AAPL drops in wake of broader tech selloff, claims of throttled 'iPhone 8'
Apple shares are down over $10 since Friday, reportedly part of a broader selloff of U.S. technology stocks, but also reflecting concerns over upcoming iPhones using slower cellular modems than their rivals.
Rumors that the "iPhone 8" and "iPhone 7s" won't offer gigabit downloads caused a dip in Apple shares on Friday, in turn leading the entire S&P 500 technology index to slip 2.7 percent, according to Reuters. While Apple shares managed $155 in early Friday trading, they fell later in the day and as of Monday morning were sitting at roughly $145.
Other affected technology stocks include Alphabet, Facebook, Netflix, and Microsoft, as well as Apple suppliers like Micron, Skyworks, and cellular chipmaker Qualcomm.
Bloomberg sources indicated on Friday that Intel won't have gigabit chips ready in time for this fall's iPhones, and that as a result, Apple will deliberately throttle units with Qualcomm modems. Apple has been doing similar throttling of the iPhone 7 to maintain a consistent experience across carriers.
Apple introduced Intel into its cellular supply chain last year, presumably for the sake of price competition and distancing itself from Qualcomm. The two companies are engaged in a legal war over royalties -- Apple has accused Qualcomm of withholding money, abusing its market position, and pressuring chip buyers into signing patent licenses.
Phones with gigabit downloads are already on the market, including the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the HTC U11. In practice buyers are unlikely to see those speeds anytime soon, since they require ideal conditions and a nearby cellular tower supporting LTE Advanced.
Rumors that the "iPhone 8" and "iPhone 7s" won't offer gigabit downloads caused a dip in Apple shares on Friday, in turn leading the entire S&P 500 technology index to slip 2.7 percent, according to Reuters. While Apple shares managed $155 in early Friday trading, they fell later in the day and as of Monday morning were sitting at roughly $145.
Other affected technology stocks include Alphabet, Facebook, Netflix, and Microsoft, as well as Apple suppliers like Micron, Skyworks, and cellular chipmaker Qualcomm.
Bloomberg sources indicated on Friday that Intel won't have gigabit chips ready in time for this fall's iPhones, and that as a result, Apple will deliberately throttle units with Qualcomm modems. Apple has been doing similar throttling of the iPhone 7 to maintain a consistent experience across carriers.
Apple introduced Intel into its cellular supply chain last year, presumably for the sake of price competition and distancing itself from Qualcomm. The two companies are engaged in a legal war over royalties -- Apple has accused Qualcomm of withholding money, abusing its market position, and pressuring chip buyers into signing patent licenses.
Phones with gigabit downloads are already on the market, including the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the HTC U11. In practice buyers are unlikely to see those speeds anytime soon, since they require ideal conditions and a nearby cellular tower supporting LTE Advanced.
Comments
With that out of the way I don't believe for a second that some rumor of modem speeds in a not-yet-announced iPhone model is behind the tech stock price dip. This correction was discussed and expected well before any of this was even reported. Heck, summer is coming and isn't this kinda traditional?
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/04/tech-stocks-correction.html
Nether-the-less if you read the articles that are featured on stock apps and sites there has been nothing but negativity. Investors want the stock to go up and down so they can make money. They figure it's about time for them to cash in - send the stock lower then buy it back at a cheaper price! This is their business.
True but the speeds for S8 owners will improve over time. Can iPhone 7s/8 owners make the same assumption?
Apple was "behind" in LTE too. How'd that work out?
everything else we see being done now is experimental. There's a lot of talk about this, but also a lot of misunderstanding. In fact, it's almost impossible to get the 450MHz/s that a number of cell carriers say they're delivering now. It's very rare to even see 150MHz/s. More likely, in those areas you're seeing 15-45MHz/s.
the truth is, and always will be, that unless you're right next to a tower, those speeds will be more imagination than reality.
I bought more AAPL today.
i think the market makers were looking for an Apple story to bring down the tech enthusiasm and this story is as good as any.
the biggest problem is that networks don't want to combine the channels necessary for this. Why should they? Almost nobody will notice, and almost no one needs it. Meanwhile, their costs will soar, because it decreases their bandwidth overall, giving worse performance over the entire network. I understand exactly how this works.
telstra is willing to do this in a few limited areas because much of their customer base is widely diffused, and even the high cities are small by our standards, and by standards in most places. I expect that in low population areas we may see some of this, but everywhere else, we'll be running at a fraction of what's possible, even assuming the networks will actually support all of the necessary protocols, which they won't.
http://cellularinsights.com/telstras-gigabit-class-lte-network-the-work-of-art/