Apple to Cut Back on New Hires Following Disappointing Holiday iPhone Sales

[ghanwani]

You should all do your bit, stop by your local store and buy a lightning cable or a dongle. Every cent counts!

Do those count as iPhone revenue?

“If you keep your eye on the profit, you’re going to skimp on the product. But if you focus on making really great products, then the profits will follow.” ― Steve Jobs

Unfortunately they don't teach that in B-school, and B-school graduates are the ones running the world.

 

[dogslobber]

Too many B to Z players.

 

[JPack]

Cut back on "new hires"... not reducing staff, unless the staff drop-off rate is higher than the hiring rate. They are not cutting existing staff, just reducing the intake. Big difference.

As for "disappointing" sales... what is disappointing are the expectations of Wall Street.

It's a fancy way of saying reducing headcount. Most leaders use the term "cut back on new hires." Organizations have natural attrition due to resignations, end of contracts, etc. When you don't replace those people, headcount reduces.

 

[Casaron]

Quote
Following Cook's talk with employees, some Apple senior vice presidents held separate meetings with vice presidents, senior directors and other managers in their groups to emphasize that the iPhone sales slowdown is an opportunity for new innovation, according to one of the people.


An opportunity for “new innovation”? These top brass peeps have had an eureka moment, bless them. All is OK now everyone, don’t fret.

 

[racerhomie]

Billions upon billions of untaxed cash sitting in Ireland, but let's have a hiring freeze to appease investors.

How about just cutting the prices of Macs and iPhone?

I believe apple brought the money back to USA paying 16.5% taxes.

 

[ibosie]

There isn’t a small iPhone to buy - that’s my reason. An iPhone SE is my ideal size.

 

[827538]

I wonder how many jobs/much money could be saved if Apple got rid of Cook?

Apple’s got a problem at the top, not at the bottom.

 

[koruki]

Why is everyone yapping on about how much money they have when discussing reducing hiring.. they need to know what to do next before hiring.. you guys make it sound like they're FIRING people

 

[apolloa]

And so the pain now starts... you wait for the new Mac Pro to be launched with a price no doubt north of 4 grand, or their new rumoured monitor to go with to, I bet that’s 600 plus. Or how about it’s fancy charging matt with prices rumoured around 150. Low sales will continue.
If they redesign the iMac, judging by the Mac Mini price hike will they hike the iMac price?

With only two services in tow but not making anywhere near as much as the iPhone, this is now a test for Cook and the board and how they manage the transition of the company.

 

[magicschoolbus]

It’s Tim’s fault.

iPhones that you cannot plug into a new Mac with the cord in the box
iPads that ship bent
Pricing is insane
HomePod and Siri are a disaster
Mac lineup is outdated
Failing in China and India

Tim Cook’s Apple is starting to look pretty rotten.

 

[tridley68]

Cut out the little man while the big executives and little Timmy are getting exorbitant amounts of stock and salary.

 

[Cyrax]

So Tim Cook's memo phrased this slowdown in terms of quasi-temporary blips, like the exchange rate and some challenges in China that they expect to pass. Yet all their moves based on this revised guidance makes it seem like they are digging in for a more or less permanent structural change to their business.

Jobs literally saw every minute of every day as an opportunity for innovation, he didn't wait for slowdowns and stagnation to make a change. I guess this is what happens when you put sales and logistics guys in charge.

 

[MacRumors Fan]

did these new hires start stupid trends like calling the 2nd gen ipad, "the new ipad?" same with so many of their products that are so confusing. iphones should be called by iteration, not s versions or xr or se or all these differences. just have one iphone in black only and call it the next number. trim the fat. apple is a luxury product, not meant for the masses.

 

[LordVic]

Do those count as iPhone revenue?

If they are official "Made for Iphone" or MFI program, than yes, Apple receives revenues from licensing MFI to them.

if it's those dinky no-name $2 iPhone charging cables at the gas station, than likely no.

 

[macduke]

Perhaps Apple should move to an ~18 month cycle like the iPad if they can't innovate fast enough.

I've owned nearly every iPhone generation except one year when I had my first kid and bought my first house after graduating from college so I didn't get around to it because my life was so crazy. So for the first time since launch I'm purposely considering not upgrading. Why? Well it has to do with both price and a lack of new features. When I upgraded from the X to the XS, I think I made an exhaustive list on the forums with every new feature. And while I found there were lots of new features, for the most part the thing still feels like the X. The camera is better in dynamic range, and the battery life seems better, but otherwise it's mostly the same phone. I didn't even notice a performance difference because the X was already so fast.

At this point the iPhone is so incredibly refined that there aren't a lot of things that I can even think of that I'd want in a new iPhone. It used to be so easy to rattle off a list on the forums because there was so much low-hanging fruit. Sure there are new technologies like 5G, but LTE is already plenty fast for mobile use (websites load in a fraction of a second with a content blocker) and it's going to take a while to roll it out. And what in the world am I going to do with WiFi 6 up to 10Gbps on a phone? And beyond that, the iPhone isn't even rumored to get 5G this year. The one thing I want the most is my iPhone to unfold into an iPad, but that is many years away and will probably increase the cost by 50%. But the fact remains that if they had kept the price lower and kept chipping away with small new features every year, I'd probably still keep buying it. But I just don't know anymore. The thing that keeps me hooked is the iPhone Upgrade Program, because I have to keep making monthly payments towards my old iPhone when I could just switch to a new one and make the same payments. So IDK what I'm going to do. I should probably get off the upgrade train.

 

[allenvanhellen]

Repent and make an iPhone 4-sized all-screen iPhone 11 mini (NOT XI), and sell it at a reasonable price. Rename the XS Max to XS Plus while you’re at it.

 

[newyorksole]

It’s Tim’s fault.

iPhones that you cannot plug into a new Mac with the cord in the box
iPads that ship bent
Pricing is insane
HomePod and Siri are a disaster
Mac lineup is outdated
Failing in China and India

Tim Cook’s Apple is starting to look pretty rotten.

I do think Apple have made several mistakes over the past few years, but I also think some of you guys are exaggerating.

Not making excuses for them, but very few iPads ship bent. And if they do? You can exchange it/them. Most people who have the new Macs likely get a USBC-USB adapter. Thus they’re able to plug their phone into their computer.

The list goes on, but I really don’t think Apple is in as bad of shape as everyone is making it seem. I think their prices are the craziest thing, but you get what you pay for.

We’ll see what happens this year.

 

[The Game 161]

Make a good phone and this won't be a problem... you know; no notch, put in a headphone jack, use the standard USB-C port... things like that.

Actually apple make great phones which is why sales are down. Many are happy with their older devices that they don’t see the point in upgrading as they do what they are suppose to

 

[B4U]

Or, just cut back on Tim's own compensation.
All these "leaders" of the companies knows no bounds to their own greed!

 

[racerhomie]

Apple should really try to open Apple Stores in the richest parts of India,Bangladesh & South Africa. If they seek growth they need to try to bring Foxconn & Pegatron in these countries to avoid tariffs. Plus any diversification of manufacturing is good. If they don’t do these things they should at least bring the iPhone 6 32GB ($350) & iPhone 6S Plus 32GB($500)

 

[Haswell]

I SO love how Tim Cook said that the iPhone XR is a Flop

Here's my hot take: Apple knows more than we do about pricing and market realities. The new iPhones are more expensive because Apple knows it will sell fewer and fewer iPhone upgrades (due to the maturity of the technology and high customer satisfaction with their current devices). To cope with falling sales numbers, Apple is raising prices on the fewer phones it sells. As sales volume goes down, the unit price goes up. In terms of actual price increases, I don't think most consumers are bothered by a few extra dollars a month on their carrier bill due to a slightly larger phone payment. The problem is that consumers don't see the point of upgrading at all.

TL;DR: iPhone sales aren't dropping because the price is rising. Prices are rising because Apple knows they've reached the point where upgrades (and therefore sales volume) is decreasing, and are raising unit prices to compensate.

Agreed! I could see Apple only supporting the iPhone for two years in order to boost sales.

 

[lsutigerfan1976]

It seems straight forward. But Apple needs to innovate to get ppl to buy their new products. You can put together a multi million dollar marketing campaign. But that really isnt going to get ppl to buy a new iphone. Just to say they have the latest iphone. And certainly not at a $1000 price point.

 

[Juicy Box]

Cook at the time said Apple had not yet determined which divisions would cut back on hiring, but groups like the AI team will continue to add employees. Cook also told employees that a division's importance to the future of Apple is not measured through hiring rates.

I wonder what divisions will end up being cut back....

I hope not, but the cuts will probably be Mac, especially desktop Mac, and ATV divisions, while the emoji and watch band divisions will continue to add employees....

I am joking of course, but maybe it might be true....

 

[MagMan1979]

I love the hyperbole of MacRumors editors / writers in their headlines...

Disappointing iPhone Sales, what FUD! 80+ million iPhone's sold in the quarter with a massive ASP, that make Samsung, Sony, LG, and others have wet dreams hoping they'd be able to sell that many high-end models! Yet, only because it's Apple, it's "disappointing", what a joke!

 

[iRutherford]

Apple has so many employees, yet they are way too slow to adapt to changes, provide fixes or introduce innovative solutions. Stop using “diversity” as a factor for hiring individuals. If they're qualified, hire them based on that, and not because they're Muslim, lesbian, liberal or black.