Supply chain scuttlebutt stokes fears that Apple's $999 iPhone X price is too high

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 40
    trumptman said:
    Well I live in Southern California and one of my concerns is I don't have a single person I've encountered who has the iPhone X. I've only noticed it out and about in the wild 3-4 times in the hands of others. There are still mountains of iPhones out here but not the X. I also personally returned my own iPhone X because reachability it a mess.

    I also think there is truth to the pricing concerns. People focus on the pricing of the X but prices have risen overall. The highest end iPhone with every advanced feature available used to be $650. A storage upgrade put that at $750. The "low end" new iPhone now is $700. A storage upgrade puts that at $850. Since it doesn't have many of the tentpole features to drive sale since those are reserved for the X, you have to spend $1000 or $1150 respectively. That is a massive price increase no matter how people want to defend it.

    For now I'm happy with my iPhone 7. That doesn't mean Apple is dying but if enough people decide their phone is good enough then we don't have the supercycle that justifies the stock price.
    I was at Disneyland the Sunday after launch (November 5) and saw 3.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 22 of 40
    if they release a plus version without the stupid cut out and with a 'normal' screen ratio for a resonable price, and of course if they stop screwing owners of older devices, they might sell. I see the X as a trial device to test the waters and see how it will be received by consumers.  

  • Reply 23 of 40
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    lkrupp said:
    When is the last time (if ever) that Apple missed its own forward looking guidance?
    They haven’t guided for the next Q yet. 
  • Reply 24 of 40
    Even the AppleInsider is calling out the nonsense in this article, it does play in the games throughout the without calling out the historical nonsense. Maybe AppleInsider could be much proactive in 2018 to not push the nonsense which calling out the analysts and bloggers who have been consistently found to push false news every quarter. 
    Ignoring the nonsense is not the answer, calling out the nonsense (especially that coming from a previously unheard of firm) is the only way to negate it. I just wish more blogs would do so, and much more forcibly. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 25 of 40
    trumptman said:
    Well I live in Southern California and one of my concerns is I don't have a single person I've encountered who has the iPhone X. I've only noticed it out and about in the wild 3-4 times in the hands of others. There are still mountains of iPhones out here but not the X. I also personally returned my own iPhone X because reachability it a mess.

    I also think there is truth to the pricing concerns. People focus on the pricing of the X but prices have risen overall. The highest end iPhone with every advanced feature available used to be $650. A storage upgrade put that at $750. The "low end" new iPhone now is $700. A storage upgrade puts that at $850. Since it doesn't have many of the tentpole features to drive sale since those are reserved for the X, you have to spend $1000 or $1150 respectively. That is a massive price increase no matter how people want to defend it.

    For now I'm happy with my iPhone 7. That doesn't mean Apple is dying but if enough people decide their phone is good enough then we don't have the supercycle that justifies the stock price.
    This is nonsense -- Apple has a full line of iPhones, if you can't or are unwilling to spend for the top-tier models, get a mid or low-tier. SE is $349. 

    https://www.apple.com/iphone/
    SolichiaSpamSandwichwatto_cobra
  • Reply 26 of 40
    johnbear said:
    if they release a plus version without the stupid cut out and with a 'normal' screen ratio for a resonable price, and of course if they stop screwing owners of older devices, they might sell. I see the X as a trial device to test the waters and see how it will be received by consumers.  
    Hmm how do you mean, stop screwing owners of older devices? Do you mean stop preventing peak power draw on expired batteries that couldn't handle it and shut down, thus extending their life spans? iPhones have longest useful life span in the market, and the highest re-sale values. This is fact, and contradictory to your claim that people are being screwed.
    chiaRonnnieObadmonkpscooter63watto_cobrabrucemc
  • Reply 27 of 40

    lkrupp said:
    When is the last time (if ever) that Apple missed its own forward looking guidance?
    In the last 10 years only once. Can’t tell you when because I’m in bed relazing after a hectic weekend. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 28 of 40

    trumptman said:
    Well I live in Southern California and one of my concerns is I don't have a single person I've encountered who has the iPhone X. I've only noticed it out and about in the wild 3-4 times in the hands of others. There are still mountains of iPhones out here but not the X. I also personally returned my own iPhone X because reachability it a mess.

    I also think there is truth to the pricing concerns. People focus on the pricing of the X but prices have risen overall. The highest end iPhone with every advanced feature available used to be $650. A storage upgrade put that at $750. The "low end" new iPhone now is $700. A storage upgrade puts that at $850. Since it doesn't have many of the tentpole features to drive sale since those are reserved for the X, you have to spend $1000 or $1150 respectively. That is a massive price increase no matter how people want to defend it.

    For now I'm happy with my iPhone 7. That doesn't mean Apple is dying but if enough people decide their phone is good enough then we don't have the supercycle that justifies the stock price.
    Well I lived in So Cal for 35 years before moving to Spokane Washington. Metro Spokane’s population is about 800K in the NE corner of the State (and also Washington’s second largest city), and I’ve seen several iPhone ads. You must live in a poor part of Southern California. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 29 of 40
    Whoops, spell check didn’t like iPhone “X”. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 30 of 40
    asdasd said:
    lkrupp said:
    When is the last time (if ever) that Apple missed its own forward looking guidance?
    They haven’t guided for the next Q yet. 
    So a fictitious number is going to be cut by 20 million and Wall Street panics and the stock drops 2.5%. And this happens every December/January. So annoying. But one thing this does show is Wall Street absolutely still thinks of Apple as a hardware company. Stock price is all driven by iPhone. I don’t think Apple’s foray into original programming will change that.
    edited December 2017 LukeCage
  • Reply 31 of 40
    asdasd said:
    lkrupp said:
    When is the last time (if ever) that Apple missed its own forward looking guidance?
    They haven’t guided for the next Q yet. 
    Pretty sure he's talking about this quarter.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 32 of 40
    djsherlydjsherly Posts: 1,031member
    Soli said:

    Supplies are low = Apple sucks at managing a supply chain… and Tim Cook should be fired.


    Supplies are high = Apple makes an overpriced phone that no one wants…. and Tim Cook should be fired.

    A guess a couple of things:

    supply went from 2-3 weeks on order to a handful of days in a matter of days. I don’t think I’ve seen availability improve so much so quickly. I’ve been waiting firstly for store availability and missed out a lot in the first two weeks after release. In the space of a couple of days my local store has ample stock of everything.

    a number of possibilities, including the supply problem has been fixed and supply is now well balanced, or sales might not be as expected. 

    If if sales are not as expected I would
    have thought that Apple would
    reissue guidance in revenue - these things are net cheap and sales shortfalls obviously reflect in reduced revenue. We have not seen that. 

    So im a bit puzzled. I’ve only seen a handful of Xs out there, supply has improved out of sight almost overnight, and no restatement in guidance.

    for me, hard to guess one way or the other in this. 

    For or what it’s worth, I was in the Apple store on the 23rd having my iPhone replaced due to a camera issue. Great service and the genius wouldn’t be drawn on supply (what would he know anyway), but to say there was good stock on hand. Two days before Christmas. 




  • Reply 33 of 40
    djsherly said:
    Soli said:

    Supplies are low = Apple sucks at managing a supply chain… and Tim Cook should be fired.


    Supplies are high = Apple makes an overpriced phone that no one wants…. and Tim Cook should be fired.

    For or what it’s worth, I was in the Apple store on the 23rd having my iPhone replaced due to a camera issue. Great service and the genius wouldn’t be drawn on supply (what would he know anyway), but to say there was good stock on hand. Two days before Christmas. 
    I guess I don't see what the problem is with this. The X has been out for a while, and it's priced at a new high that keeps it separate from the other flagship phone, the 8. I would expect that sales are divided between them which was the intent. The X was priced to make up for the lack of ability to scale its components in the even larger numbers were it the only new flagship this year.
  • Reply 34 of 40
    djsherlydjsherly Posts: 1,031member
    djsherly said:
    Soli said:

    Supplies are low = Apple sucks at managing a supply chain… and Tim Cook should be fired.


    Supplies are high = Apple makes an overpriced phone that no one wants…. and Tim Cook should be fired.

    For or what it’s worth, I was in the Apple store on the 23rd having my iPhone replaced due to a camera issue. Great service and the genius wouldn’t be drawn on supply (what would he know anyway), but to say there was good stock on hand. Two days before Christmas. 
    I guess I don't see what the problem is with this. The X has been out for a while, and it's priced at a new high that keeps it separate from the other flagship phone, the 8. I would expect that sales are divided between them which was the intent. The X was priced to make up for the lack of ability to scale its components in the even larger numbers were it the only new flagship this year.
    This was really an aside, the main point I was trying to make was the vast improvement in availability - either they've solved any supply sides issue or the demand isn't there. I'm not sure which is true.
  • Reply 35 of 40
    This report makes absolutely no sense. In 2017 fiscal Q2 Apple reported 50M total iPhone sales. 2016 was 51M and 2015 was 61M. This report says Apple was forecasting 50M units of just one model - the most expensive model in their line up. Even if we assumed Apple was forecasting an iPhone number greater than the 61M they reported in 2015 that would still mean they were/are expecting their most expensive model to be at least 80% of sales. Like I said it makes absolutely no sense.
  • Reply 36 of 40
    64 gig X is about $50 more than a 256 gig 8 Plus. I know; what do facts have to do with publicity stunts disguised as reports based on horses***?
  • Reply 37 of 40
    trumptmantrumptman Posts: 16,464member
    trumptman said:
    Well I live in Southern California and one of my concerns is I don't have a single person I've encountered who has the iPhone X. I've only noticed it out and about in the wild 3-4 times in the hands of others. There are still mountains of iPhones out here but not the X. I also personally returned my own iPhone X because reachability it a mess.

    I also think there is truth to the pricing concerns. People focus on the pricing of the X but prices have risen overall. The highest end iPhone with every advanced feature available used to be $650. A storage upgrade put that at $750. The "low end" new iPhone now is $700. A storage upgrade puts that at $850. Since it doesn't have many of the tentpole features to drive sale since those are reserved for the X, you have to spend $1000 or $1150 respectively. That is a massive price increase no matter how people want to defend it.

    For now I'm happy with my iPhone 7. That doesn't mean Apple is dying but if enough people decide their phone is good enough then we don't have the supercycle that justifies the stock price.
    Are you prepared to eat those words come next quarterly earnings report?
    Sure. What numbers would we agree on to indicate a lack of supercycle vs just growth? What numbers might indicate purchasing some marketshare vs pure profits?

    Toss them out there. I'm happy to nail it down.
  • Reply 38 of 40
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,654member
    While I don't want to spend $1K on a phone either, keep it three years and it's 91 cents a day.   Seems pretty cheap for all that it does.

    Keep it two years and sell it for $400 and it's 82 cents a day.    

    It wouldn't surprise me if a fair percentage of people complaining about the price think nothing of buying at least one work coffee a day from Starbucks at what...$3 each? more?  Work just 45 weeks a year at $3 a day, 5 days a week and that's $675 just for coffee.   

    And if people don't buy the phone because it's too expensive, fine...Apple would probably eventually lower the price on this or an equivalent model.   All good. 

    Frankly, I think my late-2016 MacBook Pro was a far bigger rip-off than the iPhone X is. 
  • Reply 39 of 40
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    zoetmb said:
    It wouldn't surprise me if a fair percentage of people complaining about the price think nothing of buying at least one work coffee a day from Starbucks at what...$3 each? more?  Work just 45 weeks a year at $3 a day, 5 days a week and that's $675 just for coffee.
    I probably average $4.50 per day.

    This reminds me of how people would bitch about the price of gasoline going up by a penny while they're at a bar or a restaurant buying some alcoholic drink they could buy or make at a considerably reduced cost at home.
  • Reply 40 of 40
    trumptman said:
    Well I live in Southern California and one of my concerns is I don't have a single person I've encountered who has the iPhone X. I've only noticed it out and about in the wild 3-4 times in the hands of others. There are still mountains of iPhones out here but not the X. I also personally returned my own iPhone X because reachability it a mess.

    I also think there is truth to the pricing concerns. People focus on the pricing of the X but prices have risen overall. The highest end iPhone with every advanced feature available used to be $650. A storage upgrade put that at $750. The "low end" new iPhone now is $700. A storage upgrade puts that at $850. Since it doesn't have many of the tentpole features to drive sale since those are reserved for the X, you have to spend $1000 or $1150 respectively. That is a massive price increase no matter how people want to defend it.

    For now I'm happy with my iPhone 7. That doesn't mean Apple is dying but if enough people decide their phone is good enough then we don't have the supercycle that justifies the stock price.
    I remember getting into a discussion with someone that figured the iPhone 7 should be reduced by $100 -- just for the sake of it (he was Canadian) to be more competitive.  I told him if he did that he would cut profits by 50% (it would all come out of profits) - Tim Cook would be fired, and that would be that.  He said it would make it more affordable -- and I told him it was just an illusion that it would be more affordable.  The average phone is going to be in use for 3 to 4 years, and the mobile phone rates (package deals with data -- especially in Canada) will end up costing close to $3,000, so the net is closing in on $4,000 with the phone included.   Reducing the cost of a phone by $100 is going to reduce the overall cost of it by at most a couple of percentage points.  Simply put, pick the phone that does what you need it for and don't fret over the nickles and dimes.

    On the topic of the iPhone X, I doubt Apple actually thought it would be as popular as it seems to be.  It is more of a leading edge of the product line (a sort of beta of new technologies) that would make it into the rest of the line in the future.  Apple right now seems to be competing with Apple more than any other product manufacturer.
    edited December 2017
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