johnjohnstone

ireland said:

Watch people scramble to still argue why Apple aren't going to make a car.

Watch people scramble to say the car market is saturated and we've reached peak car.

tzeshan said:

The iPhone is not the best smartphone.  Several Samsung models are selling at higher prices than iPhones on AT&T. 

LOL. You are clueless. Those same Samsung models are on BOGO deals. And since when does a higher price = better quality?

One possibility that no one on Wall Street in mentioning:

APPLE COULD HAVE STUFFED THE CHANNEL EARLY THIS YEAR COMPARED TO PREVIOUS YEARS.

It looks like Apple could have placed 'oversized' orders in Aug/Sept to make sure there were no shortages in the first few months of release. Remember when the 6+ there was massive shortages for over a month after launch. With the 6s+ there was no shortages. So because Apple stuffed the channel in Aug-Nov then of course orders for December will fall because of inventory. This is NOT a bad thing. It simply is a different strategy to make sure there is always supply on hand.

Lets just look at two suppliers that Wall Street points to as sure signs iPhone sales are sluggish. Cirrus Logic and Qorvo. Both had to warn for weaker December revenue than predicted. Notice this warning was made this month, not in November. That suggest that units were strong until December. Do their financials point to Apple stuffing the channel early this year?

Cirrus Logic
Revenue Sept2014 quarter - $210 million
Revenue Sept2015 quarter - $307 million
YoY revenue growth - 45%

Qorvo
Revenue Sept2014 quarter - $362 million
Revenue Sept2015 quarter - $708 million
YoY revenue growth - 95%

It seems obvious to me looking at those massive revenue increases in the Jul-Sept quarter that Apple placed massive orders in those months to build up the channel inventory. 

benjamin frost said:

No smoke without fire. 

We've had had so many reports of lower orders from critical suppliers, that it is impossible to come to any conclusion other than one of substantially lower iPhone sales than Apple had hoped for. 

Let us hope that Apple lowers prices to try and spur on sales. 

Another possibility is Apple made oversized orders in August/Sept/Oct/Nov to make sure there would be no shortages of 6s/6s+
Unlike last year when the 6+ was supply constraint, there was no shortage of 6s+ at launch.
Now orders are cut after achieving supply/demand balance. And of course orders will be cut also because of the normal decline in sales after the holiday period.

If iPhones sales were truly weak we would have seen these supply chain stories in Oct and Nov. 

IMO, it could have just been a different strategy for Apple this year. In previous years they would not stuff the supply chain, thus we would always have shortages of iPhones at launch and a month after. But this year looks like Apple 'over ordered' in Aug-Nov to make sure their were plenty phones in the channel. Now the channel is full they cut orders.

And the hits keep coming.

Get your pocketbooks ready to buy Apple shares at $80 in a few weeks.