Kuo: Apple Watch Series 3 Demand Higher Than Expected as iPhone X Anticipation Cannibalizes iPhone 8 Pre-Orders

[Rodman99]

I'm amused by all the back-handed compliments in this thread. "These new phones aren't that innovative, I'm sticking with my 2 to 3 year old phone that works totally great."

This is why we get Apple. Because they work great... for years.

My 6 has a bad home button and is getting a bit sluggish. I'm ready for a big screen so I'm getting an 8+. Debating saving some cash with a 7+ but I know that A11 chip kicks ass and I'm thinking that phone can last me 4 years. I don't care what crazy new phone they come out with because I know I'll love that phone.

 

[maikerukun]

I'm not saying that some aren't waiting for the X to come out. However, many might be like me and are looking at the X as probably not even practically available until after Christmas, and the 8 as not worth the upgrade.

My friends and I are 100% waiting for X, and never even hesitated with this topic for the most part. Only hold out was Dave, who loves his touch ID more than he probably should lol. But nah, people are absolutely waiting.

 

[brianvictor7]

That's obvious. The X made the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus look like a joke. The only possible caveat is the screen size.

I respectfully disagree. I bought the iPhone 8+ because it is only a few (important to me) specs short of the X and for about 3/4 the price when you factor in the AppleCare hike on the X. Looking forward to getting my new phone Friday

 

[santaliqueur]

Apple is in a cycle where they release a new iPhone every year so it is hugely important to them that the maximum amount of people buy it EVERY year. Just a guess on my part, but I would think that most people are on a two-year iPhone cycle.

But they have been in this cycle for the entire life of the iPhone. This is not a new thing. I'd agree with your guess on the two-year cycle. A minority of people get every new phone, most probably get one every 2 or 3 years, and some people go 4+ years.

What do you want Apple to do? Skip a year? Releasing a new iPhone every year ensures they cover everyone who would be upgrading. If they skipped a year, their stock is in the trash. Assuming iPhone is about ⅔ Apple's revenue (a lot less than that this past quarter, but it's a close enough approximation), and Apple's market cap is $820B, then a very loose approximation is that the iPhone as a standalone business is worth nearly $550B. Only two publicly traded companies in the world are worth more than that. The iPhone is not only Apple's flagship product. It is very easily the most profitable product in the world, perhaps ever.

Skipping a year of the iPhone would be sort of the same as a company as big as Microsoft saying they were not going to release any new products for an entire year. An absurd notion for sure, right? If Apple does not continuously innovate the iPhone, their business is dead.

 

[noles1983]

Every time I see that notch.

 

[Patriks7]

You people are crazy with your Watch LTE demand.

You're basically saying "I want to give my carrier $10/month in perpetuity to NOT carry my phone, which I already carry with me all the time anyway." Just get the WiFi version and answer calls without taking your phone out of your pocket.

Or maybe there are many many situations where carrying your iPhone just isn’t practical and the Watch helps with that? Not saying I would buy it (as it’s not available in my country yet), but I definitely can imagine many uses for it.

 

[brianvictor7]

2x "$500 for a phone?"
Developers developers developers developers
Upgrading from a 5S, I think X is such a gimmick. Will probably make do with a 7.

I'm also upgrading from a 5S. I thought about getting a 7+, then realized that to get more than 32 GB I needed to pay almost as much as an iPhone 8+. So, I'm going with the 8+ (64GB and more screen size too).

 

[Rodman99]

Every time I see that notch.

Think you're forgetting that all of our screens have a signal strength icon and a battery/charge icon on the top of it. It's a good use of space. But I do hope you can turn it off and have a black bar across it when you watch a movie.

 

[noles1983]

Think you're forgetting that all of our screens have a signal strength icon and a battery/charge icon on the top of it. It's a good use of space. But I do hope you can turn it off and have a black bar across it when you watch a movie.

From a design perspective the fact that it has the screen wrap around the sides creating that notch makes zero design sense. What is gained by have the left and right of the screen extend to cover that tiny space around the notch? If it was blacked out and had the signal/carrier info in white that would be something entirely better.

 

[JayIsAwesome]

Tell us something we don't already know.


How is it not? It's the same shape, same size, (weighs more though), same display size, still same IP67 rating, same camera (new software), Newer CPU (this was a given), same display. So, tell me, how is it not the same at the 7 before it, which is the same as the 6s and 6 behind it?

There is a bezel on the iPhone 10, you want to see bezel-less. I am sorry, but Apple really failed here, in their so-called EDGE to EDGE display. There is a black bezel all the way around the display. To me, it's not a big deal, but please don't say it is something that it's not.

It's a bezel-less display dude. The bezel is gone in comparison to the monstrosity that is the 8 and 8+. Hell even my Bezel-less S8 has a little bit of bezel to it but the phone is still gorgeous, as is the 10. Between the 10, the Galaxy S8, and Note....the iPhone 8 looks dated as hell and most folks just aren't feeling a 3-4yr old design hence the demand for the 8 being down in comparison to past iPhone launches

 

[TonyC28]

But they have been in this cycle for the entire life of the iPhone. This is not a new thing. I'd agree with your guess on the two-year cycle. A minority of people get every new phone, most probably get one every 2 or 3 years, and some people go 4+ years.

What do you want Apple to do? Skip a year? Releasing a new iPhone every year ensures they cover everyone who would be upgrading. If they skipped a year, their stock is in the trash. Assuming iPhone is about ⅔ Apple's revenue (a lot less than that this past quarter, but it's a close enough approximation), and Apple's market cap is $820B, then a very loose approximation is that the iPhone as a standalone business is worth nearly $550B. Only two publicly traded companies in the world are worth more than that. The iPhone is not only Apple's flagship product. It is very easily the most profitable product in the world, perhaps ever.

Skipping a year of the iPhone would be sort of the same as a company as big as Microsoft saying they were not going to release any new products for an entire year. An absurd notion for sure, right? If Apple does not continuously innovate the iPhone, their business is dead.

I am not suggesting they skip a year. I just worry about the jump to $1,000 at this point. I'll probably be proven wrong so oh well.

 

[Rodman99]

From a design perspective the fact that it has the screen wrap around the sides creating that notch makes zero design sense. What is gained by have the left and right of the screen extend to cover that tiny space around the notch? If it was blacked out and had the signal/carrier info in white that would be something entirely better.

Getting status stuff out of the way.

 

[Floatingworks]

Every time I see the notch

 

[Rodman99]

Getting status stuff out of the way.

From a design perspective the fact that it has the screen wrap around the sides creating that notch makes zero design sense. What is gained by have the left and right of the screen extend to cover that tiny space around the notch? If it was blacked out and had the signal/carrier info in white that would be something entirely better.

Actually like your idea of black at the top though.

 

[AT&T representative]

The LTE version is the first Apple Watch to free you from your phone. Finally ٩(^ᴗ^)۶

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

I'll wait for the iPhone X Plus that will probably come next year. The iPhone X is just an iPhone 8 (not plus) with a taller screen. I want an iPhone 8 Plus width screen that is taller, not a narrower screen that will make my content look smaller. The iPhone X will make my content look smaller. That's going backwards.

 

[jujufreeze]

If anything the X made me realize my 7+ is more than enough as the 8 stands in no man's land- what's the point of upgrading? The 1k x could use some refinements and I'm sure the next version will be worth the wait

 

[Tarantularock]

I've had a Samsung Galaxy S7 for about a year and it's mostly sitting around unused..... The edgeless design is more bothersome for me. Constantly register touches I don't want. I ordered a 8+ and will give my 7+ to the wife to replace her 6s+. Everybody will be happy

I don't disagree that the 8s arn't a fine design, I like touch ID - In fact, if they did not limit the portrait camera to the plus size only I would have bought the smaller 8. I want a phone with a smaller footprint and the better camera option also I would prefer that it dosn't cost over $1000 - However they are going charge $799 for the 8 plus...I might just go pick up a used 7 and wait for a year.

 

[Mac 128]

Great to see Apple Watch demand continuing to grow. As a Series 0 owner, it's encouraging.

To be fair, the current projections are around 15 million watches a year, over two years and two models, with each model adding something new. While I don't disagree that support for the watch is continuing to grow, there's no guarantee that all that is growth, and not upgrades. Nothing wrong with that even if that's what it mostly boils down to, since Apple is still selling the numbers. And at the risk of pointing out the obvious -- if you give customers what they want, they will most likely buy it. Apple gave them GPS and better water resistance and sales went up. Apple prices series 1 at a lower price and sales went up. Apple is now adding LTE, and sales are through the roof. Next up -- a new round design; and sales will most likely explode for the pent up demand.

I only wish this forum had an "I-told-you-so" button, so I could keep track of all the posts that people insisted Apple would never add better water-resistance, GPS, or LTE, etc. because it wasn't necessary, and people didn't need it or care. Of course, that would probably overload the message boards if we all started using it.

 

[RestUnknown]

I just posted this earlier, but the X is making the home button look old school lol

And yet it's clearly ripped off from Blackberry. I'm surprised to enter multitasking they didn't add the gesture swipe up and right. But yeah that would get them a case before court.

 

[oplix]

iphone x will be great..once it's jailbroken

 

[terrapinjess]

I’m getting the 8... or as I like to call it, “iPhone Classic”

 

[smoking monkey]

I'm not saying that some aren't waiting for the X to come out. However, many might be like me and are looking at the X as probably not even practically available until after Christmas, and the 8 as not worth the upgrade.

I think you're right. As a 6S+ owner, I don't see the Killer App that would force me to upgrade to an 8+. AR? Nah. I don't play games on my iPhone and it will be a good year or so before it filters into the mainstream. I wouldn't mind the X, but I might just let it sit for a bit to see how Face ID pans out. I would like the better camera in the newer phones, but I'm not going to pay 100,000yen for a new phone camera.

Hopefully Apple will give X owners an option to turn the ears of the phone black so it looks like the battery, time etc. is just displayed on the face. Every time I look at the X, it puts me off. Thankfully you won't need to put up with it when watching videos.

As for the Apple Watch. I was with Elon Musk. I thought the 3rd Gen would be the version that would really make me want one. And while it would be nice, it's just not as advanced as I thought it would be at this point. I'll reassess next year...

 

[FinalCutJay]

iPhone 8 looks absolutely backward compared to the X, I don't know who would buy an 8 if they already have a 6 or 7. I'm sticking with my 6 Plus, does everything I want and more. The iPhone X is pretty, but Samsung's curved OLED smartphones look much, much better and fulfill the "edge to edge" promise. Apple's OLED implementation in the X is kind of sad, like they lacked the engineering and design resources to give us a true edge-to-edge display.

The fact that the iPhone 8 is not sold out speaks volumes.

I have the 6 and it absolutely is ungodly slow these days. I've already replaced the battery and the new one needs to get charged 2-3 times per day and now my screen is cracked a second time and there is no way I'm sinking even more cash into this phone.

I personally don't see one reason how I could justify spending $1,000 on an emoji phone. While the iphone 8 is barely an upgrade the X a gimmick phone.

 

[wbeasley]

so by the time you can actually get your hands on an X, it will probably only be 7 to 8 months before a XS is announced. And then the X will come down in price. The delay might not work so well for those of us looking at our 6S and going "am I really going to get $1000 value out of an upgrade?"

Having finally cleaned up all the photos/videos and freed up space on my 6S+ it has stopped stalling and now works like it did when new. Will whack iOS11 on tomorrow and see how it copes - or slows down. That might make the upgrading decision easier.

It will be interesting in a few weeks to see what the sale of the 8's are like and then what the demand for the X's is. This is either going to work out well for Apple or be a cock up. I'm sure they would have preferred to release both models at the same time. Supply chain issues have marred a few releases over the years. Having such regular release schedules puts expectations high and sometimes things just don't go to plan. What if they'd delayed the phone even a month? No doubt we will soon have the iPhone 9 rumours starting...

Marketing guess... the XS will have the INXS song "What You Need" as it's tagline!
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Getting status stuff out of the way.

fine having the status stuff there but would look better with black background. Can see a lot of wallpapers coming that will black it out...