Apple Tells Suppliers to Cut iPhone XR and XS Production by 10% for Next Three Months

[TallManNY]

For a phone that is the top seller every day, I have yet come across a SINGLE person with an XR. Nobody at my office, friends, family, or even people on the street. it's actually kind of bizarre. . .

You can't really spot them easily as compared to an X or XS from the front. But that is bizarre. Two folks at work bought one; one based on my recommendation. He is coming from an old Android and he LOVES the battery life of the XR. Speed is also top notch.
But vastly different than when the 6 came out when it seemed like everyone I knew got the 6.

 

[Soccertess]

what really irks me are all the Tim Cook supports who said he was doing SUCH an amazing job, and all you had to do was look at stock price.

Where are they now?

 

[jonnysods]

Tell them to cut the prices by 30%...

 

[AlbinoPigeon]

This actually seems like great news for me. I've got an iPhone 7 and have been meaning to upgrade. Passed on the X because of cost and because of new tech (wanted to see how it would play out), and now I'm going to pass on the XS in the hopes a price correction comes.

My 7 is fine atm, save for less than great photos. If a price corrections comes, then great! If not, no loss and I'll get a new phone in the fall.

 

[I7guy]

what really irks me are all the Tim Cook supports who said he was doing SUCH an amazing job, and all you had to do was look at stock price.

Where are they now?

When the company was at $1T was Tim Cook doing an amazing job? Yes, and he still is. The stock, IMO, will recover.

 

[nviz22]

When the company was at $1T was Tim Cook doing an amazing job? Yes, and he still is. The stock, IMO, will recover.

2018 fiscal performances are one thing. Long term viability are another. Companies tend to focus on the short term rather than focus on both short and long term. Who suffers? Stakeholders. Shareholders could sell their shares when they’re ready.

 

[nameischarles]

Not sure if it’s just the Australian Apple website but it’s really strange seeing a promo trade in offer banner for the iPhone XR on the main welcome page. Usually they’ll have nice big images of their current latest products but it’s a first for me seeing Apple heavily promote something like this.

 

[I7guy]

2018 fiscal performances are one thing. Long term viability are another. Companies tend to focus on the short term rather than focus on both short and long term. Who suffers? Stakeholders. Shareholders could sell their shares when they’re ready.

Long term viability is always a guess. Anything can happen. There are plenty of stories of success and failures.

 

[scrapesleon]

I would like to know how the iPhone XR the best selling when I hardly see people with it who is buying Tim do tell

 

[johnnygee]

Don't confuse the 'roid ragers with facts.
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No matter what there are people here who will defend Apple no matter what the situation is.....And will be fine spending 2000 on a phone when the price gets there....They have the money and no matter what want the newest of everything.........that’s okay by me......but the phone market is getting saturated and they are only capable of so much.....I have an X and I love the phone but it is buggy as all get out......

I think they should have been making acquisitions with all that cash to move into other innovative areas.....
Stock buy backs at this point are pretty meaningless.......Their float is so high it’s like taking a piss in The Mississippi River......The should have bought Netflix long ago......

I have no idea what the next big thing will be but the people at Apple are smart enough to know.....I think Tim Cook is hesitant to pull the trigger...

Samsung's flagship phone costs just as much as the Xs Max. The XR and Xs sell for below $1K

 

[typicaluser]

You have a processor capable of powering a laptop, but you have the OS that has UI elements since iOS 7 and the functionality of generations old Android software. Why, why, why?

Because complex software is much harder to make than their hardware counterpart. That's why companies that produce operating system are much less than those producing CPUs. The fact that what Steve achieved could not be easily done by others is not much of a strange thing to me.

 

[ipponrg]

what really irks me are all the Tim Cook supports who said he was doing SUCH an amazing job, and all you had to do was look at stock price.

Where are they now?

They will redact in saying stock price is not indicative of the company's performance.

Then when stock goes up, they will say stock price is indicative of the company's performance.

The Tim Cook supporters are the epitome of selective narration, just like Tim Cook in his interviews. Anecdotes don't matter, only data does. After all with record breaking profits, it must be impossible for Apple stock to drop!

Jokingly aside, the stock price really is not entirely indicative of his performance. Apple is one of the most lucrative short sold stock in the market, so that kind of shows you how volatile it is. What is most important is if YOU are happy with the products. I can't speak for others, but I will speak for myself that I have not been as happy as I was pre-2012 with Apple products.

 

[nviz22]

Long term viability is always a guess. Anything can happen. There are plenty of stories of success and failures.

True, but it’s easier to make predictions about the future knowing about Apple’s mistakes. It’s current trajectory isn’t sufficient to succeed in China.

The market is too competitive with Xiaomi, Oppo, BLU, Lenovo/Motorola, OnePlus, Huawei, etc.

Apple can’t rely on its branding, value proposition alone to yield future sales because many Chinese customers are willing to buy other brands in droves.

 

[DevNull0]

They are accepting iPhones from 5 and including X and you can see what trade in value for each models.

Even the 5's are pretty respectable phones. My in-laws both have hand-me-down 4S's that they love and have no desire to upgrade. They think I'm crazy for replacing the 7+. 3 years old is basically brand new according to them. Apple doesn't want to keep phones in circulation that long. You may find the 5 laughably out of date, and you'll sure get no argument from me about that, but there are definitely people who would love to use it.

 

[I7guy]

True, but it’s easier to make predictions about the future knowing about Apple’s mistakes. It’s current trajectory isn’t sufficient to succeed in China.

The market is too competitive with Xiaomi, Oppo, BLU, Lenovo/Motorola, OnePlus, Huawei, etc.

Apple can’t rely on its branding, value proposition alone to yield future sales because many Chinese customers are willing to buy other brands in droves.

Then apple will have to devise another strategy, or somehow figure out how to change the trajectory.

 

[Peperino]

When the company was at $1T was Tim Cook doing an amazing job? Yes, and he still is. The stock, IMO, will recover.

No, he was not. He is a marketing guy, not an innovator. You can see that on the entire Apple line up how innovation has been stalled for years. Only innovation has been on wearables.
Investor have spoken... look at stock price. Stock, will recover? maybe in 1 or 2 years depending on how well Apple sells, which does not look promising since sales have been down due to Apple's greed and overpriced products.
Users also have spoken, since computer sales declined
That is why you can see more people actually complaining about Apple prices and quality of their products than actual users actually praising their products.

And the sad thing that Cook's only solution is to improve the iPhone's trade in program...

 

[Radon87000]

Good. It needs to flop harder. Everyone I know has either switched to Android or are buying last year’s iPhone X at a discount.

 

[Mars56]

For a phone that is the top seller every day, I have yet come across a SINGLE person with an XR. Nobody at my office, friends, family, or even people on the street. it's actually kind of bizarre. . .

People also never see people wearing apple watches or airpods. Maybe Tim Cook just buys them all for himself and stashes them in his filthy rich big apple product storage silo?

 

[BuddyTronic]

Losses in revenue.

That is illogical isn't it?

They predicted $89 Billion revenue, and the prediction was too high, so Cook adjusted the prediction to $84 Billion.

I get what you mean, but it is not a "Loss" by any sense of the word. They did not "lose" anything, they just pulled in less revenue than they predicted. Revenue loss is not the same as negative cash flow.

Apple's guidance has been very accurate for years now. So it was a surprise. But to say that they had losses is nonsensical and Apple is still making a big healthy profit.

 

[Bacillus]

When the company was at $1T was Tim Cook doing an amazing job? Yes, and he still is. The stock, IMO, will recover.

Then apple will have to devise another strategy, or somehow figure out how to change the trajectory.

Then tell us how.
Making themselves dependent on huge volumes and a single product is a one-way street.
They can’t go back. They can’t move on without a new, groundbreaking product with the same appeal/mass deployment/margin as iPhone. Being addicted to cash on this immense scale, there’s no way out other than that. But being the incumbent makes serious adjustment (let alone disruptive innovation) too complicated/risky.
Example: launching a (Surface Pro) killer requires too much “courage”. It might kill-off iPad business (whereas Steve didn’t mind serving off iPod in favor of iPhone)
Coincidentally, targeting the masses with prices that only the happy few can afford is a suicide strategy. It will never work in India or even China - key area’s to sustain their business model/growth
Unlimited luxury, real estate, cash piles is working against them now. Cook’s quasi humble image may have worked but now has become the irony in itself.
And number 2 Angela....mmmpfff

 

[cardfan]

Cutting the price wouldn't have necessarily increased revenue but obviously would have increased # of iphones sold. It's an optimum mix of supply and demand of which Apple knows best. Stories of cutting production 10% don't really mean much here and its an issue Apple can address annually anyways. One would think more iphones sold means more applecare, more services sold, etc. I'm not sure the obvious price increases were very smart and Apple had other ways to sort of increase prices in other more subtle ways (accessories, applecare, applecare extensions, etc). How about knocking off a couple hundred to annual upgraders? A hundred discount to 2 year upgraders. Reward your core.

The more concerning issues are IMO:

1. Lots of anger in these forums for the longest time over price increases. Apple needs to address this in some way. This angry mindset pushes people away even if they didn't plan to upgrade. They're still angry. This isn't an easy task and Apple has to be creative. They also have to show it's worthwhile. Keep in mind they compete with Google on the android OS side just as much as the OEM's who make android hardware. Which leads to...

2. Foundations. I laughed at iphone killer articles in past years because many didn't understand you couldn't kill Apple with just hardware. Apple had itunes. Apple had iOS. It was ipod+phone+internet. Apple spent years making itunes a solid way to easily manage ipods. This carried over to iphones. This isn't a big deal anymore. Now it's about AI and ecosystem. I think we all know Siri lacks. Google has the solid foundation. It's not just CES 2019..it's become the Google Assistant show. Add in Google Maps, search, youtube, youtube tv, other misc services and Apple suddenly looks pretty shaky underneath.

3. Home. Go to costco or most places and it's all alexa or google. The average person doesn't even know what homekit is. Apple won't make anything. They're a hardware company. Heck, they won't even partner with anyone hardly. What exactly is their strategy here? Now they've seemingly conceded any Homepod dreams or further expansion by giving amazon apple music. They've lessened any need for apple tv by giving itunes and airplay away to OEM TV makers.

4. Get back to roots. These events look like an annual used car convention now. Get those marketing people off the stage. I love to see people actually excited about the software talking about it like Federighi. Not made up stories of 100% customer SAT. The crap with Angela, her glass palaces, and apple's training classes in store are a joke. Have a separate Mac event. Make things that just work with Macs, iOS and each other.

 

[Bacillus]

Cutting the price wouldn't have necessarily increased revenue but obviously would have increased # of iphones sold. It's an optimum mix of supply and demand of which Apple knows best. Stories of cutting production 10% don't really mean much here and its an issue Apple can address annually anyways. One would think more iphones sold means more applecare, more services sold, etc. I'm not sure the obvious price increases were very smart and Apple had other ways to sort of increase prices in other more subtle ways (accessories, applecare, applecare extensions, etc). How about knocking off a couple hundred to annual upgraders? A hundred discount to 2 year upgraders. Reward your core.

The more concerning issues are IMO:

1. Lots of anger in these forums for the longest time over price increases. Apple needs to address this in some way. This angry mindset pushes people away even if they didn't plan to upgrade. They're still angry. This isn't an easy task and Apple has to be creative. They also have to show it's worthwhile. Keep in mind they compete with Google on the android OS side just as much as the OEM's who make android hardware. Which leads to...

2. Foundations. I laughed at iphone killer articles in past years because many didn't understand you couldn't kill Apple with just hardware. Apple had itunes. Apple had iOS. It was ipod+phone+internet. Apple spent years making itunes a solid way to easily manage ipods. This carried over to iphones. This isn't a big deal anymore. Now it's about AI and ecosystem. I think we all know Siri lacks. Google has the solid foundation. It's not just CES 2019..it's become the Google Assistant show. Add in Google Maps, search, youtube, youtube tv, other misc services and Apple suddenly looks pretty shaky underneath.

3. Home. Go to costco or most places and it's all alexa or google. The average person doesn't even know what homekit is. Apple won't make anything. They're a hardware company. Heck, they won't even partner with anyone hardly. What exactly is their strategy here? Now they've seemingly conceded any Homepod dreams or further expansion by giving amazon apple music. They've lessened any need for apple tv by giving itunes and airplay away to OEM TV makers.

4. Get back to roots. These events look like an annual used car convention now. Get those marketing people off the stage. I love to see people actually excited about the software talking about it like Federighi. Not made up stories of 100% customer SAT. The crap with Angela, her glass palaces, and apple's training classes in store are a joke. Have a separate Mac event. Make things that just work with Macs, iOS and each other.

Agree. We need someone able to reconnect with our inner brains, instead of just our wallets:

 

[I7guy]

Agree. We need someone able to reconnect with our inner brains, instead of just our wallets:...

I want my digital life simplified not my mind. SJ left apple a 2.5 product lifestyle company, TC added done products to the pot. Apple products do it for me.

There are not many capable of running apple, however everybody is capable of criticizing from their own biased point of view.
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Then tell us how.
Making themselves dependent on huge volumes and a single product is a one-way street.
They can’t go back. They can’t move on without a new, groundbreaking product with the same appeal/mass deployment/margin as iPhone. Being addicted to cash on this immense scale, there’s no way out other than that. But being the incumbent makes serious adjustment (let alone disruptive innovation) too complicated/risky.
Example: launching a (Surface Pro) killer requires too much “courage”. It might kill-off iPad business (whereas Steve didn’t mind serving off iPod in favor of iPhone)
Coincidentally, targeting the masses with prices that only the happy few can afford is a suicide strategy. It will never work in India or even China - key area’s to sustain their business model/growth
Unlimited luxury, real estate, cash piles is working against them now. Cook’s quasi humble image may have worked but now has become the irony in itself.
And number 2 Angela....mmmpfff

We will have to see. As I said above TC is the guy. They pay him to figure this out. If you gave a “solution “ to apples “problems” please by all means submit your resume.

If Steve Jobs taught his disciples one thing, it should be never say never. And I think you should tells us what apples roadmap should be for the next 10-20 years. I’ll make sure you’re thoughtful strategy get forwarded to the appropriate people.
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No, he was not. He is a marketing guy, not an innovator. You can see that on the entire Apple line up how innovation has been stalled for years. Only innovation has been on wearables.
Investor have spoken... look at stock price. Stock, will recover? maybe in 1 or 2 years depending on how well Apple sells, which does not look promising since sales have been down due to Apple's greed and overpriced products.
Users also have spoken, since computer sales declined
That is why you can see more people actually complaining about Apple prices and quality of their products than actual users actually praising their products.

And the sad thing that Cook's only solution is to improve the iPhone's trade in program...

I like the job TC is doing and proof are the number of products in the house.

As far as people complaining about Apple, prices, leadership etc. been like since the beginning.

Apple has approximately 250 million customers and you’re anecdotal experience is people complain. Mine is people like apples products.

As far as marketing vs innovation that’s pretty much a meme now.

 

[nviz22]

Then apple will have to devise another strategy, or somehow figure out how to change the trajectory.

But it might not be enough with Cook at the helm. It could be under different and more aggressive leadership.

 

[ChrisMoBro]

Wrong. They aren't selling well enough in China, but Apple again made record revenues in developed markets like US, Canada, Germany, Italy, Korea, and the Netherlands.

Wrong. Revenue and actual units are completely different - of course their revenue was up, they increased the price of most of their products but in terms of units sold they’re much lower. Tim Cook is blaming the Chinese market because they can’t admit that their strategy is failing.