I find it curious that certain Apple fans get all excited because revenue and profits are up due to higher prices. As a consumer why should I be excited that a company is charging more for their products?
Because profitable companies that build high quality products tend to stay in business for long periods of time. I bought my first Apple product 36 years ago and it still works. That you set yourself apart from Apple fans begs a number of questions about your motives here.
Not at all. If I buy a product from any company, I'm thinking about the use it will give me and the support I will get. If it is to keep them healthy for the next 36 years I'm getting a rough deal. For that they should throw some shares into the deal!
Apple has accumulated more than 250 billion in cash over the last decade. Most of it sits unused. I don't see the consumer getting a good deal out of that. Other companies have been wildly successful for equally long without accumulating such a cash hoard and provide equally good products and services, if not better.
I find it curious that certain Apple fans get all excited because revenue and profits are up due to higher prices. As a consumer why should I be excited that a company is charging more for their products?
Because profitable companies that build high quality products tend to stay in business for long periods of time. I bought my first Apple product 36 years ago and it still works. That you set yourself apart from Apple fans begs a number of questions about your motives here.
Not at all. If I buy a product from any company, I'm thinking about the use it will give me and the support I will get. If it is to keep them healthy for the next 36 years I'm getting a rough deal. For that they should throw some shares into the deal!
Apple has accumulated more than 250 billion in cash over the last decade. Most of it sits unused. I don't see the consumer getting a good deal out of that. Other companies have been wildly successful for equally long without accumulating such a cash hoard and provide equally good products and services, if not better.
Only in Bizzarro World do we penalize a company for saving the profit it made from delivering value to happy customers. Nicely done! Move them goalposts! The new metric for success — lack of cash!
I’ve seen some stupid troll logic on this site before, but that one is really up there.
I seem to be having patchy connections on the train.
Where is the 37% earnings growth coming from?
I'm seeing an estimated YoY growth of approx 2% in units from the graphs that load.
edit: Paragraphs aren't showing up in the post for some reason. Sorry for the wall of text.
The growth is coming primarily from increased prices. The X came in at a cool grand and Apple bumped the price of the 8 by $50 over what the 7 sold for. Average selling price is up while unit sales have been stagnant since 2015.
Services is also increasing. Apple Music has grown over the last couple of years and Apple Care is also growing as customers are required to purchase it as part of the Apple financing plan.
Time will tell where ASP tops out. Many, including myself, thought $1K was too high. Apparently Apple found enough buyers at that price to do very well even if they only sold around 40 million units of the X as opposed to the expected 80 million. It will be interesting to see the prices for the fall lineup. Will they push prices even higher with the X Plus at $1,200, or will they try to go for market share and price it at $1K with corresponding drop in the 5.8" device's price.
I seem to be having patchy connections on the train.
Where is the 37% earnings growth coming from?
I'm seeing an estimated YoY growth of approx 2% in units from the graphs that load.
edit: Paragraphs aren't showing up in the post for some reason. Sorry for the wall of text.
The growth is coming primarily from increased prices. The X came in at a cool grand and Apple bumped the price of the 8 by $50 over what the 7 sold for. Average selling price is up while unit sales have been stagnant since 2015.
Services is also increasing. Apple Music has grown over the last couple of years and Apple Care is also growing as customers are required to purchase it as part of the Apple financing plan.
Time will tell where ASP tops out. Many, including myself, thought $1K was too high. Apparently Apple found enough buyers at that price to do very well even if they only sold around 40 million units of the X as opposed to the expected 80 million. It will be interesting to see the prices for the fall lineup. Will they push prices even higher with the X Plus at $1,200, or will they try to go for market share and price it at $1K with corresponding drop in the 5.8" device's price.
Where the hell are you getting your numbers from to say iPhone sales are stagnant? They've had numerous record quarters since 2015. Likewise, where did you pull your numbers for 40 million X sales vs "expected" 80 million? I have an idea....
Meanwhile I’m watching CNBC talk about Samsung brining in disappointing numbers because the S9 is a flop. Will that make the national news? Will Samsung be labeled beleaguered? Nope. That terminology is reserved exclusively for Apple. Funny how many here said the iPhone X would flop and it was the S9 that flopped instead.
Meanwhile I’m watching CNBC talk about Samsung brining in disappointing numbers because the S9 is a flop. Will that make the national news? Will Samsung be labeled beleaguered? Nope. That terminology is reserved exclusively for Apple. Funny how many here said the iPhone X would flop and it was the S9 that flopped instead.
Well...Apple is a US company. Samesung is not. CNBC is an american media company. I sort of see the correlation.
I seem to be having patchy connections on the train.
Where is the 37% earnings growth coming from?
I'm seeing an estimated YoY growth of approx 2% in units from the graphs that load.
edit: Paragraphs aren't showing up in the post for some reason. Sorry for the wall of text.
The growth is coming primarily from increased prices. The X came in at a cool grand and Apple bumped the price of the 8 by $50 over what the 7 sold for. Average selling price is up while unit sales have been stagnant since 2015.
Services is also increasing. Apple Music has grown over the last couple of years and Apple Care is also growing as customers are required to purchase it as part of the Apple financing plan.
Time will tell where ASP tops out. Many, including myself, thought $1K was too high. Apparently Apple found enough buyers at that price to do very well even if they only sold around 40 million units of the X as opposed to the expected 80 million. It will be interesting to see the prices for the fall lineup. Will they push prices even higher with the X Plus at $1,200, or will they try to go for market share and price it at $1K with corresponding drop in the 5.8" device's price.
Most of the recent analysis suggests that Apple is cruising at around 220 million units a year indefinitely. Considering that the total Smartphone market is flat, that's not a bad trend. I expect that the Android OS market will consolidate around a very few large device makers, and then it is a zero sum game for all.
With that, I expect that FY18 iPhone X sales end up closer to 60 million units than to 40 million, and 80 million units would have been around 35% of unit sales, which would be unlikely. Most of the analysis has shown that iPhones 8, 8 Plus and X generate around 70 percent of unit sales, with Q1 and Q2 having the iPhone X as the sales leader as stated by Apple. This quarter, I expect that the iPhone 8 has taken that lead.
I find it curious that certain Apple fans get all excited because revenue and profits are up due to higher prices. As a consumer why should I be excited that a company is charging more for their products?
Because profitable companies that build high quality products tend to stay in business for long periods of time. I bought my first Apple product 36 years ago and it still works. That you set yourself apart from Apple fans begs a number of questions about your motives here. If I like the keyboard on the MacBook Pro and you hate it that makes me the fanboy and you the reasoned critic?
I didn’t say anything about high quality. I specifically talked about raising prices. I was just looking back at a headline from 2005: Apple Unveils Faster, More Affordable PowerBooks. Aside from the $329 iPad when has Apple recently announced something new that was more affordable? I guess the iPhone SE but that’s several years old now. iPad Pro line was created so Apple could raise upper end pricing of iPad. iPhone X raised the price of the top of the line iPhone to over $1,000. Touch Bar raised the price of Macs and currently if you want a new Mac without the Touch Bar you’re out of luck. A top of the line 15” MBP with Final Cut and Logic is over $7,000. Seems Apple’s MO now with slowing sales is to increase prices or find other ways to extract more money out of existing customers.
I find it curious that certain Apple fans get all excited because revenue and profits are up due to higher prices. As a consumer why should I be excited that a company is charging more for their products?
Because profitable companies that build high quality products tend to stay in business for long periods of time. I bought my first Apple product 36 years ago and it still works. That you set yourself apart from Apple fans begs a number of questions about your motives here. If I like the keyboard on the MacBook Pro and you hate it that makes me the fanboy and you the reasoned critic?
I didn’t say anything about high quality. I specifically talked about raising prices. I was just looking back at a headline from 2005: Apple Unveils Faster, More Affordable PowerBooks. Aside from the $329 iPad when has Apple recently announced something new that was more affordable? I guess the iPhone SE but that’s several years old now. iPad Pro line was created so Apple could raise upper end pricing of iPad. iPhone X raised the price of the top of the line iPhone to over $1,000. Touch Bar raised the price of Macs and currently if you want a new Mac without the Touch Bar you’re out of luck. A top of the line 15” MBP with Final Cut and Logic is over $7,000. Seems Apple’s MO now with slowing sales is to increase prices or find other ways to extract more money out of existing customers.
I'm not actually seeing the "slowing sales" as much as a "flattening" of sales, something that would be expected for mature product lines like the iPad, Mac, Mac Book Pro, and iPhone. So when Apple does diversity its product lineup to provide a wider range of performance and features, and prices accordingly, I'm not seeing a problem with customers willingly purchasing those same products.
I find it curious that certain Apple fans get all excited because revenue and profits are up due to higher prices. As a consumer why should I be excited that a company is charging more for their products?
Because profitable companies that build high quality products tend to stay in business for long periods of time. I bought my first Apple product 36 years ago and it still works. That you set yourself apart from Apple fans begs a number of questions about your motives here.
Not at all. If I buy a product from any company, I'm thinking about the use it will give me and the support I will get. If it is to keep them healthy for the next 36 years I'm getting a rough deal. For that they should throw some shares into the deal!
Apple has accumulated more than 250 billion in cash over the last decade. Most of it sits unused. I don't see the consumer getting a good deal out of that. Other companies have been wildly successful for equally long without accumulating such a cash hoard and provide equally good products and services, if not better.
So you admit you do not own any Apple products because of your personal criteria for purchasing a product. Thanks. Now we know why you are here.
There are periods when Apple has offered a pretty good price/value mix. That's when I'm in. At this moment I'm out.
Last Mac was 2011. I came up for upgrade in 2016. What we got IMO was obscenely overpriced and the design didn't meet my expectations, so I have skipped everything since then. The (upgraded) MBP and Air are doing fine. There is no rush.
I find it curious that certain Apple fans get all excited because revenue and profits are up due to higher prices. As a consumer why should I be excited that a company is charging more for their products?
Because profitable companies that build high quality products tend to stay in business for long periods of time. I bought my first Apple product 36 years ago and it still works. That you set yourself apart from Apple fans begs a number of questions about your motives here.
Not at all. If I buy a product from any company, I'm thinking about the use it will give me and the support I will get. If it is to keep them healthy for the next 36 years I'm getting a rough deal. For that they should throw some shares into the deal!
Apple has accumulated more than 250 billion in cash over the last decade. Most of it sits unused. I don't see the consumer getting a good deal out of that. Other companies have been wildly successful for equally long without accumulating such a cash hoard and provide equally good products and services, if not better.
Only in Bizzarro World do we penalize a company for saving the profit it made from delivering value to happy customers. Nicely done! Move them goalposts! The new metric for success — lack of cash!
I’ve seen some stupid troll logic on this site before, but that one is really up there.
No. Profit is NOT the issue but you knew already didn't you?
So what is the issue?
Just read my post. It is crystal clear. BTW, I was rounding the numbers out. The current cash pile is closer to 280 billion dollars.
I find it curious that certain Apple fans get all excited because revenue and profits are up due to higher prices. As a consumer why should I be excited that a company is charging more for their products?
Because profitable companies that build high quality products tend to stay in business for long periods of time. I bought my first Apple product 36 years ago and it still works. That you set yourself apart from Apple fans begs a number of questions about your motives here. If I like the keyboard on the MacBook Pro and you hate it that makes me the fanboy and you the reasoned critic?
I didn’t say anything about high quality. I specifically talked about raising prices. I was just looking back at a headline from 2005: Apple Unveils Faster, More Affordable PowerBooks. Aside from the $329 iPad when has Apple recently announced something new that was more affordable? I guess the iPhone SE but that’s several years old now. iPad Pro line was created so Apple could raise upper end pricing of iPad. iPhone X raised the price of the top of the line iPhone to over $1,000. Touch Bar raised the price of Macs and currently if you want a new Mac without the Touch Bar you’re out of luck. A top of the line 15” MBP with Final Cut and Logic is over $7,000. Seems Apple’s MO now with slowing sales is to increase prices or find other ways to extract more money out of existing customers.
I'm not actually seeing the "slowing sales" as much as a "flattening" of sales, something that would be expected for mature product lines like the iPad, Mac, Mac Book Pro, and iPhone. So when Apple does diversity its product lineup to provide a wider range of performance and features, and prices accordingly, I'm not seeing a problem with customers willingly purchasing those same products.
Flattening sales is a result of slowing sales.
The products may well be mature but the PC market (Mac/PC), smartphone market (iOS/Android) and tablet market (iOS/Android) are huge and Apple has huge room to grow in that space. They haven't, hence the slowing sales growth or flat sales.
Yes, Apple has widened its product spread in some areas and opened up price ranges. As a result of slowing/flattening sales. A wise decision even though some here said Apple would never do that.
I find it curious that certain Apple fans get all excited because revenue and profits are up due to higher prices. As a consumer why should I be excited that a company is charging more for their products?
Because profitable companies that build high quality products tend to stay in business for long periods of time. I bought my first Apple product 36 years ago and it still works. That you set yourself apart from Apple fans begs a number of questions about your motives here. If I like the keyboard on the MacBook Pro and you hate it that makes me the fanboy and you the reasoned critic?
I didn’t say anything about high quality. I specifically talked about raising prices. I was just looking back at a headline from 2005: Apple Unveils Faster, More Affordable PowerBooks. Aside from the $329 iPad when has Apple recently announced something new that was more affordable? I guess the iPhone SE but that’s several years old now. iPad Pro line was created so Apple could raise upper end pricing of iPad. iPhone X raised the price of the top of the line iPhone to over $1,000. Touch Bar raised the price of Macs and currently if you want a new Mac without the Touch Bar you’re out of luck. A top of the line 15” MBP with Final Cut and Logic is over $7,000. Seems Apple’s MO now with slowing sales is to increase prices or find other ways to extract more money out of existing customers.
I'm not actually seeing the "slowing sales" as much as a "flattening" of sales, something that would be expected for mature product lines like the iPad, Mac, Mac Book Pro, and iPhone. So when Apple does diversity its product lineup to provide a wider range of performance and features, and prices accordingly, I'm not seeing a problem with customers willingly purchasing those same products.
You call it diversity I call it finding ways to increase prices and raise average selling prices. I’d be curious to know what percentage of the 2018 MBP buying public wants the touch bar. They don’t have a choice but to pay for it as that’s all Apple offers.
I find it curious that certain Apple fans get all excited because revenue and profits are up due to higher prices. As a consumer why should I be excited that a company is charging more for their products?
Because profitable companies that build high quality products tend to stay in business for long periods of time. I bought my first Apple product 36 years ago and it still works. That you set yourself apart from Apple fans begs a number of questions about your motives here. If I like the keyboard on the MacBook Pro and you hate it that makes me the fanboy and you the reasoned critic?
I didn’t say anything about high quality. I specifically talked about raising prices. I was just looking back at a headline from 2005: Apple Unveils Faster, More Affordable PowerBooks. Aside from the $329 iPad when has Apple recently announced something new that was more affordable? I guess the iPhone SE but that’s several years old now. iPad Pro line was created so Apple could raise upper end pricing of iPad. iPhone X raised the price of the top of the line iPhone to over $1,000. Touch Bar raised the price of Macs and currently if you want a new Mac without the Touch Bar you’re out of luck. A top of the line 15” MBP with Final Cut and Logic is over $7,000. Seems Apple’s MO now with slowing sales is to increase prices or find other ways to extract more money out of existing customers.
I'm not actually seeing the "slowing sales" as much as a "flattening" of sales, something that would be expected for mature product lines like the iPad, Mac, Mac Book Pro, and iPhone. So when Apple does diversity its product lineup to provide a wider range of performance and features, and prices accordingly, I'm not seeing a problem with customers willingly purchasing those same products.
Flattening sales is a result of slowing sales.
The products may well be mature but the PC market (Mac/PC), smartphone market (iOS/Android) and tablet market (iOS/Android) are huge and Apple has huge room to grow in that space. They haven't, hence the slowing sales growth or flat sales.
Yes, Apple has widened its product spread in some areas and opened up price ranges. As a result of slowing/flattening sales. A wise decision even though some here said Apple would never do that.
They’ve widened it at the upper end with new, more expensive products. At the low end it’s mostly keeping around older products at a reduced price. In some ways it really clutters up (iPhone) and/or makes the product line more confusing (Mac laptops).
I find it curious that certain Apple fans get all excited because revenue and profits are up due to higher prices. As a consumer why should I be excited that a company is charging more for their products?
Because profitable companies that build high quality products tend to stay in business for long periods of time. I bought my first Apple product 36 years ago and it still works. That you set yourself apart from Apple fans begs a number of questions about your motives here. If I like the keyboard on the MacBook Pro and you hate it that makes me the fanboy and you the reasoned critic?
I didn’t say anything about high quality. I specifically talked about raising prices. I was just looking back at a headline from 2005: Apple Unveils Faster, More Affordable PowerBooks. Aside from the $329 iPad when has Apple recently announced something new that was more affordable? I guess the iPhone SE but that’s several years old now. iPad Pro line was created so Apple could raise upper end pricing of iPad. iPhone X raised the price of the top of the line iPhone to over $1,000. Touch Bar raised the price of Macs and currently if you want a new Mac without the Touch Bar you’re out of luck. A top of the line 15” MBP with Final Cut and Logic is over $7,000. Seems Apple’s MO now with slowing sales is to increase prices or find other ways to extract more money out of existing customers.
I'm not actually seeing the "slowing sales" as much as a "flattening" of sales, something that would be expected for mature product lines like the iPad, Mac, Mac Book Pro, and iPhone. So when Apple does diversity its product lineup to provide a wider range of performance and features, and prices accordingly, I'm not seeing a problem with customers willingly purchasing those same products.
Flattening sales is a result of slowing sales.
The products may well be mature but the PC market (Mac/PC), smartphone market (iOS/Android) and tablet market (iOS/Android) are huge and Apple has huge room to grow in that space. They haven't, hence the slowing sales growth or flat sales.
Yes, Apple has widened its product spread in some areas and opened up price ranges. As a result of slowing/flattening sales. A wise decision even though some here said Apple would never do that.
Uhm, 70% to 75% of 2018 sales will be just the X, 8, and 8 Plus, and the average ASP will likely be something like $725. That Apple has a device at $349, the SE, is recent, but note that it isn't a great seller. In fact, the iPhone 6 continues to be the best seller in the lower range, suggesting that carriers sell it discounted to attract new customers from other carriers.
I don't disagree that all of those markets are "huge", but at the same time, they are all mature, slowing growth, hence why I stated a "zero sum" game for participants as far as units. Apple always has the option of lowering prices, but so far, they seems satisfied with the growth of their iPhone user base, and the "flattened sales" at about 220 million units a year.
I find it curious that certain Apple fans get all excited because revenue and profits are up due to higher prices. As a consumer why should I be excited that a company is charging more for their products?
Because profitable companies that build high quality products tend to stay in business for long periods of time. I bought my first Apple product 36 years ago and it still works. That you set yourself apart from Apple fans begs a number of questions about your motives here. If I like the keyboard on the MacBook Pro and you hate it that makes me the fanboy and you the reasoned critic?
I didn’t say anything about high quality. I specifically talked about raising prices. I was just looking back at a headline from 2005: Apple Unveils Faster, More Affordable PowerBooks. Aside from the $329 iPad when has Apple recently announced something new that was more affordable? I guess the iPhone SE but that’s several years old now. iPad Pro line was created so Apple could raise upper end pricing of iPad. iPhone X raised the price of the top of the line iPhone to over $1,000. Touch Bar raised the price of Macs and currently if you want a new Mac without the Touch Bar you’re out of luck. A top of the line 15” MBP with Final Cut and Logic is over $7,000. Seems Apple’s MO now with slowing sales is to increase prices or find other ways to extract more money out of existing customers.
You are right.
If people see value in the products resulting from that strategy, that is their decision.
Personally, I see no value in having $300 added to the price of a 15" MBP for a TouchBar if I don't want one. I see no value in a machine that has the top case, battery and keyboard requiring swapping out if one of those elements fails. I see no value in having to BTO everything I need into a machine at purchase time and only having upgrade options from Apple. And on top of that I find the MBPs ridiculously overpriced.
Apple is squeezing all it can out of the top end and not offering the value I need. At the other end it is selling very old hardware so again value is lost. The cheapest new generation 15" MBP I can buy is 2,799€. Something is wrong.
It was right to try that avenue of opening the product spread and prices but if people don't buy into that idea, things will have to change.
I find it curious that certain Apple fans get all excited because revenue and profits are up due to higher prices. As a consumer why should I be excited that a company is charging more for their products?
Because profitable companies that build high quality products tend to stay in business for long periods of time. I bought my first Apple product 36 years ago and it still works. That you set yourself apart from Apple fans begs a number of questions about your motives here. If I like the keyboard on the MacBook Pro and you hate it that makes me the fanboy and you the reasoned critic?
I didn’t say anything about high quality. I specifically talked about raising prices. I was just looking back at a headline from 2005: Apple Unveils Faster, More Affordable PowerBooks. Aside from the $329 iPad when has Apple recently announced something new that was more affordable? I guess the iPhone SE but that’s several years old now. iPad Pro line was created so Apple could raise upper end pricing of iPad. iPhone X raised the price of the top of the line iPhone to over $1,000. Touch Bar raised the price of Macs and currently if you want a new Mac without the Touch Bar you’re out of luck. A top of the line 15” MBP with Final Cut and Logic is over $7,000. Seems Apple’s MO now with slowing sales is to increase prices or find other ways to extract more money out of existing customers.
You are right.
If people see value in the products resulting from that strategy, that is their decision.
Personally, I see no value in having $300 added to the price of a 15" MBP for a TouchBar if I don't want one. I see no value in a machine that has the top case, battery and keyboard requiring swapping out if one of those elements fails. I see no value in having to BTO everything I need into a machine and only having upgrade options from Apple. And in top of that I find the MBPs ridiculously overpriced.
Apple is squeezing all it can out of the top end and not offering the value I need. At the other end it is selling very old hardware so again value is lost. The cheapest new generation 15" MBP I can buy is 2,799€. Something is wrong.
It was right to try that avenue of opening the product spread and prices but if people don't buy into that idea, things will have to change.
Why do things have to change? Apple is doing quite well with it's current MBP models, the customers, for the most part, do in fact "buy into the idea", and whatever awaits the Mac Mini, or Mac Pro won't happen until next year. There is a vocal minority clamoring for the ESC key, so maybe Apple will compromise with a shorter Touch Bar with a dedicated ESC key in the future,
Apple surely knows its customers, and they aren't going to build MBP's for the outliers. In your case, you are already half out of the Apple ecosystem anyway, and most of your Apple gear is deprecated. The Huawei Mate X Pro that you were so effusive about awaits your purchase, and I'm sure you could find a suitable Huawei Tablet so you can be all Huawei that you can be!
I find it curious that certain Apple fans get all excited because revenue and profits are up due to higher prices. As a consumer why should I be excited that a company is charging more for their products?
Because profitable companies that build high quality products tend to stay in business for long periods of time. I bought my first Apple product 36 years ago and it still works. That you set yourself apart from Apple fans begs a number of questions about your motives here.
Not at all. If I buy a product from any company, I'm thinking about the use it will give me and the support I will get. If it is to keep them healthy for the next 36 years I'm getting a rough deal. For that they should throw some shares into the deal!
Apple has accumulated more than 250 billion in cash over the last decade. Most of it sits unused. I don't see the consumer getting a good deal out of that. Other companies have been wildly successful for equally long without accumulating such a cash hoard and provide equally good products and services, if not better.
Only in Bizzarro World do we penalize a company for saving the profit it made from delivering value to happy customers. Nicely done! Move them goalposts! The new metric for success — lack of cash!
I’ve seen some stupid troll logic on this site before, but that one is really up there.
No. Profit is NOT the issue but you knew already didn't you?
So what is the issue?
Just read my post. It is crystal clear. BTW, I was rounding the numbers out. The current cash pile is closer to 280 billion dollars.
Apple already has plans to decrease that to net cash flow within five years.
You know what's really cool?
Within a few years, there will be another recession, it's overdue, and Apple will still have $150 to $200 billion cash, and will be able to buy up a shit ton of small IP companies on the cheap, all the while expanding its R&D expenses to create the next generations of products.
I find it curious that certain Apple fans get all excited because revenue and profits are up due to higher prices. As a consumer why should I be excited that a company is charging more for their products?
Because profitable companies that build high quality products tend to stay in business for long periods of time. I bought my first Apple product 36 years ago and it still works. That you set yourself apart from Apple fans begs a number of questions about your motives here. If I like the keyboard on the MacBook Pro and you hate it that makes me the fanboy and you the reasoned critic?
I didn’t say anything about high quality. I specifically talked about raising prices. I was just looking back at a headline from 2005: Apple Unveils Faster, More Affordable PowerBooks. Aside from the $329 iPad when has Apple recently announced something new that was more affordable? I guess the iPhone SE but that’s several years old now. iPad Pro line was created so Apple could raise upper end pricing of iPad. iPhone X raised the price of the top of the line iPhone to over $1,000. Touch Bar raised the price of Macs and currently if you want a new Mac without the Touch Bar you’re out of luck. A top of the line 15” MBP with Final Cut and Logic is over $7,000. Seems Apple’s MO now with slowing sales is to increase prices or find other ways to extract more money out of existing customers.
I'm not actually seeing the "slowing sales" as much as a "flattening" of sales, something that would be expected for mature product lines like the iPad, Mac, Mac Book Pro, and iPhone. So when Apple does diversity its product lineup to provide a wider range of performance and features, and prices accordingly, I'm not seeing a problem with customers willingly purchasing those same products.
Flattening sales is a result of slowing sales.
The products may well be mature but the PC market (Mac/PC), smartphone market (iOS/Android) and tablet market (iOS/Android) are huge and Apple has huge room to grow in that space. They haven't, hence the slowing sales growth or flat sales.
Yes, Apple has widened its product spread in some areas and opened up price ranges. As a result of slowing/flattening sales. A wise decision even though some here said Apple would never do that.
Comments
Clueless.
I’ve seen some stupid troll logic on this site before, but that one is really up there.
Where the hell are you getting your numbers from to say iPhone sales are stagnant? They've had numerous record quarters since 2015. Likewise, where did you pull your numbers for 40 million X sales vs "expected" 80 million? I have an idea....
With that, I expect that FY18 iPhone X sales end up closer to 60 million units than to 40 million, and 80 million units would have been around 35% of unit sales, which would be unlikely. Most of the analysis has shown that iPhones 8, 8 Plus and X generate around 70 percent of unit sales, with Q1 and Q2 having the iPhone X as the sales leader as stated by Apple. This quarter, I expect that the iPhone 8 has taken that lead.
Last Mac was 2011. I came up for upgrade in 2016. What we got IMO was obscenely overpriced and the design didn't meet my expectations, so I have skipped everything since then. The (upgraded) MBP and Air are doing fine. There is no rush.
So what is the issue?
Just read my post. It is crystal clear. BTW, I was rounding the numbers out. The current cash pile is closer to 280 billion dollars.
The products may well be mature but the PC market (Mac/PC), smartphone market (iOS/Android) and tablet market (iOS/Android) are huge and Apple has huge room to grow in that space. They haven't, hence the slowing sales growth or flat sales.
Yes, Apple has widened its product spread in some areas and opened up price ranges. As a result of slowing/flattening sales. A wise decision even though some here said Apple would never do that.
I don't disagree that all of those markets are "huge", but at the same time, they are all mature, slowing growth, hence why I stated a "zero sum" game for participants as far as units. Apple always has the option of lowering prices, but so far, they seems satisfied with the growth of their iPhone user base, and the "flattened sales" at about 220 million units a year.
If people see value in the products resulting from that strategy, that is their decision.
Personally, I see no value in having $300 added to the price of a 15" MBP for a TouchBar if I don't want one. I see no value in a machine that has the top case, battery and keyboard requiring swapping out if one of those elements fails. I see no value in having to BTO everything I need into a machine at purchase time and only having upgrade options from Apple. And on top of that I find the MBPs ridiculously overpriced.
Apple is squeezing all it can out of the top end and not offering the value I need. At the other end it is selling very old hardware so again value is lost. The cheapest new generation 15" MBP I can buy is 2,799€. Something is wrong.
It was right to try that avenue of opening the product spread and prices but if people don't buy into that idea, things will have to change.
Apple surely knows its customers, and they aren't going to build MBP's for the outliers. In your case, you are already half out of the Apple ecosystem anyway, and most of your Apple gear is deprecated. The Huawei Mate X Pro that you were so effusive about awaits your purchase, and I'm sure you could find a suitable Huawei Tablet so you can be all Huawei that you can be!
You know what's really cool?
Within a few years, there will be another recession, it's overdue, and Apple will still have $150 to $200 billion cash, and will be able to buy up a shit ton of small IP companies on the cheap, all the while expanding its R&D expenses to create the next generations of products.
Here's a story you will like;
http://appleinsider.com/articles/18/07/31/apple-maintains-sales-volume-in-plummeting-chinese-smartphone-market
So your fave Huawei is gobbling up share in China, all this in a "plummeting" market, and Apple's sales have flattened.
Betcha that Huawei has some major acquisition costs associated with that marketshare grab, but who cares, right?