iPhone X Was One of the Top Three Best-Selling Smartphones in December 2017 Across Five Markets

[Soccertess]

The heading should read.. iOS is number two, and being slaughtered in most markets because Tim Cook is clueless.

And, doesn't the data say OS, so how do they get it was all based from Iphone X?

 

[Lilok]

I'm surprised iOS is doing so badly with our European neighbours across the Channel. Didn't think it'd be that bad tbh.

Only decent stat for Apple is China growth

That's funny, I was making a comment a few days (or weeks?) ago, mentioning that I don't understand why it is so popular in the US and UK.
Cause here in central Europe (Austria), almost nobody has an iPhone anymore.
Since years, actually.
The most iPhones I see are the 4s, 5s. Sometimes a 6.
But people here enjoy using open standards, different brands and open software in general.
Maybe "we"just don't have that much of brand loyalty here...nobody cares.

I also switched to month ago... Apple just doesn't offer what it did in the past and, most importantly, the prices here are a joke. People pretty much make fun out of "new apple" :/

 

[69Mustang]

Ok, I can see what you are saying. So, that's why my original question. First the title/article talks about iPhone X being top X. then they show OS sales, yes, I was implying, based on the data given. But, has Apple ever given out real device sale numbers?

No one gives out individual device sales. Kantar, and companies like them, are estimating based on whatever criteria they deem relevant. Details probably behind a paywall.

 

[citysnaps]

I regret my X purchase. Simply because I don't think it's worth the $1000. Face-ID is carp and don't work most time. It needs refinement.

Yet you still kept it despite Apple's generous return policy. Why?

 

[5105973]

I regret my X purchase. Simply because I don't think it's worth the $1000. Face-ID is carp and don't work most time. It needs refinement.

I returned mine in part because I also felt the price was too high for what it offered. I did like the X and my husband loves his, but the price...ouch. Face ID worked well for me most of the time. I noticed it can be “trained” over time just as Apple says it can by immediately typing in the passcode after a failure.

Nevertheless, there is something fishy about your statement on Face ID. I might blame it on autocorrect. I sometimes flounder about typing these posts myself and fail to tuna into the typos. Sorry, I cod not resist.

 

[HowieIsaacks]

Doesn't Apple cut production around this time every year? Demand usually goes down after the holidays. iPhone X has sold very well, yet the rumor mongers are trying to tear it down.

 

[neutralguy]

Let's be honest, ANY new Apple phone would have been their best seller. They could have included no new features and it would have sold great.

Let me ask a serious question here. How many people in US are on annual upgrade plan? That's what drives the sale. There is nothing more to it. The reason why iOS share fell because some people decided not to upgrade. Also, the statistics data shown in the article shows iOS, does that mean only iPhone or it includes iPads too?

 

[deanthedev]

What do you think would be today's culturally equivalent depiction of the PC-guy vs. Mac-guy comparison, if applied to a hypothetical Apple vs. Android match-up today?

Android is McDonalds while iOS is Five Guys.

 

[69Mustang]

They need to do market share broken down by price segment. Most Android phones sold are low-end so it’s pointless to compare total Android sales against the iPhone.

At the high end the iPhone slaughters everyone else in sales.

That type of analysis you're wanting is only going to come from a fan. It's going to be just as inaccurate and speculative as reporting from market analysts. Apple and it's competitors don't break out model specific numbers. The market analysts generate their reports to make money. The fan report would just generate comments.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Doesn't Apple cut production around this time every year? Demand usually goes down after the holidays. iPhone X has sold very well, yet the rumor mongers are trying to tear it down.

Yes, every year Apple keeps making the same mistake of having too many ordered for the quarter AFTER the holidays and then having to cut it down to what they actually need. I wish the supply-chain king could see this pattern- and learn from it- after 10 years, and correct the mistake they make every single year. Instead, they just keep making that mistake over and over, leading to these negative news stories when they cut their own order volume down.

Fortunately, they have us here to try to spin this like it's about holiday order volume getting reduced to post-holiday volume... which this is not that at all. Maybe we can fool 10 or 20 other people into believing it's that so they won't sell their AAPL and thus keep AAPL about where it is now (because 10 or 20 MR people are pretty much THE market for AAPL).

What Apple HAS sold and what Apple is projecting to sell is 2 completely different things. A cut to build orders in JAN has no effect on how many were sold in NOV & DEC. The cut is about how many Apple thinks it will sell in the future.

 

[Baymowe335]

They need to do market share broken down by price segment. Most Android phones sold are low-end so it’s pointless to compare total Android sales against the iPhone.

At the high end the iPhone slaughters everyone else in sales.

Right. You and I know this, but people here struggle with this as much as fake news about iPhone X sales and production cuts.

 

[anthogag]

Strange, the most important country in the world, Canada, is never on these lists.

 

[daveup2bat]

Yet the iPhone 8 outsold the X... I love my 8 Plus, wasn't in a hurry to give up touch ID... I've upgraded to every version since inception, just couldn't do it to the X... glad I stayed with the 8 Plus, most of my friends who purchased the X, regretted it after purchase... I think this will be the first time I keep my phone 2 years if they don't have a Touch ID upgrade again this year... I think the X looks cool, but sounds like it has quite a bit of problems in it's first iteration... sometimes NOT being on the bleeding edge is a good thing.

 

[Moorepheus]

Android is McDonalds while iOS is Five Guys.

Had both, would say they are both on par with each other. People here, would have you believe that iOS > Android, and vise versa on an Android site. I feel, one should use what ever OS meets their needs. Personally, never used Android, but hear great things about it. Also, iOS is getting a bit long in the tooth, but that's just me.

 

[deanthedev]

That type of analysis you're wanting is only going to come from a fan. It's going to be just as inaccurate and speculative as reporting from market analysts. Apple and it's competitors don't break out model specific numbers. The market analysts generate their reports to make money. The fan report would just generate comments.

We used to be able to do this - back when Samsung reported Galaxy S and Note sales milestones. Since they chickened out and stopped reporting back in Feb 2014 (when their sales started to tank) we’re now stuck with estimates.

Nevertheless, the fact remains the iPhone dominates at the high end.

 

[Moorepheus]

Yes, every year Apple keeps making the same mistake of having too many ordered for the quarter AFTER the holidays and then having to cut it down to what they actually need. I wish the supply-chain king could see this pattern- and learn from it- after 10 years, and correct the mistake they make every single year. Instead, they just keep making that mistake over and over, leading to these negative news stories when they cut their own order volume down.

Fortunately, they have us here to try to spin this like it's about holiday order volume getting reduced to post-holiday volume... which this is not that at all. Maybe we can fool 10 or 20 other people into believing it's that so they won't sell their AAPL and thus keep AAPL about where it is now (because 10 or 20 MR people are pretty much THE market for AAPL).

What Apple HAS sold and what Apple is projecting to sell is 2 completely different things. A cut to build orders in JAN has no effect on how many were sold in NOV & DEC. The cut is about how many Apple thinks it will sell in the future.

Same can be said about the Hype when the new model comes out, they never have enough. Again, year in and out, same Apple, hype the phone and then not have enough to meet demand. I thought TC was a logistics guy?

 

[StevieD100]

And it fell again in the UK.

Given the level of TV Advertising for Samsung Galaxy in the period from Black Friday to Chistmas and the non existent Apple ads, it isn't surprising.
Then there are places like PCW-Carphone who deck out their stores in Samsung colours and virtually hide iPhones... whay do you expect.

 

[john123]

I swear that is only said by people who don't have the damn phone.

Kinda makes sense because why would people who don't like the notch and would have to look at it every...single...day...buy the X? Answer: they wouldn't.

You notch lovers act like you're part of some enlightened audience, and everyone who doesn't agree with you is just a "hater." The real world isn't like that, and this situation is definitely part of the real world.

It doesn't mean the rest of us are poor, or Apple "haters," or anything like that. It doesn't even mean we haven't really considered the day to day experience with the phone and how we might adapt. It simply means we have different preferences.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I agree with this! I love my iPhone X it’s easily the best iPhone they have done so far, Face ID is just brilliant I don’t even miss Touch ID or the home button, the OLED HDR display is great for watching HDR movies on (Wonder Woman and Deadpool look great) all round a brilliant phone.

I love my iPhone 7 Plus 256GB, paying $10/mo. It's easily the best phone for the money. I don't miss FaceID, and love the home button. After a month or two, the OLED display's brilliance would wear off and I wouldn't really care that much about it. The iPhone 7 display is beautiful to me. I woudn't care whether a movie is HDR or not. It's such a tiny display being watched in less than ideal situations. If I bought an X, what i would miss is the $1000 in my bank account!
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Nevertheless, there is something fishy about your statement on Face ID. I might blame it on autocorrect. I sometimes flounder about typing these posts myself and fail to tuna into the typos. Sorry, I cod not resist.

Good job! Hilarious!

 

[BootsWalking]

X was top 3 in December but production is being cut in half do to weak demand? Something doesn’t pass the smell test.

The two reports aren't necessarily contradictory - there was very large pent-up demand for the X, which was the first redesign in many years. Once that demand was met sales apparently slowed. If true this indicates Apple misjudged the nature and depth of the X's appeal/demand, at least at the price point it was offered.

 

[skitidetdu]

I'm surprised iOS is doing so badly with our European neighbours across the Channel. Didn't think it'd be that bad tbh.

Only decent stat for Apple is China growth

Sales tax in Europe is stupid high in some countries. Add that plus and a bad currency exchange from $US to euro.

I'll travel to the US later this year and will maybe buy one there and save around 350 $US

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Same can be said about the Hype when the new model comes out, they never have enough. Again, year in and out, same Apple, hype the phone and then not have enough to meet demand. I thought TC was a logistics guy?

Yes but really I was just taking another poke at how we seem to be consciously or unconsciously twisting two stories- one about past sales and one about future potential- to imply that the good is good and that the bad cannot be true. For us to keep spinning the "but this happens every year" requires us to basically say that Apple keeps making this same mistake every year (projecting demand for orders AFTER the holiday too high, and thus having to cut orders). Even after 10 years, Apple can't ever seem to learn that the quarter after the holiday season will have an order volume cut.

We appear to do this to try to fool others into believing that an order cut is no big deal... spinning that it's normal for orders to be cut from the high-volume holiday quarter to the lower volume post-holiday quarter. But that's not actually what the story is about. The cut was from the post-holiday quarter being at X to the post-holiday quarter being X/2. We're either purposely trying to fool others- or fooling ourselves- into believing that this is the natural reduction of holiday to post-holiday. It's not.

Then, we're looking to any good news and taking that as absolute fact- no questions asked- while continuing to spin bad information as shysters trying to manipulate the market. More simply: favorable analyst information is factual while unfavorable analyst information is fraudulent. We are dazzling this way.

Myself: I generally believe that Apple is very, very smart about supply chain management. Thus, I believe that they are smart enough to notice that the quarter after the holiday would have lower orders. Assuming so, they would not have too many orders out there EVERY SINGLE YEAR to then have to cut the orders and drive this negative Apple news EVERY SINGLE YEAR. So, I would then recognize the confusion/spin of some posts that try to spin this as normal without pointing out that- to be normal- Apple has to be making this same mistake EVERY SINGLE YEAR.

As to having short supply every single Fall, I think that's simply the combination of good marketing plus some practicalities in terms of how many units that can be made. There's certainly an upside to spinning "in short supply" every year: much less PR lift if they ever had a Fall launch where all stories were confident that anyone wanting one can easily get one whenever they like.

That formula of "short supply" works every year. Even this crowd spinning the normality of this every year falls prey to the "short supply" launch formula, scrambling to get our orders in during the wee hours in spite of knowing that Apple always catches up to any level of demand not that long after the launch. You'd think WE would learn to see a recurring pattern and not so easily be seduced. But WE fall prey to that recurring pattern apparently just as readily as Apple keeps making this same mistake over and over each year.

 

[69Mustang]

Nevertheless, the fact remains the iPhone dominates at the high end.

Isn't this something we've pretty much always known? We know profit margin. We know the ASP. We know pretty much everything we need to know. It's going to be the same this quarter, the next, and the successive ones after that.

Do you think there's someone out there who doesn't know this? I'm not exactly sure what this hypothetical report would do besides provide confirmation bias to those who like to think of Apple as the best of something.

 

[Glideslope]

christ the amount of hate you guys have for the X is insane. My wife and I love ours and it runs rings around the galaxy s8+

Well, not everyone shares your view point that $1,000 for an entry level price point is anything other than theft given the tech in the device. Face ID needs to be Gen 3 before I'll go near it, if ever.

There is no need to own a $1,200 phone for animoji. Warren Buffet does fine with his Nokia 6350. The 8 does everything the X does except make adolescent little animoji. Seriously, is this really productive?

There is a reason Apple cut Q1 X production by 50%. It's too much $ for what one gets. Period.

 

[Krayzkat]

We appear to do this to try to fool others into believing that an order cut is no big deal... spinning that it's normal for orders to be cut from the high-volume holiday quarter to the lower volume post-holiday quarter. But that's not actually what the story is about. The cut was from the post-holiday quarter being at X to the post-holiday quarter being X/2. We're either purposely trying to fool others- or fooling ourselves- into believing that this is the natural reduction of holiday to post-holiday. It's not.

You should probably designate another letter instead of 'X', you'll just confuse people....