AppleExposed

lenn said:

China has been taking advantage of the US markets for many decades restricting/charging huge tariffs for products made in the US and past US Presidents and Congress have done NOTHING to change this. President Trump has said enough of this! In order to bring about a level playing field between China and US trade there is going to be some suffering. But this is the only way to force communist China to change it's way. Apple will survive. They might have to lower their sky high margins and lower the outrageous prices on their iPhones but in the end an even playing field between the US and China will only help America and it's workers.

Let's remember that Apple and so many other countries moved all their manufacturing to China years ago to get away from US EPA and labor regulations here in the US. Apple talks a big game but they like China because of it's cheap labor and little to no environmental regulations not to mention all the labor lawsuits they would face here in the US.

knowitall said:

Real innovation would be a product that has intrinsic value and (thus) would last 20 years or more and doesn’t depend on volatile external propriety services like the icloud (and so on).

tylersdad said:

That was then, this is now.

Back then, nearly every new generation of phone brought with it exciting features. That's not really the case now. New phones pretty much get you a faster version of the old phone you're currently using. For all but the hardcore enthusiast, this just isn't enough to spend $1200 every two years on a new phone. 

I'm not saying Apple won't survive. They obviously will. But I really doubt that they will reach the sales heights they once did unless they truly begin to innovate again or price their products more reasonably. Faster just isn't good enough anymore. And adding features that 99.9% of us don't need isn't helping. 

k2kw said:

P.S.   Kara is half right that innovation is lacking.  There is some innovation but Apple is always increases prices now for any refreshed product.     Is there anything to really show for the Billions spent on Project Titan?

rogifan_new said:

I figured there would be a DED nothing to see here move along article along with a dig at a competitor or two. 

rogifan_new said:

elijahg said:

AppleExposed said:

80s_Apple_Guy said:

AppleExposed said:

Anilu_777 said:

Kuyangkoh said:

sarrica said:

I am holding off on a new iPhone and am sticking with my 6S Plus for a while longer due to Apple's higher prices. I'm sure I am not the only one...

Why not? Still works?? But if you cannot afford a new iPhone theres a lot of android alternative. Nobody is twisting your arm to buy a latest and the greatest 

Nobody even mentions that Apple is still selling the iPhone 7, 8 and now again the X. If you don’t need the latest model, there are plenty of less-expensive models to choose from. People are focusing on the most-expensive Xs Max instead of the whole lineup. Yes the Xs Max is expensive - one reason I’m keeping my 8 Plus. But it’s not all there is. 

It's ridiculous isn't it?

People complain about price and then quote the most expensive iPhone as an example.

The latest iPhone is $750.

When do people complain that Ford is too expensive and then continue to quote the $70,000 Shelby Mustang?
Like they say, people have special rules for Apple.

Ya that claim keeps being made. However the piddly insultingly low 64GB of storage make that phone useless many.  If you're replacing an older phone that cost less but had not storage and you're using it, that low end entry phone isn't going to cut it. That send to be Apple's strategy. Put devices with very low storage (and RAM on MacBooks) to try and bring people in. Then when they spec the machine they need is hundreds or thousands more. 

Well XR seems to be doing fine.

64GB is plenty for a lot of people. I'm thinking of buying a 64GB XR myself.

Would you prefer XR start at 128GB and $799?

Like I said Apple can't win with the haters. I think a better strategy would have been a smaller screen size and lower price. But Apple is only gonna be 4 billion from breaking a new record so maybe Tim Cook is a better CEO than the rest of us?

You seem to think the extra storage costs Apple. It doesn't. The 64GB chip is a couple of dollars, the 128GB one is a couple of dollars more. Apple makes the money in making suckers pay an extra $100 for $4 of storage. It's a ripoff and people don't like it. Apple could sell the base model for the same price with 128GB storage, making it much better value and the customers would be much more willing to pay the price. It would likely increase sales, though Apple would no longer make the extra $96 for an upgrade to the next tier. And unfortunately all Cook can see is the loss of that $96, not the fact that it would ultimately result in more sales and more revenue.

One has to believe there are people at Apple doing the math on optimal prices and what changing the price +/- X number of $$ does to sales & revenues. I don’t know who is ultimately responsible for setting prices (is it Schiller’s team that makes the final call) but IMo they misjudged the market. Aside from the iPad announced in March every other hardware product Apple released this year went up in price. People might finally be saying no thanks. 

rogifan_new said:

AppleExposed said:

rogifan_new said:

robbyx said:

rogifan_new said:

robbyx said:

avon b7 said:

magman1979 said:

And right on cue, the salivating trolls come marching onto EVERY Apple site in existence by the truckload!

Forget trolls. What is your opinion on what is happening on iPhone? 

The rest of the business seems to be doing ok. They have a lot of cash reserves to pull on. That won't save them from a roller coaster ride, short term, but iPhone is suffering. Do you agree with TCs line or do you think he is airbrushing bits? Are prices too high? Is competition playing a part? Are iPhones underperforming on features? Etc.

The smartphone market is mature. I can easily afford the top of the line iPhone model, but I see no reason to upgrade from my 7 Plus. I think a lot of people feel this way.  Even if Apple dropped prices tomorrow, I still wouldn’t upgrade.  My 7 Plus is great. I’d like FaceID, but that’s not enough of a reason to upgrade. 

I dont think prices are the issue. There are iPhone models under $500.  Top of the line is very pricey, but Apple has nice offerings at several price points. The market is saturated and mature and this was bound to happen. 

If price wasn’t an issue why did Tim keep mentioning subsidies going away? Why did he mention not marketing the trade-in program enough? Both of those things scream price issues. Which was obvious when the front page of apple.com was displaying this:

I know many people with older phones and none of them WANT to upgrade. They don’t care about pricing. They are satisfied with their current devices. I was just helping a friend with her Mac today. It’s 8 years old and works fine.  She sees no reason to upgrade. The same thing is happening with phones.

As I said, Apple has phone models at a variety of price points. Stop focusing on the top of the line.  Phones are mature. The tech is mature. There aren’t a lot of new features. Faster, better screen, better camera...yawn. My phone is fast enough and the camera is fine. The days of annual upgrades are over.

Price is a factor, but it’s not the issue. 

I don’t think higher prices is the only factor but it is A factor. It’s not like upgrade cycles just started lengthening this year. It’s possible too that the XR just introduced confusion to the lineup. People weren’t sure what to buy so they didn’t buy anything.

DEAD ON with the XR confusion. A lot of people went into the Apple store prepared to drop $1000+ on a XS and left with a cheaper XR with a larger screen....

Or went into the store and left with nothing. If the XR was doing well why would Apple be marketing it $300 cheaper (with trade-in) on the front page of their website? Why would carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile be offering it for free with new activations?

bitmod said:

The cheapest new 2018 iPhone you can get in Canada right now is $1228 with AppleCare ($1375 after tax). 
$1375... for the bottom of the barrel 2018 phone. The cheapest possible phone you can get is a 7 for $1100. 

The iPhone most people would like to have is the Xs 256 - which costs $2058 with AppleCare after tax. 

Nice phones? Sure. 
$2058 nice? lol

Throw in a case and your average data plan cost and you are looking at a 2 year $4500 investment. 

$4500 for the new iPhone with the newest features. 

Go ahead and try to defend that.
Business's can't justify that - so forget about 20 somethings paying off student loans, paying that for dancing poo emoji's and Instagram scrolling. 
And before you attempt to point to other offerings - nobody wants to pay $1100 for a near obsolete 3 year old iPhone 7. 

It's beyond absurd. 

avon b7 said:

AppleExposed said:

avon b7 said:

AppleExposed said:

avon b7 said:

AppleExposed said:

Anilu_777 said:

Kuyangkoh said:

sarrica said:

I am holding off on a new iPhone and am sticking with my 6S Plus for a while longer due to Apple's higher prices. I'm sure I am not the only one...

Why not? Still works?? But if you cannot afford a new iPhone theres a lot of android alternative. Nobody is twisting your arm to buy a latest and the greatest 

Nobody even mentions that Apple is still selling the iPhone 7, 8 and now again the X. If you don’t need the latest model, there are plenty of less-expensive models to choose from. People are focusing on the most-expensive Xs Max instead of the whole lineup. Yes the Xs Max is expensive - one reason I’m keeping my 8 Plus. But it’s not all there is. 

It's ridiculous isn't it?

People complain about price and then quote the most expensive iPhone as an example.

The latest iPhone is $750.

The cheapest latest iPhone I can get without a trade in is 850€. That is a huge amount for just 64GB of storage, single camera, huge bezels etc.

It's still the latest iPhone.

Don't move the goalposts.

But not $750. No goalposts moved. That $750 price is available only in some markets. You can't close your eyes to the rest of the world nor ignore that the latest iPhones also go way past $1,000.

You would be better off stating the latest iPhones start at $749 in the US.

But my reply was to someone else quoting the U.S. dollar.

Should I be a currency converter calculator for everyone on the forum?

So yes, you did move the goalpost. Dammit you moved it all the way to a different country!

I see no reference at all to US dollar. That doesn't change anything though. The latest iPhone isn't $750. It starts at 749 US dollars and scales far beyond that.

The person you were replying to didn't even specify which kind of dollar he or she was referring to. Not that it matters in the slightest.

80s_Apple_Guy said:

AppleExposed said:

Anilu_777 said:

Kuyangkoh said:

sarrica said:

I am holding off on a new iPhone and am sticking with my 6S Plus for a while longer due to Apple's higher prices. I'm sure I am not the only one...

Why not? Still works?? But if you cannot afford a new iPhone theres a lot of android alternative. Nobody is twisting your arm to buy a latest and the greatest 

Nobody even mentions that Apple is still selling the iPhone 7, 8 and now again the X. If you don’t need the latest model, there are plenty of less-expensive models to choose from. People are focusing on the most-expensive Xs Max instead of the whole lineup. Yes the Xs Max is expensive - one reason I’m keeping my 8 Plus. But it’s not all there is. 

It's ridiculous isn't it?

People complain about price and then quote the most expensive iPhone as an example.

The latest iPhone is $750.

When do people complain that Ford is too expensive and then continue to quote the $70,000 Shelby Mustang?
Like they say, people have special rules for Apple.

Ya that claim keeps being made. However the piddly insultingly low 64GB of storage make that phone useless many.  If you're replacing an older phone that cost less but had not storage and you're using it, that low end entry phone isn't going to cut it. That send to be Apple's strategy. Put devices with very low storage (and RAM on MacBooks) to try and bring people in. Then when they spec the machine they need is hundreds or thousands more.