ArchStanton

Facebook has reason to grouse. It’s huge money for Facebook (and Google) to record everything you do on almost every single app you use on your phone. The more they know about where you go, when you go, what phrases yiu type, who you know(contacts), what you previously bought, what’s in your calendar, what bank apps you use, among others, the more money they make. How can people not see how lucrative it is to know as much data privacy about potential buyers goods? It allows Facebook to guarantee to sellers of products that they will sell to these X people because they know all about every person in that group. Not as a group, they know very detailed information about every single person in that group. That’s mega bank to Facebook! (and Google)

chasm said:

The reason almost all analysts got this so wrong is the same reason they get it so wrong every quarter: they don’t know what they’re talking about. T

The old adage that the simplest answer is often the correct one. For example, the answer above :-). 

They are having to "estimate" tens of millions iPhones sold around the world, how many Apps purchased in the App Store, numerous millions of Macs and iPads sold around the world, how many tens of millions of watches sold around the world, AirPods, beats products, music subscriptions, new AppleTVs, new Airtags. AppleCare contracts, mass of connectors and cables and accessories, ApplkeOne as well as arcade fitness news AppleTV+, how many third party paid subscriptions were sold or renegotiated.
Apple only breaks down revenue streams in 5 categories: iPhones, iPads, Macs, Hearables/Wearables/Accessories, and Services. Analysts are looking at past sales, past performances then....wait for it....guessing from there. You'll here "checking supply chain" and Wireless carrier business etc. I.E. they are gathering largely public date then guessing. 
Their huge misses are coming on Earnings per share. They are WAY off 3 quarters in a row, At least one has learned his lesson at Goldmans. He has adjusted his EPS for Apple Q4 up to 1.21 from 1.05. Maybe this time their guessing (not knowing what they are talking about) will be right. A broken clock gets it right twice a day. 

bonobob said:

pulseimages said:

Hmm…should I buy an 12 Mini now or hope I can buy the 13 Mini in September? 

At this point in the cycle, you should not buy a 12 Mini until the new 13's are released.  You'll get a better discount.

I think this is the best advice. The only caveat is a combination of parts constraints and huge sales increases of iPhones. Apple just wasn't prepared for the over performance in sales. But if this happens then just wait a month or two. Supply will eventually catch up with demand and discount prices on last year's model should be back. 

amar99 said:

How are they able to operate in such a behind-the-scenes way without full transparency and make billions upon billions? Apple has done at least part of what it could via their App Store transparency labels, but it's clear there's a long way to go. Regulation might wind up being the only way to reign in the seemingly unlimited data-harvesting power of most big tech companies. Although from the government-tech hearings I've seen, my hopes are low that the right people are in office to understand what's needed, let alone to act in ways beneficial to people / society, yet not detrimental to the Internet's functionality and benefits.

How are they able? Because most consumers aren't aware of what it means when Facebook(or Google) says "advertising" or "user experience" or my favorite "user interaction". To most consumers, they hear "advertising" and they think of a beer or car commercial on TV, or a corner of webpage with an image selling Tshirts, Most consumers have enough on their plate, are tech internet savvy limited, and will not be digging into what Facebook actually does behind the scenes to make "advertising" so lucrative.  Plus most consumers get much of their information snippets from online platforms and corporate media. None of these entities (some of who are in on the data mining money stream stream to small extents) question or explain data mining whatsoever.  Then add to that troll farms and Android users online (some you'll read hear at AI) who purposefully muddle the issue with 'they all do it', 'the internet is not private', 'everyone knows they collect your data, it's no big deal'. This is purposeful clouding of th issue. But factually, indisputably, Android users(and Apple haters) have to muddle it. The truth is clear in regards to expanded data mining and who does this on big scales. Be aware when you see posters on AI trying to make the 'they all do it' claims in differing ways. They ultimately are saying the same thing that is trying to cloud the truth. 

Apple is a minority portion of the mobile operating system market. Further, it has only been the last 18 months that Apple has significantly begun to cutoff these big personal data miners, Facebook and Google. Hopefully more people will become aware over the next 18 months.
Simply cutting off the ability for one installed app to not be able to record what you do while using other apps (maps, texts, internet, calendar, contacts etc) is a huge step in the right direction. Probably the biggest step that could be taken. 

pulseimages said:

Hmm…should I buy an 12 Mini now or hope I can buy the 13 Mini in September? 

IF Apple is constrained by parts, the new device is likely getting the lion's share of what parts are available.

Keep in mind Apple said this about Mac and iPad last quarter but it ended up being minor. This could be Apple sandbagging on something (parts shortages) that may or may not be true. Their earnings reports keep coming in way above expectations. It doesn't hurt to tamp down expectations to help the overperformance :-)