iPhone XR Do you think Apple will kill the iPhone xr or refresh it?

[chad.petree]

With all the bad press the iPhone xr has been getting: apple not disclosing the official sales of it's phones anymore , seeing at least here in Germany dtores discounting an iPhone for the first time , merely months after the release , also the media ( deservedly) criticizing its screen; do you think Apple will remove it from its 2019 lineup?

I think the production costs of the iPhone x design should be low enough after 2 years of using it ( it's pretty clear , that apple won't change the design next year ) , so that the iPhone xs becomes the standard iPhone at a "sane" price point .

What do you think? Do you see this happening or do you just see apple slapping a 1080p screen on the iPhone xr and an improved camera and calling it a day ? Or even worse just updating the internals and the camera and keep using the 720p screen ? Or maybe just keeping it as discounted option but not releasing a 2019 at all ?

 

[I7guy]

It’s hard to tell. I think the Xr will live on in 2019...the same theme as in 2018 with upgraded hardware and software. I also think prices will remain the same as 2018.

 

[44267547]

The key to the XR is the size, most of Apples competitors are offering 6 inch smart phones, and by Apple offering this phone size, they stay competitive in that market, so I do believe the XR will be refreshed for 2019, at least for another year.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

It will be around for a few more years with updates along the way.

 

[s15119]

Nope, it's an exceptionally popular phone.

 

[Easttime]

We love our XRs. Don’t understand the problem, other than cost of course.

 

[Conan86]

You must have missed the article saying that the iPhone XR has been the best selling model of the three released tthisyear. It makes up 32% of all iPhone sale while the XS and XS Max combined makes up 35%. I think apple will leave the XR as is while updating the flagships only for 2019.

https://www.macrumors.com/2018/12/26/cirp-estimated-iphone-xr-sales-november/

 

[s15119]

I would also note that Wired Magazine calls the XR the best wireless product of 2018

 

[snowboarder]

Nope, it's an exceptionally popular phone.

How many have you seen outside of Apple stores? Me? - ZERO.

 

[cub4bearin]

How many have you seen outside of Apple stores? Me? - ZERO.

Have to agreed

 

[agente46]

How many have you seen outside of Apple stores? Me? - ZERO.

Many people use cases. It’s almost impossible to tell between a Xr with a X or Xs in a case.

Why are you guys walking around stalking people’s phones anyway?

I have never bothered to pay attention to other people’s phone while I’m on the bus, train, or anywhere for that matter

 

[AddisonIII]

How many have you seen outside of Apple stores? Me? - ZERO.

I own an XR and know a few others who own one. I can’t be happier. It would have been nice had I got mine at some of the sale prices I have seen, but oh well.

 

[m0sher]

If not an XR I’m pretty sure moving forward Apple will have another $750 variant next year of some kind even if it’s not called XR. Maybe an 11C....etc

 

[snowboarder]

Many people use cases. It’s almost impossible to tell between a Xr with a X or Xs in a case.

Why are you guys walking around stalking people’s phones anyway?

I have never bothered to pay attention to other people’s phone while I’m on the bus, train, or anywhere for that matter

Sorry, but that's BS. XR is very different and easy to spot.
People don't hide their phones, stalking? - a silly argument.
By far most iPhones out there are 7+ or 8+

 

[1rottenapple]

I think it will live on.

I think $1000 is a barrier for many people to spend that much on a cell phone.

If we use the computer example, there are people that can’t spend that much on a computer and will happily spend 300-500 on a laptop but can never spend 1000. These people don’t spend time on macrumors.

Similarly there’s many many more people out there that I doubt will spend that’s much on a xs but a discounted xr is very appealing to them. Heck an iPhone 6s or 7 would be great!

 

[chad.petree]

The key to the XR is the size, most of Apples competitors are offering 6 inch smart phones, and by Apple offering this phone size, they stay competitive in that market, so I do believe the XR will be refreshed for 2019, at least for another year.

Yeah but most manufacturers are going for 6.4" inches , the size of the iPhone max , which is bigger than the xr , if the max were cheaper there'd be no reason for the xr to exist

You must have missed the article saying that the iPhone XR has been the best selling model of the three released tthisyear. It makes up 32% of all iPhone sale while the XS and XS Max combined makes up 35%. I think apple will leave the XR as is while updating the flagships only for 2019.

https://www.macrumors.com/2018/12/26/cirp-estimated-iphone-xr-sales-november/

People are buying the xr over the xs because of the price , that's it , I have a hard time believing people would choose it over the xs if they would cost the same ...

Do you mean apple will just discount it like it did with the iPhone 8? No hardware updates at all for the xr ?

 

[user1234]

How many have you seen outside of Apple stores? Me? - ZERO.

Three including mine. Love the XR and hope apple will keep an LCD phone in the linup for years to come

 

[JBGoode]

How many have you seen outside of Apple stores? Me? - ZERO.

I interacted with dozens of people yesterday and I've no idea what phone any of them owned. People generally don't wave them around shouting "Look! Look!" So unless you stare at strangers all day waiting for them to pull out their phone, the fact that you've seen zero of these phones means absolutely nothing. I've never seen anyone with an XS Max but I know they're out there

 

[Glideslope]

Sorry, but that's BS. XR is very different and easy to spot.
People don't hide their phones, stalking? - a silly argument.
By far most iPhones out there are 7+ or 8+

Lovin my 8+. Know allot of people with 8’s and even 7’s. Simply won’t pay the ridiculous prices. The 7&8 run very well on 12.1

 

[StellarVixen]

I think it will live. There are a lot of people who want iPhone, but do not feel like giving $1000+ for it.

 

[superleakTx]

hope there is an iPhone XSE

 

[George Knighton]

What do you think? Do you see this happening or do you just see apple slapping a 1080p screen on the iPhone xr and an improved camera and calling it a day ?

Personally, I don't think they're going to do anything at all.

The iPhone XR is not selling badly. They just overestimated the popularity.

There is nothing wrong with the iPhone XR except that it was marketed as a budget device, which is hard to justify at 750.00. It's not a budget device at all. It's just a cheaper iPhone, that's all, and they just overestimated the popularity.

Compared to devices like the OnePlus 6T, the iPhone XR is obviously not a "best buy" kind of device...it's just a cheaper iPhone.

I do not believe that any kind of redesign in year two would be a sound business move. If it makes sense to put the Apple modem into it instead of the Intel modem, that's different. If it makes sense to use the next generation A-list/ARM processor, they might do that.

But changing the screen, the camera, or anything else physical? I don't think so.

IMHO they should keep selling it but change their expectations of the sales performance in this era of competitiveness, and at this time of saturation of the smartphone market (at least in the West).

 

[pmau]

My guess is they will simply not refresh it and call it something else.
This is what they do these days.

They killed the MacBook and updated the Air, stopped selling the MacBook.
They killed the iPhone X and called it XS, not selling the X anymore.
They will kill the Xr and replace it, not selling it anymore.

Once they think ARM is mature regarding the codebase, they will completely kill the small MacBooks.
Then they can sell custom CPU/GPU and AI chips that nobody can use outside macOS.

Unfortunately I strongly believe this will happen sooner than later.
All the PC hardware components are not profitable enough to sell.

Apple is about margin, not products.
They will throw them at us, because this is what Tim Cook has done all the time.

Apple watches, iPhone models, iPad models, iMacs in various stages, etc.

 

[George Knighton]

Once they think ARM is mature regarding the codebase, they will completely kill the small MacBooks.
Then they can sell custom CPU/GPU and AI chips that nobody can use outside macOS.

Well....

I think there were two points to this.

One was to increase overall performance without having to rely on their equity with Intel to make Intel do what they wanted.

The other reason has to do with getting Mac OS to look and act more like iOS, and the other way around. In the very near future, we will have some applications that are designed to work the same way on iOS and Mac OS, and indeed to even be the exact same application.

 

[JPack]

How many have you seen outside of Apple stores? Me? - ZERO.

iPhone XR glass protectors rank #4 in sales at Amazon for Cell Phone and Accessories.

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Cell-Phones-Accessories/zgbs/wireless/ref=zg_bs_nav_0

You might live in a rural area with no iPhone XR customers. But the rest of the world is buying XR and it is the most popular phone in Apple’s current lineup.