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the 'whys' of why apple would want a second phone in their lineup

A

ayres

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 27, 2010
299
56
so let us imagine for a moment that apple will release two new phones later this year… the 5s and whatever you want to call this other, newer model.

in that case, it would be an insult to apple to imagine that they have only one motive for doing so. so let us count the ways why apple see's the need to expand to two phones:

-make more $$$

-simplify supply chain? and thereafter, we'd see a clearer, cleaner ending to older devices that have previously been kept in production - example: apple's probably annoyed that the ipad2 has stuck around so long.

-contractual reasons (related to number two)

-legal reasons? (a la samsung court battles) i'm not in law, so i won't pretend to understand all these injunctions.

-become more competitive against samsung in the asian markets, whose constituents like more buying options

-appeal to those buying older, less-expensive used iphones (4/4s) on second-hand market who do not want to shell out so much for the latest, brand new model.

-eliminate the legacy devices (at a faster pace): reduce number of iphones using smaller screens and 30-pin connectors (maybe apple was a bit surprised by just how many continue to use the older devices? and this is their way of giving us a swift kick in the *ss?)

obviously there are many possible reasons… and they are not all mutually exclusive. there are more that are not coming to mind at the moment. does anyone else want to chime in?
 
Excellent post :)

Covers almost everything. Let me see if I can think of any other reasons.
 
Annoyed that the iPad 2 stayed around so long?

It's 80% thinner, and has great battery life. They should be.
 
Apple has been struggling with lower margins year-over-year partly because the iPhones 4 and 4S are still selling well.

I think the new "budget" line of iPhones will allow Apple to stop selling older models sooner after a new release while maintaining higher margins on the premium device (which would cost more, have better build quality), and also maintain better margins with the budget phones (which would cost less, have lower build quality/materials) compared to margins of selling past models at lower prices.
 
sviato said:
Apple has been struggling with lower margins year-over-year partly because the iPhones 4 and 4S are still selling well.

I think the new "budget" line of iPhones will allow Apple to stop selling older models sooner after a new release while maintaining higher margins on the premium device (which would cost more, have better build quality), and also maintain better margins with the budget phones (which would cost less, have lower build quality/materials) compared to margins of selling past models at lower prices.
Click to expand...

^^^ this post makes too much sense to ignore :)

Pretty much hit the nail right on the head once you started talking about money and profit margins.
scroogemcduck.png


Whenever in doubt, simply follow the money trail...
 
sviato said:
Apple has been struggling with lower margins year-over-year partly because the iPhones 4 and 4S are still selling well.

I think the new "budget" line of iPhones will allow Apple to stop selling older models sooner after a new release while maintaining higher margins on the premium device (which would cost more, have better build quality), and also maintain better margins with the budget phones (which would cost less, have lower build quality/materials) compared to margins of selling past models at lower prices.
Click to expand...

it will be interesting to see how they price the second phone. to keep the costs down, this cheaper model will no doubt have more than just cosmetic differences... they may very likely give it the guts (read, cpu/camera, etc) of a 5 or 4s... with, of course, several trappings of the 5: screen size, lightning, etc.
 
waa1futs said:
^^^ this post makes too much sense to ignore :)

Pretty much hit the nail right on the head once you started talking about money and profit margins.

Whenever in doubt, simply follow the money trail...
Click to expand...

With SJ gone I expect investors and the board to be more anal about the company's financials. I think the budget iPhone (if it exists) is for this reason rather than market share.
 
sviato said:
With SJ gone I expect investors and the board to be more anal about the company's financials. I think the budget iPhone (if it exists) is for this reason rather than market share.
Click to expand...

Completely agree with this. Then again I remember in previous headlines that SJ had "left plans for four years". Here is a link to that article:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2394376,00.asp

I wonder though if those plans were to introduce a new "cheaper" model smartphone to compete with the ever expanding android devices, and if not what do you think his reaction of introducing a "cheaper" model be? He was of the innovative type, and a cheaper phone is not innovative.
 
Expand to two phones? Apple currently offers three phones, they want do decrease their offering to two phones.
 
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