on a device or £60-£80 a month for a contract. If the price of iPhones keep going up, sales will go down. Simple.

Not so simple: I think there's a team of economists at Apple hard at work at this, and they know all about this.

Either a) Apple saw sales were stagnant. They thought there was demand for a more expensive device or thought demand elasticity for iPhones was not high. They increased prices and failed unexpectedly (I don't think this is a possibility. They are not stupid)

or

b) Apple saw sales were stagnant and would not continue to rise. They calculated that they could increase prices and profit margins, sell lower quantities and profit the same or more (likely more, since it's fewer resources being used). Then, this backfired because sales slumped more than they expected. I think this is the most likely scenario, and the expectation in a competitive environment.

or

c) Tim Cook is, as he said, committed to delivering the best phones and the best customer experience. This costs money, and thus the phones are more expensive. Anyone who complains is poor and deserves to use sub-par Android devices.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

It is fake until it happens. Has it happened?

1) You wouldn’t do this in one country if the problem was worldwide.
2) wait and see means it hasn’t happened and is either fake news, not urgent, or both.
3) See
4) You don’t know that. They might be essentially the same cost as component pricing has come down, they have ramped a12, and the materials are essentially the same phone.
5) Again, you don’t know that

Your grasp on the term "fake" is beyond me You saying something is fake until it happens?

Let's say I have a nice sandwich business, I'm doing gangbusters but I haven't posted my first quarter profits yet because they are a month out. I tell everyone I know I'm doing great.

Then you come along and scream what I'm saying is "fake news" because my first quarter profits are 28 days away and until I post a profit I should just shut-up and stop spreading "fake news"

Sounds kinda stupid doesn't it?

 

[Baymowe335]

Your grasp on the term "fake" is beyond me You saying something is fake until it happens?

Let's say I have a nice sandwich business, I'm doing gangbusters but I haven't posted my first quarter profits yet because they are a month out. I tell everyone I know I'm doing great.

Then you come along and scream what I'm saying is "fake news" because my first quarter profits are 28 days away and until I post a profit I should just shut-up and stop spreading "fake news"

Sounds kinda stupid doesn't it?

It's fake because it's been fake before? If we don't get confirmation, it's speculation like SO MANY stories on Apple.

No, it's not stupid. The numbers coming from Apple are the only numbers I and any long term investor care about. The reason I say Fake is because all the stories that come out on Apple iPhone demand, supply chain "sources," and falling demand have been proven fake for YEARS.

 

[9081094]

read it loud and clear Apple. Your 'budget' phone needs to have a budget price. Especially in this climate and especially in the far east where Apple isn't a dominating phone brand. Lower the cost already. This XR Budget price xtra ridiculous.

In the Netherlands the cheapest XR is even priced above a better suited Galaxy S9, to give you an example. They’re both imported from China and they’ve both to pay tax for it.

Also the years of neglect of investing in their hardware begins to show. Their computer share plunged 25% in the third quarter:

https://9to5mac.com/2018/11/21/mac-market-share/

I’m happy with it and I really hope it forces Apple to make their products great and attractive again.

 

[Macyourdayy]

I like the idea. But, I would expand it to discontinue both the 7, 8 and XR. Bring back the X at a lower cost and keep the Xs and XsMax.

Excellent plan. Remove the low(er) cost options so that most of the posters in this forum would be closer to the truth that the cost of Apple products is increasing. I still don't understand why people claiming android is so wonderful are even on this site. Why do they even care?
After contemplating getting the reduced price 8+ and handing down my 6s+ to replace the hand me down 5s, I might not be doing anything after buying a top end and mid range refurbed 2015 15" MacBook Pros.

 

[corebeliefs]

He's actually already started donating his wealth to charities. He's paying for his nephew's college education, and giving the rest to philanthropic projects.

If this is true I applaud his generosity. And yet he's making this money by shaking down Apple fans. We have nephews who need college tuition also. But keeping up with Apple's ecosystem is a short term expense that takes away (increasingly more and more) money from the future. (One reason I'm typing this on an Android phone.)

 

[Schnegg]

Normal people want normal phones at normal prices. Duh.

 

[acblue94]

Apple is making products for the 1%.

So does Bentley. What’s your point? If you can’t afford a Bentley then buy a Honda. If you can’t afford Apple by Samsung.

 

[Macyourdayy]

It's fake because it's been fake before? If we don't get confirmation, it's speculation like SO MANY stories on Apple.

No, it's not stupid. The numbers coming from Apple are the only numbers I and any long term investor care about. The reason I say Fake is because all the stories that come out on Apple iPhone demand, supply chain "sources," and falling demand have been proven fake for YEARS.

Fake and lies. Not one of these BS supply chain rumours has been ever been shown to be accurate, in fact they have been the exact opposite of their claims. Not that I don't agree that the outrageous increase in Apple product pricing isn't forcing me to hang on to my stuff longer.
Now let the ranting continue.

 

[tromboneaholic]

If this is true I applaud his generosity. And yet he's making this money by shaking down Apple fans. We have nephews who need college tuition also. But keeping up with Apple's ecosystem is a short term expense that takes away (increasingly more and more) money from the future. (One reason I'm typing this on an Android phone.)

Apple offers a range of products at different prices, so I can't agree with your point about shaking down Apple fans.

For example, my dad is happily using his five-year-old iPhone running the current version of iOS 12.