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Ah yes, another article about Apple that posits slippage in sales and the comment section is flooded with “Told you so” and “I predicted this” screeds. Then the usual negative talking points about price, innovation, relevance, are plastered all over the place, followed by the “Fire Tim Cook” blathering. Many find it impossible to restrain their glee at the possibility of Apple failing and falling into oblivion. It’s almost a religion isn’t it. How utterly predictable.
 
Looking at it over time
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Source:
 
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It’s really about time that Tim Cook steps down and lets someone step up to the plate. Whether it’s wining and dining British royalty, or constantly flying to China to bend the knee, things are truly getting out of hand at Apple under Tim’s watch. Truly sad to see iPhone sales getting left in the dust!
China’s going to keep pushing domestic phones, both for national interests and the practical reason that, like a lot of industries, as long as China is willing to pile resources into a combination of protectionism and propping up manufacturing while keeping their currency low to keep their massive trade surplus it’s going to be hard for foreign companies to compete in China. No successor to Cook is going to do any better.

China’s current strategy isnt economically sustainable long term, but if they can keep it up they *may* be able to build themselves out of the middle income trap first. Depends on whether their tanking middle class takes the economy down first or not
 
Show me where Apple has been found guilty of violating the Sherman Act.

They haven't yet but google has, as did Microsoft. Neither were ever 100% of their market. The DOJ is currently suing Apple for being a monopoly with regards to the App Store, Apple pay, and a Ew other things.

The point is, anything over 50% can legally be a monopoly.
 
They haven't yet but google has, as did Microsoft. Neither were ever 100% of their market. The DOJ is currently suing Apple for being a monopoly with regards to the App Store, Apple pay, and a Ew other things.

The point is, anything over 50% can legally be a monopoly.
The current case against Apple has years to go before there is verdict. For the MS and Google case both companies had/have over 90% market share.
 
The free market is here to save us all. Maybe this will give us more competitive prices and reduced price gouging. Keep Apple in Cupertino.
 
Most of the improvements over the past few years have been under the hood or software related (like AI)

There's little to distinguish a new iphone from the older iphones. People do like to flex having the latest gadgets; but when you can't tell the difference between this year's model and the model from 4 years ago; and ontop of that the new model doesn't do anything different (just faster) then it's not hard to see why sales are stagnating.
 
There's little to distinguish a new iphone from the older iphones. People do like to flex having thee camera latest gadgets; but when you can't tell the difference between this year's model and the model from 4 years ago; and ontop of that the new model doesn't do anything different (just faster) then it's not hard to see why sales are stagnating.
Newer phones have better cameras. For me, who regularly uses a DSLR, it's a moot point. But for most folks, their phone is their only camera, in which case it's yuge. The camera on the phone has been the selling point for years.

AI seems to be the next battleground. Right now, it's the equivalent of slap fighting.😏
slap-fight-teen-titans-d21poll8mxpds769.gif
 
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You guys are blabbering about the "free market" in an industry where Samsung basically owns South Korea, where Apple is ruthlessly sabotaging the competition, where many Chinese companies are basically owned by the CCP, where Google, the advertising colossus, now sells a line of phones too, and the likes of LG and Sony more or less gave up because they realized how degenerate this industry actually is.

As for iPhone sales tanking, I'm not surprised. To get an iPhone 16+ where I live you'd have to pay €1500, assuming the 512GB version - this price is literally a circus. It's three times more than my Realme GT6 which also has a 120hz screen. Now throw in the looming additional Trump tariffs and the reasons to buy future iPhones become extremely dodgy. Additionally phones just last longer now and Apple was one of the main catalysts that helped given their software update policy.
 
Newer phones have better cameras. For me, who regularly uses a DSLR, it's a moot point. But for most folks, their phone is their only camera, in which case it's yuge. The camera on the phone has been the selling point for years.

AI seems to be the next battleground. Right now, it's the equivalent of slap fighting.😏

Camera has been the a main selling point for awhile now; but realistically any iphone from the last 3-4 years will take excellent photos. Are newer ones better? yes; but improvements are minimal now and ones taken with a 13pro are probably good enough.
 
With competitors offering products at many different price points and also the fact that the base models of the iPhone still does not have 120Hz, sales of iPhone will definitely face high pressure.
Hopefully the new SE along with upcoming 17 series will boost the sales.
 
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In my experience with iphone users in the US is they are the least tech savy people I have met overall and they have no clue about anything at all hardware related to an iphone. Zero. The only thing they know about iphone hardware is what the current model number is and that's literally it.
That explains that iPhone has such a big marketshare in the USA, besides its cheaper over there. They don’t suffer from competition from Chinese brands (most aren’t available in the USA) and people hardly look at specs.
 
With competitors offering products at many different price points and also the fact that the base models of the iPhone still does not have 120Hz, sales of iPhone will definitely face high pressure.
Hopefully the new SE along with upcoming 17 series will boost the sales.
The new model iPhone SE is 3 years too late in my opinion. At the same price range you could get so much better phones with punchhole 120 hz display, better storage, better camera.
 
Most of the improvements over the past few years have been under the hood or software related (like AI)

There's little to distinguish a new iphone from the older iphones. People do like to flex having the latest gadgets; but when you can't tell the difference between this year's model and the model from 4 years ago; and ontop of that the new model doesn't do anything different (just faster) then it's not hard to see why sales are stagnating.
I tend to agree with this as coming from a 13 Pro Max, my 16 Pro Max is largely the same phone. Sure the camera is noticeably better, but the camera on my older phone was good and for many its probably still good enough. When we consider the vast majority of photos are viewed on the phone or uploaded to social media where they are down-scaled anyway, the differences are minimal. Some shoot in 48mp and like the quality from RAW, but how many people really do that in the grand scheme? For those sorts of people the upgrade is perhaps worth it.

I think anybody with a 14 Pro or 15 Pro would see little point in upgrading to a 16 Pro at this point, unless its via an upgrade scheme. The whole AI stuff is underwhelming and in its infancy. As I said earlier in the thread, I am not looking to move away from the iPhone, but I can also acknowledge that I see more effort being put in by other manufacturers to keep releases interesting and fresh.
 
Music to my ears, hoping Apple start actually making new phones and not just adding a new button and call it 16 Pro, should have been called 15 Pro S to any fans boys i've hurt with this message
 
With competitors offering products at many different price points and also the fact that the base models of the iPhone still does not have 120Hz, sales of iPhone will definitely face high pressure.
Hopefully the new SE along with upcoming 17 series will boost the sales.
Indeed, not offering a 120hz display on the iPhone 16/16 Plus this year was incredible considering at similar and cheaper proce points the market see this as a standard as of 2022. However, I would imagine many like me that bought the 16 Pro Max may have opted for the 16 Plus had this feature been available and this is perhaps the reason Apple cheekily held it back. I do feel this strategy cannot be milked for another year though as consumer expectations have changed somewhat.
 
I think anybody with a 14 Pro or 15 Pro would see little point in upgrading to a 16 Pro at this point, unless its via an upgrade scheme. The whole AI stuff is underwhelming and in its infancy. As I said earlier in the thread, I am not looking to move away from the iPhone, but I can also acknowledge that I see more effort being put in by other manufacturers to keep releases interesting and fresh.

Yup and apple knew this; hence iphone 15s (non pro) and earlier are locked out of the new features (AI), which they gambled on being the main draw but unsurprisingly blew up in their face since people with a 14pro have even less reason to upgrade if they don't care about AI.

Other manufacturers are certainly putting in the effort to differentiate themselves. Are many of the features gimmicks? probably; but apple doesn't do anything at all. And people are hungry for a change that'll differentiate the iphone; even if it's a gimmick, be it folding, active cooling, 3d, under screen camera, active cooling, pop out camera or a secondary e-ink screen. All these are features trialled to varying success by other manufacturers. They are very hit and miss but at least are a point of differentiation.
 
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