Apple Shipped an Estimated 36.4 Million iPhones Worldwide in Q1 2019, a 30% Year-Over-Year Decline

[I7guy]

Sure, my personal case is just one out of a billion. Both of us make two data points from a very large set. Please don't get my wrong: I don't say it is good or bad to buy Apple (I still have some of their devices which are great). My only question is if so many people will enter Apple's eco-system if the products are too expensive, and how many will leave. Nokia and Blackberry used to be kings of the phone market. They dropped like stones with the release of the iPhone. Apple is not immune to such a fate.

Here are a few arguments:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/apple-committing-suicide-its-pricing-strategy-emmanuel-daugeras/

I don’t know. Look at Samsung’s earnings, a while back they were raking in the money, currently they are taking a bath and due to the mobile phone division. How the mighty have fallen.

With respect to Apple either they have idiots running the show or they know exactly what they are doing (and they don’t care about sentiment in social media, which seems to be a misnomer because it’s not very social...but I digress)

 

[smulji]

I'm willing to bet the majority of the decline is price sensitivity, due to the competition who have closed the gap considerably in quality for the price points.

Those $400 devices, which 5 years ago would feel like scrolling through mollasis have started to feel pretty strong and robust. it's hard to convince most users who are price concious to spend $1,000, when they can get "good enough" experience for $400, ro even $800.

The iPhone is still one of the best smart phones on the market. I don't think this is up for debate, BUT in comparison to the rest of the industry, does the iPhone offer sufficient value for enough people to make up for the increased price point? I think we're starting to see the cracks that Apple may have reached a little too far in regards o price sensitivity.
(https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/price-sensitivity.asp)

"The iPhone is still one of the best smart phones on the market. I don't think this is up for debate, BUT in comparison to the rest of the industry, does the iPhone offer sufficient value for enough people to make up for the increased price point? I think we're starting to see the cracks that Apple may have reached a little too far in regards o price sensitivity. "

Well said.

 

[FFR]

So you are arguing that iPhones are not expensive?

The market comes in to it to some extent in that all premium phones are expensive.

Expensive items do not need to be scarce, it is a relative thing too.

A pint of milk costing a $1 may be cheap but one costing $5 is expensive.

Look up the dictionary term and argue against any of those meanings
[doublepost=1556872650][/doublepost]
Settle petal...
I think you are conflating the meaning of expensive. Look it up and argue on those definitions.

All premium smart phones are expensive by definition.

Market dictates price, no argument there, was never arguing that point, but that has nothing to do with in with the slant you are applying.

Keeping big houses is expensive.
A litre of fuel at $1 may be cheap but at $6 it is expensive.
Expensive is really about a comparison between similar items so to speak.
An expensive item will cost more than a cheaper item.

You can’t call economics a slant.


Premium smartphones are premium by definition. If the market agrees, the price will be met, if price is not met ie price is indeed expensive, the market will self correct.

your price sensitivity is relative only to you and does not set or move industry or market standards.

It’s a rather simple concept to grasp.

 

[Abazigal]

I'm willing to bet the majority of the decline is price sensitivity, due to the competition who have closed the gap considerably in quality for the price points.

Those $400 devices, which 5 years ago would feel like scrolling through mollasis have started to feel pretty strong and robust. it's hard to convince most users who are price concious to spend $1,000, when they can get "good enough" experience for $400, ro even $800.

The iPhone is still one of the best smart phones on the market. I don't think this is up for debate, BUT in comparison to the rest of the industry, does the iPhone offer sufficient value for enough people to make up for the increased price point? I think we're starting to see the cracks that Apple may have reached a little too far in regards o price sensitivity.
(https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/price-sensitivity.asp)

I think what we saw in China was due to concerns of an impending recession, which made the Chinese more hesitant of spending on big ticket items. China eventually stepped in with a stimulus programme (which I feel just kicks the can down the road, but that’s another discussion for another day).

I am willing to bet on this decline further subsiding in subsequent quarters, with iPhone unit sales and revenue improving in 2020.

So to your last question - my answer is an unequivocal “yes”.

You all really need to stop trying to explain away Apple’s success, and start trying to explain them more.

 

[Bawstun]

This is ... lack of innovation, and jacked up pricing, now catching up and beginning to display in the upgrade cycles. It’s a lag curve, this has been several years in the making and probably hasn’t peaked yet.

Whether Apple can have the foresight to fire supply chain guy Tim Cook and appoint a true leader once again remains to be seen.

The future of the company depends on it, sadly.

 

[I7guy]

This is ... lack of innovation, and jacked up pricing, now catching up and beginning to display in the upgrade cycles. It’s a lag curve, this has been several years in the making and probably hasn’t peaked yet.

Whether Apple can have the foresight to fire supply chain guy Tim Cook and appoint a true leader once again remains to be seen.

The future of the company depends on it, sadly.

Apple grew to a behemoth under cook. While your opinion may be a negative one, the future of Apple happily is resting on a solid foundation that Cook is providing.

Just look at how Samsung earnings tanked due to side-effects relating to the mobile phone business. Hopefully Cook has plans to mitigate this.

 

[slam5]

That’s correct. There is no right answer except the revenue speaks for itself.

And it is going year over year.

 

[slam5]

And it is going year over year.

I mean going down.

 

[Bawstun]

Apple grew to a behemoth under cook. While your opinion may be a negative one, the future of Apple happily is resting on a solid foundation that Cook is providing.

Just look at how Samsung earnings tanked due to side-effects relating to the mobile phone business. Hopefully Cook has plans to mitigate this.

I see where Apple is at currently. I also see where its headed...halved in value in about 10 years, if Cook stays. The focus absolutely must be the iPhone - it’s almost all of their revenue and is the main lead in to their products. Anyone hoping Apple becomes a “services” company is living a pipe dream. Apple is in serious trouble right now.

 

[I7guy]

...Apple is in serious trouble right now.

Ok, maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. We will see.

 

[OlliFlamme]

I see where Apple is at currently. I also see where its headed...halved in value in about 10 years, if Cook stays. The focus absolutely must be the iPhone - it’s almost all of their revenue and is the main lead in to their products. Anyone hoping Apple becomes a “services” company is living a pipe dream. Apple is in serious trouble right now.

I like how you demented the ever returning services motive that is expressed in this thread, nice one. Whatever investors may need as a motivation for their bewilderment is good, as long as it serves their wallet.
I personally think the services idea is like those dreadful hedge funds: air. Perhaps it’s the same type of people that are attracted by it, it has no whatsoever substance however.

But to say as much as a share decline of 50% over 10 years needs as much of an argumentative statement as the idea of the services is missing.

The dependence of the iPhone is at the same time contradicting the whole idea of diversification that is expressed by the optimists in here.

What can you say to support those two statements?

I would just like to know: i feel that there is some trouble, but why can nobody really put the finger at it WHY we should be sure of that? We’re all speculating about a trillion-dollar company, which has playroom to rectify its mistakes, and those mistakes will not likely be spoken out by those who made them soon.

What I personally miss is to understand the facts against a vision. I should as a simple person be able to at least see a vision. My gut feeling says that the facts may not be in tune with one, if at all there is one.
The soul of Apple, the new soul... what is that about? Is it related and respecting the original one?

 

[Bawstun]

I like how you demented the ever returning services motive that is expressed in this thread, nice one. Whatever investors may need as a motivation for their bewilderment is good, as long as it serves their wallet.
I personally think the services idea is like those dreadful hedge funds: air. Perhaps it’s the same type of people that are attracted by it, it has no whatsoever substance however.

But to say as much as a share decline of 50% over 10 years needs as much of an argumentative statement as the idea of the services is missing.

The dependence of the iPhone is at the same time contradicting the whole idea of diversification that is expressed by the optimists in here.

What can you say to support those two statements?

I would just like to know: i feel that there is some trouble, but why can nobody really put the finger at it WHY we should be sure of that? We’re all speculating about a trillion-dollar company, which has playroom to rectify its mistakes, and those mistakes will not likely be spoken out by those who made them soon.

What I personally miss is to understand the facts against a vision. I should as a simple person be able to at least see a vision. My gut feeling says that the facts may not be in tune with one, if at all there is one.
The soul of Apple, the new soul... what is that about? Is it related and respecting the original one?

I’m not sure there is room to rectify the mistakes — Apple became what it is today through ONE, amazingly designed product and strong word of mouth about that industry-disrupting product.

This all came from nothing, and IMO just as easily falls back to nothing. It’s all based on social connectedness, developers will go where “the tide” goes, where what is hip or new goes, trendy or “in” goes.

A company as big as Apple with a product as large as the iPhone takes years to begin showing on a curve. A disastrous change or design today, might not fully play out on a userbase for several years before the impacts can be observed.

I believe these flogging sales are the impact of the 6/6S design and batterygate, of public perception — just now showing up.

I think the high price of the X has yet to hit and be observed. I think Apple is going in the wrong direction and shedding too much marketshare — and it’s from mediocre design and half-assed apps. The true focus of the company was lost and the focus was growth and shareholder return, but now the product isn’t good enough to sustain the growth.

Combined with the Apple Store user experience being trashed by their silly hire and multiple other missteps and failings by Cook, and yikes, Apple and iPhone could easily drop 50% over ten years on their slow decline into Blackberry RIM irrelevancy. It’s all a snowball effect.