For example the S10 plus 512GB model is 150 quid cheaper than the iPhone XS Max 256GB...which really is quite shocking.
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Gartner: iPhone Sales Suffered Worst Quarterly Decline for Three Years Over 2018 Holiday Period
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Nope, price is the issue. iPhones were already very expensive. Now they are insanely expensive. The market has spoken. If Timmy and Schiller want the iPhone ecosystem too be more healthy they need to stop working for Wall St.
Well when you have pushed your products to insane prices and the "new and innovating" are meh at best this tends to happen.
Smart phones are starting to last longer. Remember in the past at one point in time a desktop computer had a life span of 2-3 years max. Laptops had life spans on 2-3 years max. Now we are seeing desktop and laptops easily last 5 years. Hell my personal laptop was is nearly 3 years old (2015 Macbook Pro) and it is not even on my radar to want to upgrade it. It works great. I can remember in the past at 3 years I was complaining about my computer getting slow and me pushing its limits.
On top of this prices of smart phones have gotten out of hand. We can again compare it to the PC and laptops. Those have gotten insanely more powerful, tons of new features and their prices have come down not gone up much and they sure as hell have kept in line with inflation for top of the line. To put that number in perspective when the iPhone was first released top of the line phone 400ish. Inflation adjusted it should be around 450. Current top of the line is what 1200. That is pretty out of line.
Smart phones are starting to last longer. Remember in the past at one point in time a desktop computer had a life span of 2-3 years max. Laptops had life spans on 2-3 years max. Now we are seeing desktop and laptops easily last 5 years. Hell my personal laptop was is nearly 3 years old (2015 Macbook Pro) and it is not even on my radar to want to upgrade it. It works great. I can remember in the past at 3 years I was complaining about my computer getting slow and me pushing its limits.
On top of this prices of smart phones have gotten out of hand. We can again compare it to the PC and laptops. Those have gotten insanely more powerful, tons of new features and their prices have come down not gone up much and they sure as hell have kept in line with inflation for top of the line. To put that number in perspective when the iPhone was first released top of the line phone 400ish. Inflation adjusted it should be around 450. Current top of the line is what 1200. That is pretty out of line.
Your logic is completely reversed. Price _is_ an issue to many, lack of innovation isn’t a problem for the iPhone XS. The price is the problem for the XS, and that clearly is not being favored for the average consumer to want to upgrade to a $1000 iPhone, when their current smart phone executes all the tasks that they need it to.
I think it’s mostly because the last couple of generation iPhones are keeping up with the new generation; performance wise. The smartphone business has plateaued.
Whenever I talk to a family member or friend with iPhone 7-8, they’re not overly convinced about upgrading - “I have a great phone without payment plan”
They don’t care about all the smaller upgrades: spec, camera, screen size.
They higher price of the newer phones isn’t really an issue as it will be spread out over 24months (most common contracts here in Sweden).
But It will probably be another 2-3 years until the majority of my circle will upgrade. Compared to a couple of years ago when everyone was upgrading all the time!!
Apple won’t be able to sell that many more iPhones per year, if they don’t manage to hit China or India. Or makes something totally different aka a super affordable “small” phone aka PhoneSE.
They better bet on increasing their services and wearables (incl. glasses?
).
Whenever I talk to a family member or friend with iPhone 7-8, they’re not overly convinced about upgrading - “I have a great phone without payment plan”
They don’t care about all the smaller upgrades: spec, camera, screen size.
They higher price of the newer phones isn’t really an issue as it will be spread out over 24months (most common contracts here in Sweden).
But It will probably be another 2-3 years until the majority of my circle will upgrade. Compared to a couple of years ago when everyone was upgrading all the time!!
Apple won’t be able to sell that many more iPhones per year, if they don’t manage to hit China or India. Or makes something totally different aka a super affordable “small” phone aka PhoneSE.
They better bet on increasing their services and wearables (incl. glasses?
).I don't think the prices hurt that much in, e.g., the United States. Apple either didn't have much of a sales drop here or it had a gain here (revenues were actually up in the Americas). And prices aren't up much from a year ago. The year ago quarter is when the much more expensive model became available.
There are other realities which have premium smartphone sales stagnating in developed markets. I think Apple has shifted its pricing strategy (and product offerings) to best deal with such realities - e.g., it is getting more out of high-end sales as they won't recur as often (regardless of pricing) as they used to, and it's shifted the top of its product line upward and made more room for its strongest competitor - its own products, sold used or handed down or held onto for longer because they remain capable. It is, in effect, competing with itself less than it used to. In that way it gets to continue to grow installed base without sacrificing current revenue as much.
Pricing likely had a substantial effect in some places though, e.g. in China and developing areas, and in areas where currency weakness made iPhones even more expensive.
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Because in stock biz we discuss the future not the now. Watch a Nokia or m$ ballmer video for more on that topic!
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Both is an issue on the long run.
Low innovation plus high prices.
I would pay a grand if it was a foldable phone, but for a brick like the xs max I will pay 800 Euro Max
There is no problem, in that sense. But compared to the previous year is does point to competition and high price being the factor which caused the comparative sales drop. Endless growth isn’t possible on a finite planet, but greed needs to be pointed to when we see it.
I personally think it's both price and lack of innovation. Android for the last couple of years has gained more traction due to increased performance and stability and tbh has always been more innovative than iOS. Price wise, I can get a decent Android phone that performs just as good as the XS for half the price.
Apple to regain sales need to:
A)Lower the prices to be more competitive
B)Bring back Scott Forstall OR find a suitable replacement because as much as I love Craig Federighi, he isn't cutting much ice. iOS is a mess of an OS atm.
Or maybe this is Tim Cooks plan along. Transition from leading sales to becoming a "Premium only" brand. Might not sell the most, but if you want the best go with apple kind of marketing. Who knows!
So in 2018, Apple sold just about the same number of phones as in 2017 but with a higher ASP per unit. That looks amazing to me.
The new Xs models carry plenty of innovation. People are funny. The cameras with the AI, the incredible processors, a lot faster LTE speeds, 120 HZ touch sensing, IP68, better speakers, dual SIM, faster wireless charging. Most people complaining are just clueless about how difficult these things are to implement. Specially implementing and selling them at the massive scale that Apple does. Apple is a true engineering company. iPhone Xs , Xr are truly out of this world devices. They are expensive but they are also the best money can buy.
The new Xs models carry plenty of innovation. People are funny. The cameras with the AI, the incredible processors, a lot faster LTE speeds, 120 HZ touch sensing, IP68, better speakers, dual SIM, faster wireless charging. Most people complaining are just clueless about how difficult these things are to implement. Specially implementing and selling them at the massive scale that Apple does. Apple is a true engineering company. iPhone Xs , Xr are truly out of this world devices. They are expensive but they are also the best money can buy.
Looking at my shares, keep them affordable and keep the greedy shareholders happy.
This is my retirement they're playing with.
This is a great point and a great link - especially China since that is where they're made (although I'm guessing China slaps some tariffs on them since its not a Chinese company). Looking at the Xr, here in the U.S. its $749 for the base model in most of the countries listed on the page - its ~$950, which is ridiculous. Far fewer are in the ~$800's. Only Japan and Canada are in the $700's. Makes one wonder why the huge discrepancy in prices (tariff's? U.S. Dollar?).
It's like this for all their phones (was looking at the 8) - wild price discrepancies in other countries.
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How again did Gartner get those numbers? Oh yeah, Apple reports unit sales...that’s how.
Even more so when you consider the screens for the S10 are most likely made on the same production line as those for the XS Max! Yet it’s meant to be one of the most expensive components in a phone..
Hence the banner of price gouging and profiteering through massively inflated RRP’s by Apple these days, and to an extent Samsung. 30% profit minimum isn’t it?
Oh but at least Cook is ‘considering’ changing the iPhone prices outside the US..
Also Samsung did rise the price for a new inscreen fingerprint scanner either which I’m sure apple would
Free galaxy buds too
In the UK Apple does a direct 1 dollar to 1 pound conversion. So whilst the XS costs 999 pounds, at today’s exchange rate that’s actually 1306.70 dollars, including taxes... so it’s nearly a third more expensive in the UK.
Ouch! Bore.
The consumers may have bared their teeth…
On topic:
A further price increase this year would be hubristic of Apple.
They are squeezing these stones and some of us are running out of blood to drop…
Innovation! Thinner! Lighter! Only goes so far… especially as it leads to a Lighter! and Thinner! wallet each time…
That's a point, on the oder side - they need to make better phones with better and innovative Software.
Most people don't switch to Android only because of their laziness.
Problem is Apple is perfectly happy with the price of iPhones. They think $1000+ for a mobile computer that people use daily is the correct price. That people should give up the $4 daily coffee in exchange for the iPhone... $4 daily is about $1400 a year. Sounds about right for an iPhone (so they believe).
Now, whether this is valid or not, the rest of the public doesn't see it that way. And Apple would rather lose sales than change their view points on the issue.
Now, whether this is valid or not, the rest of the public doesn't see it that way. And Apple would rather lose sales than change their view points on the issue.
And Tim will blame it on everything except the 40% price hike over the last 3 years.
Yeap, you have to pay UK prices the same as me, brexit is not an excuse for Apple’s direct 1 dollar to 1 pound conversion, and a couple of the tech companies tried to claim it was!
But I know for the general public they do see a grand as too much, I say that as I know people who have got the iPhone X this year as it was cheaper.
But it’s not just that, it’s the 3 grand plus a decent spec 15” MacBook Pro costs here, that’s double my maxed out 2010 15” cost, and I’m pretty sure inflation hasn’t doubled over the last 8 years!
Apple really needs to take a step back and review its pricing across the board.
What these numbers sa to me:
Apple and Samsung are both in a similar position with their high end products. They have stopped being truly differentiating products from the vast bulk of everything that's out there. And those products are cheaper. Samsung's numbers get offset a little because they do offer the low cost products as well (i don't think they care if they cannabalize S9 sales for A8 sales if they still sell). But this hurts Apple bigger as there really is no "cheaper" current gen iPhone. the XR, Xs and Xs+ represent all Apple offers for the current gen and at the price points, if they are unaffordable, users are going to go elsewhere, especially in markets that are poorer like china.
I really hope that the samsungs and Apple of the world recognise that you can't keep pushing the price through the roof without offering significant differentiation of your product that people want. I feel in 2018, both Apple and Samsung were guilty of releasing essentially re-iterative products without any real compelling reason to upgrade. the price is just a further barrier in that.
Apple and Samsung are both in a similar position with their high end products. They have stopped being truly differentiating products from the vast bulk of everything that's out there. And those products are cheaper. Samsung's numbers get offset a little because they do offer the low cost products as well (i don't think they care if they cannabalize S9 sales for A8 sales if they still sell). But this hurts Apple bigger as there really is no "cheaper" current gen iPhone. the XR, Xs and Xs+ represent all Apple offers for the current gen and at the price points, if they are unaffordable, users are going to go elsewhere, especially in markets that are poorer like china.
I really hope that the samsungs and Apple of the world recognise that you can't keep pushing the price through the roof without offering significant differentiation of your product that people want. I feel in 2018, both Apple and Samsung were guilty of releasing essentially re-iterative products without any real compelling reason to upgrade. the price is just a further barrier in that.