Apple Targeting Users of Older iPhones With iPhone XR Email Campaign

[john123]

It is common sense. Never once did I say the sky was falling. The only thing I ever said is Apple’s new phones are priced higher than they should be and based on lower than expected sales numbers it’s clear the market has also decided that. Apple is still a great company and I will continue to buy their tech. I just won’t as frequently as I used to due to the price increases.

You said it. I then posted numbers showing they are priced less relative to their parts cost than they used to be. You had no response other than, "I highly doubt it," but your doubts aside, facts are facts.

So basically you're saying, "I'd like a new phone for less money."

Wouldn't we all.

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

You said it. I then posted numbers showing they are priced less relative to their parts cost than they used to be. You had no response other than, "I highly doubt it," but your doubts aside, facts are facts.

So basically you're saying, "I'd like a new phone for less money."

Wouldn't we all.

How do you know the parts cost for each phone?

 

[john123]

How do you know the parts cost for each phone?

Teardown cost estimates. Most sources that do these analyses have independently have come up with numbers that are within a reasonable margin of each other.

 

[Gilligan's last elephant]

Teardown cost estimates. Most sources that do these analyses have independently have come up with numbers that are within a reasonable margin of each other.

You mean they copy each other

 

[john123]

You mean they copy each other

I actually don't. The electronics parts industry is robust and profitable. Being able to do teardown cost estimates is just a tiny side benefit.

 

[Spizike9]

You said it. I then posted numbers showing they are priced less relative to their parts cost than they used to be. You had no response other than, "I highly doubt it," but your doubts aside, facts are facts.

So basically you're saying, "I'd like a new phone for less money."

Wouldn't we all.

I’m saying I’d like a new phone for less money for the prices they used to charge. Again, based on all the current trade in promotions etc. Apple is feeling the slowing sales numbers since many people like myself are waiting.

 

[john123]

I’m saying I’d like a new phone for less money for the prices they used to charge. Again, based on all the current trade in promotions etc. Apple is feeling the slowing sales numbers since many people like myself are waiting.

$84 billion.

Want a cheaper phone? Get an XR. Want an even cheaper phone? Get an iPhone 8. It's pretty simple.

 

[Spizike9]

$84 billion.

Want a cheaper phone? Get an XR. Want an even cheaper phone? Get an iPhone 8. It's pretty simple.

So pay less money for an 8 that is essentially a 5 year old design? It does nothing except wireless charging that my 7+ doesn’t do which I have no desire for. Same thing with the Xr except that Face ID. Big deal.

You keep throwing 84 billon out like that’s going to change my mind that the current iPhone lineup isn’t selling slower than Apple, myself and Wall Street but you need to look at the facts too. When was the last time Apple has ever done these types of promotions this early on? Never. That says more than anything else.

 

[john123]

So pay less money for an 8 that is essentially a 5 year old design? It does nothing except wireless charging that my 7+ doesn’t do which I have no desire for. Same thing with the Xr except that Face ID. Big deal.

You keep throwing 84 billon out like that’s going to change my mind that the current iPhone lineup isn’t selling slower than Apple, myself and Wall Street but you need to look at the facts too. When was the last time Apple has ever done these types of promotions this early on? Never. That says more than anything else.

Yeah, it says they'd like to sell more phones, and it says that the overall market is pretty stagnant. Because the incremental improvement from model to model is less and less impressive. That's not Apple's fault. That's just how technology works.

You're complaining that the phones cost more, and yet that they don't do more. Again, welcome to technology. Those marginal improvements cost an awful lot more than the "old design" you lambasted.

If you have an idea for a revolutionary yet cost effective addition to the iPhone, I'm sure Tim Cook would love to hear it. Oh wait. He has thousands of people working on exactly that, and they haven't come up with anything. That ought to tell you something.

I don't really care if you "change [your] mind." That says more about you than anything. Your opinion, while you're entitled to it, is simply not grounded in reality. You have a false narrative in your head, and when presented with objective facts, you dismiss them because they don't agree with that narrative. Psychologists call this phenomenon "cognitive dissonance."

 

[I7guy]

So pay less money for an 8 that is essentially a 5 year old design? It does nothing except wireless charging that my 7+ doesn’t do which I have no desire for. Same thing with the Xr except that Face ID. Big deal.

You keep throwing 84 billon out like that’s going to change my mind that the current iPhone lineup isn’t selling slower than Apple, myself and Wall Street but you need to look at the facts too. When was the last time Apple has ever done these types of promotions this early on? Never. That says more than anything else.

What “facts” are you referring to? That Apple is now aggressively marketing its devices? And somehow that’s bad?

Apple is expected to announce $84b in revenue for the previous quarter and that enormous quarterly revenue in your mind is irrelevant because Apple is advertising?

 

[john123]

What “facts” are you referring to? That Apple is now aggressively marketing its devices? And somehow that’s bad?

Apple is expected to announce $84b in revenue for the previous quarter and that enormous quarterly revenue in your mind is irrelevant because Apple is advertising?

Fact: Prices today are lower as a multiplier of teardown costs than they were years ago.
Fact: $84B beats the quarterly revenue from 2 years ago, 3 years ago, 4 years ago, etc. The only thing it doesn't beat is last year's exceptional outperformance.
Fact: This demonstrates that plenty of people are buying these allegedly "overpriced" devices.
Fact: Smartphone sales across the entire industry have plateaued as users see less and less compelling reason to upgrade.
Fact: Moore's Law has largely been replaced by the Law of Diminishing Returns.
Fact: Spizike9 is confusing exogenous factors with Apple-specific ones.

 

[Spizike9]

What “facts” are you referring to? That Apple is now aggressively marketing its devices? And somehow that’s bad?

Apple is expected to announce $84b in revenue for the previous quarter and that enormous quarterly revenue in your mind is irrelevant because Apple is advertising?

Yes, that’s exactly the fact I’m referring to. Have you ever seen that before? I know I haven’t. 84b is an amazing quarter. My question is this.

If Apple priced it’s phones lower would its revenue be more? I don’t know the answer to that. I can’t even begin to make an argument for higher profit margin and lower sales or lower profit margin and higher sales.

However I’m sure Apple has the analytics and they chose lower sales and higher profit margin. Good for share holders bad for the consumer.

 

[I7guy]

Yes, that’s exactly the fact I’m referring to. Have you ever seen that before? I know I haven’t. 84b is an amazing quarter. My question is this.

If Apple priced it’s phones lower would its revenue be more? I don’t know the answer to that. I can’t even begin to make an argument for higher profit margin and lower sales or lower profit margin and higher sales.

However I’m sure Apple has the analytics and they chose lower sales and higher profit margin. Good for share holders bad for the consumer.

Of course higher prices are always bad for the consumer. The tech in the max is more than 8+ and Apple is charging what they feel the value is for that. I would have liked to have paid less for my max, but after using it...I feel it was worth every penny based on my use case. Others feel differently.

Times have changed and Apple has to change with the times, so advertising it is. Doesn't diminish the value of their products, imo.

 

[john123]

Of course higher prices are always bad for the consumer. The tech in the max is more than 8+ and Apple is charging what they feel the value is for that. I would have liked to have paid less for my max, but after using it...I feel it was worth every penny based on my use case. Others feel differently.

Times have changed and Apple has to change with the times, so advertising it is. Doesn't diminish the value of their products, imo.

Sadly, your message is lost on many. The anti-Apple, “prices are too high” crowd simply refuses to look at those changing times. Apple is big, no doubt, but it’s still just a player in a technology landscape. And an iPhone is still just a (really really nice) smartphone.

If Apple sales were declining while Samsung and Google smartphone sales were soaring, it would be different. But that’s not what’s happening. People need to look at the industry backdrop first—before drawing “conclusions” about any of its players.