Decline in iPhone Shipments Could Make Apple Worst-Performing Top Five Smartphone Brand of 2016

[maxsix]

Market saturation sucks. It happened to tablets and PCs. Need a new signature product and the Watch didn't do it.

I do believe Apple Watch is a terrific gadget, a unique conversation piece that garners the kind of attention Apple craves. Yet as the market has proven, it's but one of a plethora of smartwatches. Neither the first or the last to market, there's nothing special to set it apart from the competition.

Yet that said, Apple's the 800 lb. Gorilla in the room. Never one to be a shrinking violent, Apple's endless marketing and hype machine has created great visibility for the watch. Combined with a cult like the army of devotees, Apple enjoys a very strong position in the global wearables space.

Even better is Apple's ability to draw interest to anything with its logo. Brand strength alone will keep Apple in the news and in the minds of millions across the globe. Now having matured into a leader in mass market retailers, Apple is unstoppable. They will live on for decades.

 

[RedOrchestra]

Sorry, very few people will pay more money just for a rose gold color phone.

In the used car market, that's referred to as a " paint job overhaul "

 

[TommyA6]

You must be new here.

~ Mac Mini
~ Mac Pro

I like that you say "right up there" with Sony and Microsoft - I think you meant "right DOWN there"

If you need more help, ask someone experienced.

Twice the price, half the performance of the comparable PC. Amazing...

 

[deecooray]

Apple needs to drop the price if they want to keep sales up. 650 USD for a 16GB base model is ridiculous.

Soo true, prices are ridiculous! I'm seriously considering not refreshing my 6 with a new contract this year. That'd be the first time in 6 years I'm not getting another 2 year contract. I don't like to cough up that much money anymore..

 

[The Game 161]

The Galaxy S7 Edge would definitely tempt me over an iPhone 6s Plus if I didn't already own the iPhone. Curved screen, OLED display, better camera, waterproofing etc.

Think note 6 will be even bigger comp

6GB of ram
Bigger battery
Waterproof
Higher quality display
Better S pen features

Think this will be a beast

 

[John Mcgregor]

The Mac Pro hasn't been updated since 2013, and the Mac Mini (which uses the same internals as Mac laptops) hasn't been updated since 2014.

Very sad truth. Spec bump once a year should not be a problem.

 

[RedOrchestra]

Apple is unstoppable. They will live on for decades.

Hard to say in an uncertain economy - at some point, price does become a choke point.

 

[Shirasaki]

The Galaxy S7 Edge would definitely tempt me over an iPhone 6s Plus if I didn't already own the iPhone. Curved screen, OLED display, better camera, waterproofing etc.

But it runs Google Android.

 

[John Mcgregor]

Think note 6 will be even bigger comp

6GB of ram
Bigger battery
Waterproof
Higher quality display
Better S pen features

Think this will be a beast

Please explain to me why are you going to do with 6 GB on a phone? NO, i'm very serious here. OS X runs with 8 GB on my retina MBP. That's desktop OS with desktops apps.

Putting more stuff is just as bad as not putting enough of it.

 

[Romy90210]

As much as i love my iPhone and my other various Apple products i have to admit it.... Apple won't hold me much longer as a loyal user unless they drastically change some things... Sales/Shipments will only go down hill from now on if Apple keeps this approach..

 

[Northgrove]

A dual lens phone won't offer "DSLR like quality". It will at best offer compact camera like quality, as in 1" sensors or so. Which would be a signficant step up by itself. Beats me why they keep exagerrating this feature's benefits. Smartphones are on the bottom end of optical performance, step ups to premium style compacts would be a major boon. There are many levels of photo quality...

 

[The Game 161]

Please explain to me why are you going to do with 6 GB on a phone? NO, i'm very serious here. OS X runs with 8 GB on my retina MBP. That's desktop OS with desktops apps.

Putting more stuff is just as bad as not putting enough of it.

Well with the 4GB on the S7 Samsung seem to of fixed the ram management issues which is important. No more app freshing.

 

[ghost187]

The Galaxy S7 Edge would definitely tempt me over an iPhone 6s Plus if I didn't already own the iPhone. Curved screen, OLED display, better camera, waterproofing etc.

Curved screen and OLED are not necessarily a positive. A better camera and waterproofing will be available on the iPhone 7. And of course, no one mentions or quantifies the value of software because it is just 0s and 1s, costs nothing to scale, so it should be free.

 

[RedGala]

This isn't a sign of Apple's weakness, its a sign of MacRumors' need for "BREAKING NEWS"

 

[RockSpider]

I held an S7 Edge in a phone store a couple of weeks ago because I was curious. It just... didn't feel quality. It might have been the fact that it was a display model, but it was a working device. It just didn't feel good in the hand.

Mine feels plenty good to me and makes any iPhone look ridiculous with the stupid big bezels, every time I pull it out I can see people looking at it, it's a work of art.

 

[The Game 161]

Curved screen and OLED are not necessarily a positive. A better camera and waterproofing will be available on the iPhone 7. And of course, no one mentions or quantifies the value of software because it is just 0s and 1s, costs nothing to scale, so it should be free.

Think it remains to be seen if waterproof is coming but if it does most seem to think in 2017

 

[davida]

The reason is Ive.

He has a certain design language and seems not to be able to change that. Everybody will get tired after years and and years to look at basically the same thing. He is now also involved in UI design and that makes things even worse. Same look outside, same look inside. For what, like 10 years?

They need to change the designer. Or challenge him. He's had it too good for too long.

 

[johngordon]

Al this stuff about growth seems a little odd sometimes - if Apple sell 200m units, and that's a bit less than last year = epic fail.

but if Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo sell 20m units, double what they sold last year (no idea what the actual figures are, but you get the point) = massive success.

 

[John Mcgregor]

Well with the 4GB on the S7 Samsung seem to of fixed the ram management issues which is important. No more app freshing.

So bad coding was fixed by adding more ram. How is it any good exactly? Phone specs and software are now like parents and children. You want to give children just enough money to do something, but not enough to do nothing.

 

[bbplayer5]

The Galaxy S7 Edge would definitely tempt me over an iPhone 6s Plus if I didn't already own the iPhone. Curved screen, OLED display, better camera, waterproofing etc.

The GearVR also makes it worth every penny. Watching movies in IMAX with surround headphones really is eye opening.

 

[The Game 161]

So bad coding was fixed by adding more ram. How is it any good exactly? Phone specs and software are now like parents and children. You want to give children just enough money to do something, but not enough to do nothing.

That's deep

 

[RockSpider]

This isn't a sign of Apple's weakness, its a sign of MacRumors' need for "BREAKING NEWS"

Oh yes and Macrumors is always so anti Apple, bad Macrumors, bad bad Macrumors.

 

[johngordon]

The reason is Ive.

He has a certain design language and seems not to be able to change that. Everybody will get tired after years and and years to look at basically the same thing. He is now also involved in UI design and that makes things even worse. Same look outside, same look inside. For what, like 10 years?

They need to change the designer. Or challenge him. He's had it too good for too long.

The iPhone last changed design less than two years ago.

iOS saw a big change less than three years ago.

 

[Abazigal]

Apple needs to drop the price if they want to keep sales up. 650 USD for a 16GB base model is ridiculous.

What's the point of selling more phones if your margins on each decline?

Remember, market share is the means, but profit is the end.

 

[John Mcgregor]

That's deep

I tried really hard, but thats a perfect analogy.