Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#371

Post by bigtunacan » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 4:13 PM UTC

raverbashing wrote: post #341

bigtunacan wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have 5+ pairs of headphones. One for home, one for the office, one for the gym, and then a couple of spares for when I lose any of the main 3. I have the iPhone 7 and I end up carrying the dongle around in my jeans pocket when I am able to remember it. I'm certainly not paying $10 a pop for spare dongles when most of my headphones didn't even cost that much. Getting rid of the headphone jack is by far the dumbest m…

> Getting rid of the headphone jack is by far the dumbest move I have seen on the iPhone in a long time. Then why did you get the iPhone 7? Should have voted with your wallet

Unfortunately I have a life saving medical device that only is compatible with the iPhone. I switched from Android to the iPhone 7 because of this.

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#372

Post by georgyo » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 4:15 PM UTC

neotek wrote: post #362

georgyo wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This could be true, but they choose to stick with the lightning connector. Which gives them licencing rights. Getting money from licencing is the only reason I can see for them having only the lightning connector. They could have switched to USB-C, became standard, and then switched to one port. Then at least the head phones you but would also work on your shiny new MacBook.

Switching to USB-C on the iPhone would have been a hugely shitty decision given their ultimate goal is clearly to build a phone without any ports at all within a few years. Consider what would happen in that case: right now there are hundreds of millions of iPhone accessories out there that rely on the Lightning port - everything from headphones to cars to health devices and more. If Apple removed the Lightning port…

I don't think this is going to happen any time remotely soon, even if apple wants it to.

Going completely wireless would also destroy the current accessories market. No dongle or converter to fix it either.

Also apple already did change the connector for the iPhone once.

The iPhone will go USB-C because the rest of their products have. They can stay dumb and alienate their consumers, or finally start integrating with the world.

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#373

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 4:15 PM UTC

neotek wrote: post #362

georgyo wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This could be true, but they choose to stick with the lightning connector. Which gives them licencing rights. Getting money from licencing is the only reason I can see for them having only the lightning connector. They could have switched to USB-C, became standard, and then switched to one port. Then at least the head phones you but would also work on your shiny new MacBook.

Switching to USB-C on the iPhone would have been a hugely shitty decision given their ultimate goal is clearly to build a phone without any ports at all within a few years. Consider what would happen in that case: right now there are hundreds of millions of iPhone accessories out there that rely on the Lightning port - everything from headphones to cars to health devices and more. If Apple removed the Lightning port…

[deleted]

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#374

Post by amelius » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 4:24 PM UTC

sbuk wrote: post #369

Not one person has thought that this may be due to production of the next iPhone beginning. Cook is a logistics guy and under him, Apple keep inventory to a minimum. Add to the the fact that the quarter immediately following Christmas is always sluggish. This looks like a normal shift in production priorities.

If this were true, the supply chain would know about it.

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#375

Post by madeofpalk » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 4:24 PM UTC

saurik wrote: post #212

jblow wrote: post #93

Usually I have upgraded, but I currently have no intention of buying an iPhone 7 or later, unless they fix something! For me it's a double whammy. I don't like the lack of headphone jack, and whereas I feel like I could manage grumpily ... for me it kills the excitement of buying the new device, and I think that is important. (My standard listening headphones are Etymotic ER-4Ps; there is no way I am going to downgra…

> They need to get rid of 3D touch, get rid of double-tap one-hand accessibility mode whatever it's called, get rid of weird swipes from the edge, fix the horrible inconsistencies in the way autocorrect works... This is the same bullshit Apple has been doing with Mac OS X. I'm typing away in the terminal, doing something extremely productive, and suddenly my UI locks up for a second and I realize "shit, I must have a…

Going to be completely honest here - this isnt something I can sympathise with.

If you do the wrong thing on any computer system and I'm sure something unexpected would happen.

I'm not saying that "you're holding it wrong", nor do I know 100% what you're talking about, but I don't think its entirely fair to complain like that about a computer system that you're not using 'correctly'.

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#376

Post by doingmyting » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 4:29 PM UTC

johnny22 wrote: post #330

spronkey wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would annoy me a lot less if Apple (and the rest of them, to be honest) didn't just change stuff for the sake of change. Like oh hey, let's change four finger swipe up gesture to not be a toggle. Just because. Or, oh hey, let's just remove your battery life indicator. Ugh. Makes me scared to update anything.

Is it really just because? I've seen this mentioned before, but there must be some reason right? I've never owned an iPhone (or any i* devices), so I have no experience here, but aren't the folks at Apple likely to do stuff for a reason? Or are things really that bad?

As a worker at BigCo, no. Getting big promotions means coming up with big ideas and usually different ideas regardless of whether you're addressing some need.

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#377

Post by chrischen » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 4:34 PM UTC

_Codemonkeyism wrote: post #217

ryao wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the removal was to recycle the space while making waterproofing easier.

The removal is to introduce a way to control which headphones are connected and to get license payments in the future.

This statement is false.

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#378

Post by hedora » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 4:37 PM UTC

Does anyone know if this cut is:

- sequential (fewer phones than christmas season)

- YoY (year-over-year -- vs Q1 2016)

- or vs financial guidance (an apparent difference between what they told their investors they would do during the last shareholder call and their now-current plan)?

Or is it something else?

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#379

Post by VladimirGolovin » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 4:39 PM UTC

spacehacker wrote: post #124

jblow wrote: post #93

Usually I have upgraded, but I currently have no intention of buying an iPhone 7 or later, unless they fix something! For me it's a double whammy. I don't like the lack of headphone jack, and whereas I feel like I could manage grumpily ... for me it kills the excitement of buying the new device, and I think that is important. (My standard listening headphones are Etymotic ER-4Ps; there is no way I am going to downgra…

How does iOS compare to Android these days regarding everyday concerns like sluggishness, app switching, text editing?

Android user here, recently switched to iPhone 6 when my Nexus 5 died (will definitely switch back when Google Pixel finally arrives to Russia).

Here are my conclusions after using iPhone for a couple of months as a daily driver:

1. The switch itself was, unexpectedly, a lot less painful that I anticipated. All my apps and mobile workflows were up and running in half a day. So I guess I'm platform-agnostic.

2. iOS feels very smooth. No stuttering at all. Sometimes I get lagging, but it's a minor annoyance, not a showstopper - except for cases when I can't pick up a phone call because the round draggy thingy just won't drag.

3. App switching via double-tapping the home button is easy and pleasant. I like it more than the Android way of switching apps.

4. Text editing on iOS is absolutely atrocious. This is a major downside, and a deal breaker for me. That's why I'm switching to Pixel as soon as I can get my hands on it. iOS's magnifying glass cursor is much less convenient than Android's "handle cursors", especially when the text I'm editing is near the top of the screen. Going into the editing mode requires a long tap, as opposed to Android's regular tap, which is annyoing as well. The stock keyboard is slick but useless because I'm a gesture typer. I tried Swype, but it's no match for Google keyboard. GBoard might be a good replacement, but it doesn't support Russian yet, so no opinion here.

4a. The only thing in iPhone that somehow mitigates the awfulness of text editing on iOS is 3D-touch cursor movement. You strong-press in the keyboard area and drag, and the cursor moves. This feature is very well done. I'll probably get me iPhone 6s just to have it (not iPhone 7 because I don't like their new home button). Also, this 3D-touch cursor movement may not work with non-stock keyboard like GBoard or Swype - I have no information about that.

Re: Apple to slice iPhone production 10% due to sluggish sales

#380

Post by beezle » Sat, Dec 31, 2016, 4:56 PM UTC

pdimitar wrote: post #114

Longhanks wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can definitely relate to that. Using iOS at this point frustrates me so much that sometimes I pull out my iPhone 4S running iOS 6 to remember what a wonderful UI and UX that was. The bigger problem is the lack of alternatives. Android is such a mess of inconsistencies and bad UX, added to that are the problems with system updates, lack of a proper flagship device (the Pixel is a joke compared to the iPhone 6s in my…

So much this, damn. 2016 felt like everybody was just walking backwards. I share your sentiment about Google. They look like they only do the minimal effort possible for Android not to die -- and since they get a lot of user data and ad revenue, they're not trying very hard since they're not taking hits in the wallet. That's not good enough for me, and IMO many other people. I personally have been witness to 3 tech-s…

"They look like they only do the minimal effort possible for Android not to die"

I can understand some Android users have frustration over carrier issues. But every version I have used has been a significant improvement over the prior, especially under the hood. I suppose one can argue that Android allows for too much end user customization (directly or by third party) but I would rather suffer that than the alternative.

Android also runs on old harware. My LG G2, ancient by many measures, runs Android 7.1.1 via AICP and is more responsive in every way than the original stock 4.3. Unless I shatter the screen, there is no reason to replace this phone. Granted, custom ROMs are beyond grandma but for anybody with marginal tech know-how there are step-by-step guides to upgrade. Yet, iPhone owning friends with older models first complain about iOS updates being 'slow' and then eventually run to the store to "upgrade" their phone to the latest iVersion.

IMHO to say Google does just the minimum, especially compared to iOS, is not really the case.