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Supply chain or contract-wise it may be cheaper to continue to produce them than to update them.

Apple does do this from time to time. See the last SuperDrive Mac being offered without refreshed Intel chip for for 4+ years before being discontinued.
Definitely, assembly lines are already tooled and staff trained so will get cheaper (at point of origin) over time.

I forgot MacBooks used to have superdrives! 😂
 
with the amount of processing power the iPhone has it is time for them to revolutionize how people use it by turning it into their main computing device. Make it able to run iPadOS when hooked to an external display with mouse and keyboard. Needs USB-C and needs iPadOS to be slightly better
 
Really, who needs a new phone every year?

It’s just marketing gone mad!
If I had 4 kids, wanted to give them hand me down phones and have an replacement cycle of every 3 years then you end up replacing every 12 months for the parents with the 4 kids holding them from months 13-36.
 
Apple needs sharper pricing in their mid-range devices. There are always those who will pay the premium for a Pro iPhone, but the standard models are now priced too high and too close to the Pro.
Yep. Smartphones where the only tech that went up in price the last few years.

While I am happy to spend a fair bit on a phone, given it is the one device I use the most. How many of us are ever without our phones? I’m going to make that $1k purchase last.

Most people, even tech people don’t care about having the latest anymore. The only thing that drove me to upgrade in the past was that a new phone was the same cost as what I was already paying. Now. It’s not. Hence I won’t buy.

That and they also killed the mini #teammini
 
I would not have upgraded from my 11, which is still perfectly good, if not for the fact that my teenage daughter needed a new phone, and I'd rather get the 14P myself and give her my old 11 than get her a new phone (even an SE).

If indeed the iPhone has plateaued, looks like the next potentially big platform - Reality Pro (?) - couldn't be coming at a better time.
 
Why is everybody speculating about dropping demand? Because of that factory shutdown in China, you literally couldn't buy Pro phones in time for the holidays/before the end of the quarter. So don't tell me about phones being so expensive, and people being less interested. They sold every single one they had, of the most expensive phone they make.

(It's still bad news for Apple, though, because a lot of that holiday money just went elsewhere.)
 
It didn’t help that iPhone 14 was the most underwhelming iPhone to date. The first time that a new generation didn’t have the latest chip. Or any other new feature for what matters. And no, the satellite feature and crash detection hardly count.

Hopefully apple learnt their lesson and will try harder with iPhone 15. Otherwise there will be another year of lacklustre sales, despite the situation in China improving.
 


Worldwide smartphone shipments suffered their worst quarterly drop on record over the holiday period, according to IDC, and Apple was not immune to the cooling consumer demand amid the global economic downturn.

iphone-14-pro-box.jpg

The research firm estimates that Apple shipped 72.3 million iPhones in the December quarter, down year-on-year from 85 million units, representing a 14.9% drop in shipments compared to the same quarter a year ago.

Other major smartphone brands suffered similar double-digit setbacks. Samsung's shipments fell by 15.6% year-on-year, and Chinese mobile makers OPPO and vivo suffered almost equivalent declines, with Xiaomi performing worst over the quarter with a 26.3% drop in shipments.

Overall, global smartphone shipments declined 18.3% in the December quarter compared to a year earlier, to a little over 300 million units. The drop marks the largest-ever decline in a single quarter and contributed to a steep 11.3% decline for the year.

"We have never seen shipments in the holiday quarter come in lower," Nabila Popal, research director at IDC, said in a press release. "However, weakened demand and high inventory caused vendors to cut back drastically on shipments."

In addition to inflation and economic uncertainties, lockdowns in China were another factor that hurt the industry, including Apple's iPhone shipments, she said. "Heavy sales and promotions during the quarter helped deplete existing inventory rather than drive shipment growth."

idc-q422-phone-shipments.jpg

Riots broke out in late November at the world's largest iPhone factory in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, where Foxconn workers were unhappy with Covid restrictions and unpaid bonuses. iPhone production at the factory in Zhengzhou was said to have been significantly affected by the protests, leading to lengthy shipping delays over the holiday period.

According to IDC, 2022 ended with global smartphone shipments of 1.21 billion units, which represents the lowest annual shipment total since 2013 due to significantly dampened consumer demand, inflation, and economic uncertainties.

Despite the difficult holiday period, Apple's market share remained steady, and the company maintained its position as the top smartphone maker for the December quarter with 24.1% market share, up 1% from a year ago. For the year, Apple reached 18.8% market share compared to 17.3% the previous year, coming second only to Samsung, which took 21.6% market share in 2022 compared to 20% over 2021, according to IDC estimates.


Article Link: iPhone Shipments Suffered Double-Digit Drop Over Holiday Quarter, Says IDC

You think THATS bad? According to Nikkei Shinbun (like the Financial Times) in Japan, Apple have shed 69% of their iPhone sales in two years.

That’s more than 2/3rd of their sales between iPhone 12 series and iPhone 14 series (these include all phones not just non-pro)

It could be argued that this is actually closer to a 3 digit decline in sales than merely 1 digit. Lol.

It’s been an Apple massacre over here.
 
Make the new iPhone have Siri tell you that she/he loves you when you wake up in the morning, more people would upgrade.
 
So many comments about price, not a good update or not enough interest but I tried the entire month of December to get a 14 pro max and they were sold out everywhere. Ordering from Apple was delayed weeks.

This was largely a supply chain issue and Apple not being able to produce the phones fast enough or get them shipped fast enough. Same issues that have plagued every single Apple Silicon computer since Covid happened. Takes too long to get newer models because of the demand and manufacturing delays right now.

I eventually gave up out of frustration and will try again now that they seem to be in stock again now that the holidays are over.
 


Worldwide smartphone shipments suffered their worst quarterly drop on record over the holiday period, according to IDC, and Apple was not immune to the cooling consumer demand amid the global economic downturn.

iphone-14-pro-box.jpg

The research firm estimates that Apple shipped 72.3 million iPhones in the December quarter, down year-on-year from 85 million units, representing a 14.9% drop in shipments compared to the same quarter a year ago.

Other major smartphone brands suffered similar double-digit setbacks. Samsung's shipments fell by 15.6% year-on-year, and Chinese mobile makers OPPO and vivo suffered almost equivalent declines, with Xiaomi performing worst over the quarter with a 26.3% drop in shipments.

Overall, global smartphone shipments declined 18.3% in the December quarter compared to a year earlier, to a little over 300 million units. The drop marks the largest-ever decline in a single quarter and contributed to a steep 11.3% decline for the year.

"We have never seen shipments in the holiday quarter come in lower," Nabila Popal, research director at IDC, said in a press release. "However, weakened demand and high inventory caused vendors to cut back drastically on shipments."

In addition to inflation and economic uncertainties, lockdowns in China were another factor that hurt the industry, including Apple's iPhone shipments, she said. "Heavy sales and promotions during the quarter helped deplete existing inventory rather than drive shipment growth."

idc-q422-phone-shipments.jpg

Riots broke out in late November at the world's largest iPhone factory in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, where Foxconn workers were unhappy with Covid restrictions and unpaid bonuses. iPhone production at the factory in Zhengzhou was said to have been significantly affected by the protests, leading to lengthy shipping delays over the holiday period.

According to IDC, 2022 ended with global smartphone shipments of 1.21 billion units, which represents the lowest annual shipment total since 2013 due to significantly dampened consumer demand, inflation, and economic uncertainties.

Despite the difficult holiday period, Apple's market share remained steady, and the company maintained its position as the top smartphone maker for the December quarter with 24.1% market share, up 1% from a year ago. For the year, Apple reached 18.8% market share compared to 17.3% the previous year, coming second only to Samsung, which took 21.6% market share in 2022 compared to 20% over 2021, according to IDC estimates.


Article Link: iPhone Shipments Suffered Double-Digit Drop Over Holiday Quarter, Says IDC
iPhones should be more affordable and without meaningless features like lidar etc. More focus on stability and reliability. Go back to “just works” philosophy, otherwise it’s becoming an expensive mess
 
Well, I use iPhone 12 mini and do not really see any compelling reason to upgrade yet. Not much to do with the money, just no real need as it works just fine. When 12 mini starts acting up, I will most likely replace it with 13 mini, but for now I stay put.
Almost the same for my brother-in-law and me, except we both still use original SEs. We planned to upgrade this year, but guess what? No iPhone 14 mini, so no upgrade. Why buy a nearly 2 year old phone, we'll wait for the 15 mini. When we upgrade we want the latest and greatest. because we plan on it lasting 5 years or longer.
 
Makes sense, especially in Europe inflation is out of control, buying power is shrinking at a crazy pace, the dollar is getting more expensive and the iPhone 12 is basically as good as the iPhone 14.
 
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Almost the same for my brother-in-law and me, except we both still use original SEs. We planned to upgrade this year, but guess what? No iPhone 14 mini, so no upgrade. Why buy a nearly 2 year old phone, we'll wait for the 15 mini. When we upgrade we want the latest and greatest. because we plan on it lasting 5 years or longer.

Good plan. iPhone 15 mini is a wild card, however, as we do not know if and when it will happen. I personally plan to get the smallest Apple’s offering when it is time to replace my iPhone.

If Apple stop selling small phones by then, will try to get it new from other carriers/suppliers. If no luck there by then either - might go refurbished, etc. I am sure we will find something good when needed.
 
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