Apple Slashes iPhone 5 Part Orders Due to Weak Demand

[TallManNY]

Not surprised, iPhone 4-4s has a much better and durable design than the iPhone 5.

(Durable = less scratches, scuffs)

I do agree that the iPhone 4 and 4s is the better looking phone. I still see a ton of those around. Though most of my friends upgraded to the 5 like I did.

I'm skeptical about this report though unless it is because a 5s is coming out soon and they need to ramp up production for that so this is really a shift of orders and not a decrease in sales.

 

[ctdonath]

Idiotic because MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of 30-pin compatible devices are already in consumer's homes around the world.

Floppy disk drives, both 3.5 & 5.25".
Parallel "Centronics" printer interfaces.
25- and 9-pin RS-232.
Token-ring.
PS/2 keyboard & mouse plugs. (That's IBM PS/2 from decades past, kids, not PlayStation 2)
PCMCIA cards.

Sometimes ya just gotta dump the old interface standard in favor of a smaller, faster, more robust one - and recycle a whole lotta old hardware in the process.
Maybe this change from 30-pin to Lightning connectors is a shock to younger folk who grew up with that inch-wide standard plug. I'm not that old, but have seen a whole lotta industry-standard used-everywhere-by-millions connectors come and go, and their replacements come and go. Now get off my lawn.

 

[KPOM]

Plenty of rational explanations for such a move, last year's Q3 earning's miss being the most prevalent. Can we focus on those topics, you know, actual financial discussion surrounding inventory management and supply chain management, rather than "lowest common denominator I don't know crap about the topic but I'll post Samsung sucks and iOS is stale!" ?

Q3's earnings miss probably is a big reason. Last year the 4S had a blowout Holiday quarter, and then followed it up with a blowout Q2 (ending in March), only to see demand drop in Q3 as rumors of the 5 ran rampant. Perhaps they are managing to that this year. Perhaps the 4S is still holding up stronger than expected. It just seems a bit suspicious that AT&T and Verizon are reporting stronger sales than ever, and we also have rumors of Apple hitting 53% of the US smartphone market (which has long been Apple's strongest). Android's strength in Europe is a problem to be dealt with, and they need to get China Mobile to make a deal, but those are more medium term than Q2/Q3 2013 issues.

 

[Sandstorm]

I love iOS, but I also think it has become very stale. There are countless good things about it, but I just hate to see the growing list of things that are better now in Android (in my opinion, better for me). Not only Google has caught up, I believe they might be already ahead.

Personally for me iOS 7 will be a decision point. I'm deeply invested in Apple ecosystem, but if iOS 7 is not radically better, more flexible/open (for example, letting me choose default app for web/maps etc.) and with less idiotic skeuomorphisms, the next time I purchase a mobile device I'll give an Android (stock) device a chance.

 

[Brad L]

If the iphone 5 included Google Maps as a native application I would have purchased it on day 1. Instead, I decided to try android and it's not that bad. I'm sure there are thousands of others like me. I've owned every iphone previous to 5.

 

[Karma*Police]

We'll all know soon enough how well Apple did and is doing when they announce earnings in about a week. Based on what Verizon and AT&T announced, and the fact that Apple had its best iPhone launch in China, this rumor does seem a bit out of touch with reality so I'm going to take it with a huge grain of salt. Also, we've seen these rumors last year about Apple cutting back orders of iPhones and iPads and yet Apple has grown nicely since then with no signs of a YoY slowdown in sales or demand.

 

[jrswizzle]

I have a question for everyone:

If we are all for competition (which I'd assume the smart ones are), why is it that most of you clamor for Apple and iOS to be more like Google, Android and other Android handset makers? What is the point in making the two more like each other?

Some people prefer customization and huge screens (which have pros and cons).

Others prefer simplicity, efficiency and smaller screens (which have pros and cons).

This is why both OSes exist and why these smartphone makers make the phones they do the way they do. Each has its own strategy and I prefer they keep them separate.

Obviously both are doing well, selling 10s of millions of devices each year. As a consumer base, lets try to keep our fickleness to a minimum - the iPhone 5 was arguably the biggest single upgrade in the history of iPhones. iOS 6 may have been somewhat disappointing, but they are two separate releases.

With a new design (thinner, lighter, larger screen - which has the same dimensions as the Razr HD btw), more than double the CPU speed, double he graphics power, same PPI - but new screen tech gives the 5 the best mobile display as far as color reproduction in the biz, power-efficient LTE, all with the same 10+ hour battery life (which is tops in the industry - albeit in a much smaller form than competition) - the iPhone 5 is every bit a competitor to the Galaxy S3, One X, Lumia 920, etc. They are all flagship phones - and all great in their own rite....its up to the consumer to decide which approach is right for HIM/HER - not for everyone else.

So before you say "all my friends have Android so it must be better" - remember, your circle of friends represents a terribly small sample of the larger public - and generally we align ourselves with friends who think similarly to ourselves.

 

[JackieTreehorn]

that's why people buy Samsung

the Galaxy S2 is getting a Jelly Bean update soon

the only thing that apple does better now is games and educational apps

People use Samsung, because it's cheap and shoved down your throat with specs marketing.

The same reason people use Windows.

 

[xofruitcake]

Of course, most regurgiation of this news isn't followed by the numbers. The reports said apple originally planned to order 65, yes SIXTY FIVE million panels for the first quarter. just food for thought, this time last year, apple sold 35 million iphones total! This is just 65 million iphone 5 screens.

can people who post articles please at least get the story right?

But there is a second part of the story. Iphone 4S launched in 4Q11 with 37m sales. 1Q12 Iphone sales was 32M unit. So let's say Iphone 5 sales is 45m unit (remember we have the quality debacle with scuff gate that Iphone 5 was on dealy shipment until mid Nov) and 1Q13 is 32M unit.. And Tim Cook has this fast launching strategy of 100 markets in 4Q.. All the important Iphone market already has Iphone 5 now. So at best we can say is that Iphone 5 will sell about 11-12% better than 4S. And that is in the back drop of an industry that is growing about 40%ish .. How is it not bad?

The problem is that everyone has products that are lower in price point while Apple only has one price point and one model. It works when they are the only game in town. And Apple miss the bigger screen market which can easily mean 20m to 30m a quarter sales.. Apple don't get to decide what is quality product, customer do.. And I think Tim Cook understand this. This market share data is scary if you are Apple..

http://www.icharts.net/chartchannel...-quarter-market-share-changes-units_m3rxwypbc

 

[powers74]

I'm Waiting for T-mob

 

[macfacts]

I laugh at people decrying the cost of the phone, when the cost is the Service. People happily see $120-$200/month on superficial `smartphone' chit chat, texting, and all sorts of extraneous uses that add enormous charges by the carriers over the course of 2 years, yet scoff at the cost of the phone?

Hardly.

Monthy costs for me are $25/month (unlimited province wide talk, unlimited north america txt/mms, unlimited 3g data upto 5GB and throttled after 5GB). Why so low? Because I bought my phone up front and am not on a contract and can move to any carrier I want when they have sales.

When you get that iPhone4 for free, the carrier has to make that money back by charging higher monthly fees for service.

 

[alent1234]

Q3's earnings miss probably is a big reason. Last year the 4S had a blowout Holiday quarter, and then followed it up with a blowout Q2 (ending in March), only to see demand drop in Q3 as rumors of the 5 ran rampant. Perhaps they are managing to that this year. Perhaps the 4S is still holding up stronger than expected. It just seems a bit suspicious that AT&T and Verizon are reporting stronger sales than ever, and we also have rumors of Apple hitting 53% of the US smartphone market (which has long been Apple's strongest). Android's strength in Europe is a problem to be dealt with, and they need to get China Mobile to make a deal, but those are more medium term than Q2/Q3 2013 issues.

Galaxy S3 has been on sale for the last month or two. i got my father in law into one last week

he took a look at my iphone 5 and bought the S3

 

[jamesryanbell]

I want one, but it's not a big enough leap to make me think my iPhone 4S is not good enough.

 

[corvus32]

I have telescopes, each worth thousands of dollars, that have scuffs and scratches to their metal parts. They don't hurt anything. It's completely normal.

People need to stop babying their phone, and stop worrying about resale value.

 

[alent1234]

People use Samsung, because it's cheap and shoved down your throat with specs marketing.

The same reason people use Windows.

actually it is cheap

Galaxy S2 was free on contract at Radio Shack. i was going to buy one for my mother in law but got her a refurb 4S only because they were out of the S2.

 

[KnightWRX]

Q3's earnings miss probably is a big reason. Last year the 4S had a blowout Holiday quarter, and then followed it up with a blowout Q2 (ending in March), only to see demand drop in Q3 as rumors of the 5 ran rampant.

Tim Cook said the rumors had little or no impact (more than usual) on sales, and firmly admitted that Apple had simply overshipped units in Q2, resulting in the miss in Q3 because of overprovisionned inventory. Controlling part orders and inventory seems to be a reaction to this situtation more than to rampant "refresh" rumors (which we've had very little of actually at this point).

Don't rewrite history, Apple is guilty of reporting "Shipped units" rather than "Sold units" in their financials, same as everyone else, don't try to dance around that issue (I don't know if you're one of the guys who constantly accuses Samsung/Motorola/HTC/Sony/et al. to report shipped vs sold, but now you know Apple does it too, straight from Tim).

 

[samcraig]

People use Samsung, because it's cheap and shoved down your throat with specs marketing.

The same reason people use Windows.

Funny that you think this is the reason

actually it is cheap

Galaxy S2 was free on contract at Radio Shack. i was going to buy one for my mother in law but got her a refurb 4S only because they were out of the S2.

You can can an iPhone for the same or less than some Samsung phones.

Do people really believe the stuff they write - or is it just ego stroking?

 

[bmt134]

The iPhone 5 in Walmart's bargain bin seems pretty cheap to me.

 

[AppleHater]

I do not like the same thing that 90% of the general public like.

Funny thing is I've never seen anyone moan about something in technology being stale apart from iOS. They've probably seen everybody kick off when Facebook makes a change and figured, whats the point in fixing something that isn't broke and facing the wrath of millions, like maps!

It sounds funny that you said you don't like 90% people liking thing while loving iPhone; it's the single most popular phone.

It's a common thinking that why fix it when it's not broken. But, in tech world there is always someone else who's going to come up with the next best thing if you sit there do nothing. I remember Jobs saying that if anyone takes their lunch, he wanted it to be themselves while talking about their products competing with each other. That kind of spirit is what brought Apple to today, and we miss the most about Mr. jobs.

 

[Jaro65]

In other news, Samsung smartphone sales are increasing. Where do those buyers come from? What are the chances that at least some of them considered buying an iPhone, but didn't? It is a high time for Apple to offer at the minimum two distinct models, one with a larger 5"+ screen, and one with the 4"+ screen. This is simply where the market is going. Apple can join this market development, or let others ride it. But they are no longer leading, that appears certain?

Harsh words? Maybe, but that's how I see it. I love my iPhone 4s, but I'm not upgrading to iPhone 5 because the improvement is simply not worth it. Offer me a bigger screen which would make reading the news, books, and magazines more comfortable, and you may have a buyer. Otherwise, I'm good with what I have.

 

[Ryth]

Monday is going to be rough... just see it all as a correction though. Their earnings will beat the street. I say buy when it tanks.. and ride the wave. call me crazy.

Yep...same pattern here folks...rumors come out...no truth to them...Apple posts record profits, etc.

Guaranteed this is the hedge funds.

 

[ks-man]

I own a ton of Apple products (look at my Signature) but a few months ago switched away from the iPhone. I got the Note 2 and it is far and away the most impressive phone on the market, iPhone included. And also, it has nothing to do with the size. I will be the first to admit and tell people the Note 2 is not right for everybody and only for a small segment that can comfortably hold it and store it. However, the software on it will start to migrate to other Samsung phones.

When I show my phone to others (mainly iPhone users) the first comment is always "holy #@$&, is that really the size of the phone?" This is often said negatively. I then say I love it, size and all. I show three features of the phone.

1) Best face camera - I take a picture and you hear 5 quick snapshots. I then show how the camera recognizes a face and chooses the best of the 5 shots to go into that face. I then hit the square and show the 5 choices with the recommended best face marked. Never again do you get group photos with anyone blinking. Nothing at all looks fake from the merging of the photos.

2) Video player - In the video player it can display all videos in thumbnails but the incredible thing is they are actually playing. You can see up to 8 videos playing at the same time without stutter. I'll then pull out the S-Pen (stylus) and hover over one of them. That one will get bigger and overlap the neighboring video and you'll hear sound for it. Hover the pen to a different video and the new one will get big with audio.

3) Multi-window - With video player open and S-pen out I then toggle multi-window and choose S-Note (note writer) and have both open at once. In the bottom half the video thumbnails are still playing and in the top half I start writing with the S-pen "Now tell me this isn't cool."

End of demo. I've shown 3 of probably 500 incredible features but have convinced every friend that this phone is different. Other things I love, I've never completed a day with less than 35% battery and often have closer to 50%. Android Jelly Bean is incredibly smooth. Stop judging Android based on experiences from 2 years ago. Every app I used on my iPhone and want is available.

I know this post has come off like trolling and it really isn't my intent. It is just to show that iOS needs to start doing more. My wife switched from Android to the iPhone 5 and loves it. However she'll be the first to admit that my phone is far more impressive than her's. She wants a simple phone and that is fine. Apple got to its place in the market b/c the iPhone appealed first to the techies who then recommended it to everybody else. That is why Apple needs to innovate. If they stay where they are and Samsung starts winning over the hardcore phone users then in 2-3 years when that person's mom, dad or friend needs a new phone what do you think they will recommend? I sold my Apple at $675 when I firmly decided my next phone wouldn't be an iPhone. Looks like other people in the market agree with me.

Hopefully Apple will launch something new and special. This has nothing to do with Tim Cook as Steve Jobs would be in the same position as he never would have wanted to move away from the basics of what the iPhone is. Hopefully Cook won't go down in flames by standing still and trying to convince others that he won't deviate from what Jobs would have done as right now he needs to be different.

 

[shiseiryu1]

Some Thoughts

#1: Apple is being hurt by their own great support of previous devices..

Part of Apple's problem has do to with how well they still support previous iPhones. When the iPhone5 came out there were no software features on it that the iPhone4s didn't get right away with a software update. Therefore, why would people buy the phone if it doesn't offer anything different (software wise). This is actually why I love iPhones though because I don't want to be left in the cold each time a new device comes out. This is one thing that scares me about the Android world...when the new OS comes out you may or may not get it in a timely manner (if at all) it appears.


#2: Apple is being hurt by lack of hardware innovation

I love the way the iPhone5 looks and I like that it's thinner and lighter. However, it would be nice to have some other hardware innovations like biometric security (especially seeing the spike in iPhone thefts), NFC, and other ideas. In their zeal for thinner and lighter I think they're sacrificing on hardware innovations.

#3: Peripherals are a big reason to like iPhone

One of the great things about the iPhone is that there are a ton of peripherals and Appcessories available for it (and it the iPad). Because of the fragmentation with Android I don't think you'll ever see that level of 3rd party support.


Closing Thoughts:

Overall it seems like Android has caught up with Apple in terms of software. When the original iPhone came out Jobs did say that they were 3-5 years ahead of everyone else and I think he was right. However, now it might be time to shake things up a bit.

I'm still think iPhone hardware design is higher quality and more beautiful.

I'm not sure what I think about the "big phone" trend. The iPhone is starting to look small to me, however, I'm not sure I'd want it bigger. It's a phone, not a tablet (and the Samsung Note looks retarded IMHO). Apple must have some vision as to where they're going to go with the iPhone or they never would have made the screen taller. Let's all hope that cool things are coming.

Question for older (45+) people: Is a large Samsung phone (ex: Note or S3) easier to read than an iPhone or do you still need glasses either way? Seems to me that the only real benefit of a bigger phone would be for the older generation but if you need glasses anyways then never-mind that idea.

 

[KnightWRX]

Funny that you think this is the reason




You can can an iPhone for the same or less than some Samsung phones.

Do people really believe the stuff they write - or is it just ego stroking?

Isn't it Orange UK that gives free, current iPhones right on release ? They had that deal for the 4 and the 4S as far as I know and they have the iPhone 5 16 GB free with certain plans right now :

http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/iPhone-5-16GB-black

Discussing subsidized prices is sooooo daft.

 

[Tinmania]

In the end, while the iPhone 5 has these positive points:

1. Excellent brightness and color quality of display.
2. Very good performance speed.
3. Very light and easy to hold.

It's still essentially an enhanced iPhone 4S. I cite the following issues with the iPhone 5.

1. The display is still WAY too small compared to the bigger displays on the Samsung, HTC, LG and Nokia higher-end phones. The text in the iOS Facebook and Twitter apps when running in portrait mode is almost unreadable, in my opinion!

I totally agree with this. The brightness and color of the iPhone 5 is truly fantastic.

If only it was larger. Well, I would have thought that back in September, and bought one in a heartbeat. But since it seemed to me a very marginal update to my 4S I didn't buy it.

Now, however, I have been using a Nexus 4 for about 2 months and it will be very difficult to return to iOS. There are so many things I am seeing in Android that I have wanted in iOS for years. Just a minute ago I was creating an important (personal) appointment on my nexus and was glad it let me add the 3 reminders I wanted to use. I could have added more If it was my iPhone I get just two, with a maximum of two days in advance.

This morning I read an article in Pulse on my iPad that I wanted in Evernote. No way to share that besides sending to email (and Twitter/Facebook) since the developer didn't add Evernote sharing. But since that thing is built in to Android I hopped onto my nexus and presto off to Evernote land.

So to me Apple is facing a two-pronged affront by competition: not only is Android hardware getting better but the OS is getting better too. And at a faster rate than Apple.




Michael