Your words in Tim’s ears, but I believe this won’t happen. Glad to be wrong if it does.
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Kuo: Apple Watch Series 4 Pre-Orders Above Expectations, iPhone XS Seeing Lackluster Demand
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It has nothing to do with how you feel. There’s no evidence people want smaller phones—not iPhones and not Android. Not at any price. If people wanted them, they’d be on the market. On the contrary, the evidence shows customers want larger phones.
A smaller XR wouldn’t necessarily be cheaper for Apple to make than the current XR. The XR will sell upwards of 100 million units which provides for great economies of scale and therefore lower pricing. A small phone might only sell 5 or 10 million, and need to be priced higher than an XR as a result for it to be a viable product for Apple. Maybe $849 as an LCD or $1,149 as an OLED. Which of course would further depress sales.
I have a series 0. I can think of lots of reasons to switch to an S4.
- Bigger screen allowing more information with less scrolling and more complications on the watch faces
- fast enough to actually run third party apps
- can run ios5
- resting heart rate and heart rate alerts (which can’t be done on s0)
- new heart functions
- lte option
- waterproof and swim activities
None of this stuff exists on s0.
Your “evidence” is based on what? The fact Apple or others are not making them? The SE did sell very well and there were strong rumours last year of an SE2. Alas, Apple decided they won’t offer a true lower priced device that would cannibalize their more premium phones price strategy. Less margin on a $400 device than $1K+ . It’s not because there isn’t a market for it, but we’ll never know if they won’t try.
I originally selected the Xs when I went online last Friday night. But the Xs is $1000 for a 64 Gb and the Xs Max is 1100 for the same memory configuration. Not enough price difference while there IS quite a screen difference. Had the XR been available I would have ordered that, but my iPhone 6 is failing and I didn't want to repair that phone so it would last long enough to get the XR. So I went with the larger phone.
What evidence? I’d pay a grand for a smaller iPhone if it had flagship specs. That has never been offered by Apple or any android vendor. It’s more likely that Apple and their copycats aren’t capable of developing what people want.
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True, but I suspect they meant over version 3. They are wrong, for most of the reasons you and others already gave. You should upgrade. I have a 3, and while I love it, I am working on replacing it.
Yes, the fact that no one makes them indicates demand is insufficient. Hard numbers are difficult to come by, but SE installed base is around 5% the last I saw. Not unlike the 17” MacBook Pro, not enough people want what you want. It’s not as if Apple doesn’t sell cheaper phones, the iPhone 7 is 449 and the 8 is $599.
The only thing I have personally is evidence. I see it constantly said on this forum (hell even this thread), on Reddit, on comments sections of other Apple/Tech sites. I personally know lots of people who want such a device. You are simply wrong that there isn't a desire for such a phone.
You are so wrong with how many smaller iPhone's they would potentially sell.
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Shocker considering the screen was 4" and had bezels. Update it to look modern and you'll be surprised what changes.
A few hundred SE fanatics don’t make a business for Apple. Not even 10 million.
It will be quite interesting to see how the iPhone product mix will shake out when all models are available. There were rumours that the XS Max would cost the same as the X last year, and I can‘t help but be slightly disappointed that instead of that they raised the starting price of the „best“ iPhone another 100 $. I would guess that the XR will be the best seller by far this year, although if I was in the market for a new phone I would still get the XS as I like the compactness combined with high-end specs.
Oh, you have data to back that up ? And by Data I mean REAL data, not just "me and my friends".
I know I use mine headphones everyday and the lack of a headphone socket is a deal breaker for me. I have accidentally left my headphones at the hotel room or at home and have bought a cheap pair to last me that day for $5, I have an extra pair of cheepies in my travel bags now.
The iPhones ar full of technologies that "most" people do not use, but pay for anyway, eg 4K video editing
There are a lot of things I dislike about big companies. They tend to develop a 'My way or the highway' mentality, they change things just to change them, they don't change things that need to be improved. The thing is, there are LOTS of cell phone makers ranging from very small to medium size to very large. If there was good money to be made ONE of them would at least try a premium small phone. None of them have. One thing all of these companies have in common is that they study trends and collect data on what people actually DO vs what they say they want. It's usually not exactly the same thing. Companies get it wrong sometimes. But usually when they do some smaller hungrier company steps into that void and surprises analysts by outselling the big competitors. I think the reason that hasn't happened with premium small phones is because that demand really isn't there. And with peripherals like the Apple Watch, you can get even smaller than a phone, not lose all that much, and still have a big screen when you want/need it. Yes there is a small dedicated group who want a SE sized phone, there just isn't enough of you for Apple or Sony or Google to want to retool and shrink both phone and price to satisfy the smaller number of people who want the same thing you do.
Even if your 5% was true (provide a link), by your rationale that would mean Apple should stop making Macs, since revenue share is now well into single digits.
5% of 1 billion devices is still a huge number of people.
As an iPhone X user there is no way I could see value in the XS. Only if I desired a larger device would I have upgraded to the XS max but as I don’t there was nothing for me to see. I would think a lot of the target market for the iPhone XS will already have an iPhone X so are in a similar boat. On the other hand the AW 4 was an easy sell for me, seems like a real improvement over my AW 2.
However my wife who uses an iPhone 7 Plus wil likely get an XR. I think the XR hits a nice sweet spot, particularly for those who having the latest tech is not a financial priority.
However my wife who uses an iPhone 7 Plus wil likely get an XR. I think the XR hits a nice sweet spot, particularly for those who having the latest tech is not a financial priority.
I have the iPhone 5, so the XS should be a big improvement
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I don’t have the X
Apple has never worried about cannibalizing it’s own products. If there was demand, it would be filled.
Yes, you’re right.
But let’s ts reserve judgement on any phone until the sales data is out. The XS Max will drive a lot of people wanting the big screen iPhone. I want it and I have an X.
I agree. I went from x To max, but otherwise I would have held off this year. Also went from s0 to s4 AW.
Huge factor people are missing. The XS is an upgrade for MANY other users that aren’t X owners. It’s a huge upgrade for anyone without an X essentially.
Of course I don’t have real data, but considering the sales of airpods, the fact that we’ve had adapters in the box for awhile and by now most of the user base already has them, and the fact that Apple isn’t worried about leaving it out and hurting sales, it seems the safe bet as per Occam.
I agree. The XS Max will have people buying it because of the larger screen. I see lackluster sales on the XS though. People will get a better deal on the X right now and see little reason to go for the XS.
Trust me, I want Apple to sell tons of everything, because that raises the value of my Apple shares, but realistically, I just don’t see the XS selling very well.
I love how random people on forums know better than Apple. Because Reddit! Good lord. Whatever a handful of people write on geeky tech forums does NOT remotely reflect the wishes of the average consumer. I can't believe that even needs to be said.
Apple used to make smaller phones. Android device makers introduced larger phones. And they sold. Apple held out for years before slowly increasing the screen size. And guess what? The sky didn't fall. They sold MORE phones. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever suggesting the average consumer want a smaller phone. None. Zip. Zero. There might very well be a small percentage of consumers who do, but their numbers aren't large enough for Apple, or anyone else, to care these days. Sorry, but that's reality.