Interesting news - big if true.
But OK, I’ll bite.
Maybe Apple should call it the magical iPhone X, because it simultaneously had poor enough sales to justify Apple killing it off after just one year, and pushed pre-Christmas sales to a five-year high, with the ABS attributing it to the iPhone X.
(Also, choose better sources than news.com.au.)
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Meh. Usual crap reporting.
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The original source:
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has weighed in on iPhone X production rumors, also believing that there has been a reduction in orders —and because of weak demand the iPhone X design may be a one-up with production ceasing in the summer when replacements for the fall are being produced.
A bit different to the sensationalised headlines. But I suppose a possibility.
If its had poor sales (and I dont believe that for a moment) that has nothing to do with why they are killing it off (and I dont believe that, either).
They could look at their pricing. They dont need to put such a premium on their devices. They just want to.
I have believed for some time that X phones are being outsold by the 8 and 8+ iPhones and I mentioned this some months back (and got shouted down).
But killing it off? You’re right, that’s not directly sales related. IMO the X was a first attempt at new technology and was never intended to become mainstream (and it hasn’t).
Instead I reckon we’ll see some of the X technology (the bits Apple think worked best and were most popular) in a strongly revised iPhone 9 and 9+ (or whatever they call it).
Certainly as a user, the X is a dream. I’d never go back to the chin/forehead design of iPhone. It just feels like a dinosaur to me now when I pick up my wife’s 8. However it ends up playing out, the future is full screen.
I’m sure it is and Apple will work to reduce the notch in a next generation full screen phone I’m sure, they’ll probably persist with face recognition as well although I did read about new fingerprint recognition in display technology that’s recently become available so we might (or might not) see that.
My guess (and that’s all it is) is that the iPhone 9 will look a lot like the X does (but with a smaller notch) and they’ll keep the 8 around as a budget alternative (like they’ve done in the past).
Like this further rumour:
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That doesn’t seem far off what I was envisioning to be honest.
Shotgun approach?
Let’s bring out various new designs and see which ones stick?
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My ideal would be an SE with the appearance of an X. Dump the chin and forehead by all means, take the screen to the edges… but this 6" and 5.8" is just ridiculous for those of us with smaller hands. Awful. I can only just manage my 6S and I still dont really like it much. Too BIG.
I was more thinking public beta testing than shotgun marketing but… possibly both of those things.
It’s a pretty expensive way to run a business… thinking of the amount of money needed to bring a new model of iPhone to market… Presumably Apple must believe in the potential of the tech involved. The early evidence that the face tech could be fooled by non-identical siblings however suggests the implementation needs work - which considering the importance Apple has been placing on security, is kind of surprising.
Given the wide range of phones that Apple are offering as current devices however, I don’t see it in the least surprising that the X has “under performed”. If it was 1 of 3 possible choices for 2017/8, that would doubtless have pushed up sales. But to have so many older models also available, smacks of lack of confidence. Also, if Apple had retired the earlier models, forcing people to the new ones, presumably the increase in demand could have seen a reduction in their pricing.
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To me, the current strategy seems to be to offer phones at a range of price points to increase total sales. Not everyone can afford, or even wants, the flagship phone.
The iPhone X is the first to be released in parallel with two other new phones (8 and 8 plus). Given Apple could not source sufficient OLED screens, they took the X up to s more expensive price point, limiting potential sales. It has served as a test bed for a swag of new technologies. Who knows how many Apple expected to sell?
Hopefully this will lead to a new, better product later this year that incorporates all they have learnt from the X. They did the same with the first iPad leading to the iPad 2, many of which still live on providing great service.
Why all this sudden articles about doom for Apple?
Oh, yes, quarterly results get released on 1 Feb.
stock manipulation pure and simple. Buy when price falls, sell as price rises as feb q1 approaches, short for the inevitable fall in price after the announcement as profit takers sell out.
It will be the top selling phone. Yet it is doomed.
It’s just a special anniversary edition but Apple couldn’t call it that because it already has an SE.
Having said that we recently bought an 8 because we couldn’t stretch any further to an X.
It is pretty hard to justify the X over the 8 on a purely functional, performance basis but people see the X as a status symbol or they must have the latest and greatest. Most X phones are bought out of emotion not logic I suspect (higher disposable income earners excepted).
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They do seem to have all the cash in the world. Like, literally. All of it.
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Yeah I don’t buy that, but probably because I bought an X.
I don’t give two shits what people think of me, or even one shit. I just want good tech, and since having the X I can attest it is good tech. I can afford it. That’s all there is to it.
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This has zero to do with Apple or the iPhone. This has everything to do with newspapers losing money both in print and online and needing click-bait headlines to survive. It has gotten to the point that even supposedly “respectable” magazines, like Forbes, has turned into something barely resembling a tabloid.
Apple is, to news services, a means to earn money and generate clicks. In the past it was “Apple is dying”, and now they are grasping at straws.
The article itself isn’t even worthy of discussion. As soon as Apple’s quarterly results come out, the story will evaporate.
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