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Apple iPhone X Demand Limited, Wall Street Analysts Say

fortune.com

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Re: Apple iPhone X Demand Limited, Wall Street Analysts Say

#41

Post by School-Cotton »

olegkikin wrote: post #8

What do people buy $1000 smartphones for? For gaming I can get a pretty good gaming PC for that amount, or Xbox One X with a VR headset. I've never seen anybody do anything really cool with their phone - everyone browses the internet, checks the email, does chats/videochats, maps, take photos, and some silly mobile gaming. I do that all on my sub $200 phone.

I bought it because $1000 is not a large expense for me and I use my phone all day long so I prefer to have the nicest experience possible (for me that means the best iOS device, for someone else it might mean the best Android device on the market).

For middle class people in the first world (and upper middle class people in China), spending $1000 every 1-3 years is not enough to make a meaningful dent on finances.

Re: Apple iPhone X Demand Limited, Wall Street Analysts Say

#42

Post by ShabbosGoy »

chewz wrote: post #6
thisacctforreal wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some areas iPhones excel in: - LTS Updates - HW quality - Relatively consistent UX elements - Foolproof-ish App store - Less features ie no App drawer, just homescreens - Forefront of security & privacy technology The 5s was released Oct 2013, and still received iOS 11. It was also the first(?) phone with a Secure-Enclave device for fingerprint reading. If iOS doesn't limit your glass-brick usage patterns, it's a ver…

I agree on hardware quality. Security to me seems like a sales pitch - Apple is just as sensitive information greedy as Google. And I deal in this area with Google as well as I do with Apple. But the inferior software quality is terrible drag for Apple. Photos - their syncing with iCloud is out of control. There are bugs that haven’t been eliminated for years. I gave up when after deleting 50 GB of RAW photos Apple r…

> Security to me seems like a sales pitch - Apple is just as sensitive information greedy as Google. And I deal in this area with Google as well as I do with Apple.

I was scratching my head when I read this part of your comment. It makes me wonder if you ever owned or used an iPhone. iOS is end-to-end encrypted, and Apple doesn’t store any data on their servers, save for iCloud. And you don’t need to use iCloud to have a functional phone.

Re: Apple iPhone X Demand Limited, Wall Street Analysts Say

#43

Post by valuearb »

dkrich wrote: post #21

I think market analysts continue to miss the mark on this story. What I keep hearing over and over are variations of "people are turned off by the $1,000 price tag." I think this is a complete misread. People don't pay $1k for an iPhone because it's the practical thing to do. If practicality is the #1 priority for phone shoppers, they will simply buy a 7 or 8. I don't think this comprises the top of the market, thoug…

I get a new iPhone every 2-3 years. This year I spent $10 a month extra to get the best possible screen and camera on a device I use hours every day. Not because it’s a status symbol. And very happy with my purchase.

Re: Apple iPhone X Demand Limited, Wall Street Analysts Say

#44

Post by valuearb »

PacketPaul wrote: post #20

Good. The phone is too damn expensive. My middle school son has a $64 BLU phone. It was subsidized by Amazon in return for ads on the lock screen. Non-subsidized price is around $100. Last week we went to a theme park with a lot of waiting for rides. He played plants vs zombies and YouTube videos non-stop while we waited for rides. I occasionally surfed the web on my $1049 iPhone X. By 3 PM my iPhone battery was dead…

Too expensive? It’s $10 a month more.

Re: Apple iPhone X Demand Limited, Wall Street Analysts Say

#45

Post by TimTheTinker »

dkrich wrote: post #21

I think market analysts continue to miss the mark on this story. What I keep hearing over and over are variations of "people are turned off by the $1,000 price tag." I think this is a complete misread. People don't pay $1k for an iPhone because it's the practical thing to do. If practicality is the #1 priority for phone shoppers, they will simply buy a 7 or 8. I don't think this comprises the top of the market, thoug…

> If practicality is the #1 priority for phone shoppers, they will simply buy a 7 or 8.

Clever or particularly frugal shoppers may note that the SE has the same chip as the 6S (the A9) and can be had for $250 unlocked and in mint condition.

Re: Apple iPhone X Demand Limited, Wall Street Analysts Say

#46

Post by bunderbunder »

dkrich wrote: post #36
aiofgniaotnio wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>People buy the X because it's a status symbol and they want to be seen with it. I find this aspect of the tech industry so gross that I'm considering changing careers. Building a new tool that makes people's lives better is great, but much of the time it just becomes a status symbol. No one should feel bad for owning a machine that's a few years old but does everything they need. I'm not convinced that consumer gadg…

I don't disagree with you about what people should do, but the reality is that consumers have been this way for a long time, the only thing that changed is that phones shifted from commodities people bought for performance to fashion accessories. People pay more for cars, bags, clothing, etc. to elevate their feeling of status, now we can add phones to that list. Perhaps this has been Apple's greatest contribution to…

The part that irritates me is, I am actively punished for being someone who doesn't behave this way.

It used to just be the hidden surcharges that phone companies tacked onto my bill to cover the cost of the "free" phone, calculated from the assumption that I'd get a new phone each year.

Those surcharges are now gone. But they have been replaced with constant nagging to update the OS to a version that will harm the performance or battery life (or both) of a >2yo phone. They have been replaced with apps that will eventually refuse to stop working if I don't upgrade to a version that doesn't run on the older version of the OS that I used to use. They have been replaced with mobile sites that flat-out don't work on my older device's smaller screen.

Re: Apple iPhone X Demand Limited, Wall Street Analysts Say

#47

Post by valuearb »

thisisit wrote: post #33

I think Apple might have missed the mark by not adding some kind of incentive for the wireless operators to continue offering subsidized phones. Wireless operators helped create the market when the $500+ iPhone was considered costly: http://fortune.com/2017/01/11/death-of-the-199-iphone-wirele... Additionally, phone market is reaching maturity slowly. First few generations had real changes in terms of hardware and ca…

People are still paying monthly, just not in obscure plans their wireless providers keep interesting lace far too long.

Re: Apple iPhone X Demand Limited, Wall Street Analysts Say

#48

Post by kalleboo »

aiofgniaotnio wrote: post #29
dkrich wrote: post #21

I think market analysts continue to miss the mark on this story. What I keep hearing over and over are variations of "people are turned off by the $1,000 price tag." I think this is a complete misread. People don't pay $1k for an iPhone because it's the practical thing to do. If practicality is the #1 priority for phone shoppers, they will simply buy a 7 or 8. I don't think this comprises the top of the market, thoug…

>People buy the X because it's a status symbol and they want to be seen with it. I find this aspect of the tech industry so gross that I'm considering changing careers. Building a new tool that makes people's lives better is great, but much of the time it just becomes a status symbol. No one should feel bad for owning a machine that's a few years old but does everything they need. I'm not convinced that consumer gadg…

> I find this aspect of the tech industry so gross that I'm considering changing careers.

What career are you considering? There are even high-end supermarkets. This is a human condition.

Re: Apple iPhone X Demand Limited, Wall Street Analysts Say

#49

Post by dkrich »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #35
dkrich wrote: post #21

I think market analysts continue to miss the mark on this story. What I keep hearing over and over are variations of "people are turned off by the $1,000 price tag." I think this is a complete misread. People don't pay $1k for an iPhone because it's the practical thing to do. If practicality is the #1 priority for phone shoppers, they will simply buy a 7 or 8. I don't think this comprises the top of the market, thoug…

> People buy the X because it's a status symbol and they want to be seen with it. I think Apple may have overplayed their bet on this point. Unless their top end clients are going to buy the 8, then dump those on the market and start buying the 10. If it is a status symbol, then those people are going to want the latest iphone, regardless of cost, right? In that case, many of the people who are already flaunting thei…

I'm certainly not knowledgable enough to try and get inside the head of Apple's strategic decision makers, but if I had to guess I would say that they already had a proven form factor and supply chain in place to produce the 8 and 8 Plus so they chose to launch with three models instead of just one or two because:

1) There was execution risk with the X. Had they run into supply chain issues or the facial recognition didn't work properly, they would still have had a new phone to launch.

2) $1k is an elevated price point and so the 8/8 Plus present a hedge against risk that consumers won't pay more than $800 for the X.

3) Perhaps most importantly, from what I read Apple couldn't have produced enough X's to come close to meeting the initial demand, which is in large part why the raised the price in the first place. Keep in mind that if they had not released the 8's early with plenty of supply, lots of those buyers would have wanted the X. If you have a supply shortage, raising the price is the obvious move. But then that leaves huge swaths of people who want to give you their money and stay in your ecosystem who are unable to because they have to wait months to get the phone.

So if those theories are true, then we should expect the 6/7/8 form factor to be sunset after this release cycle and then the X and the reported larger X Plus (or whatever it will be called) will be the new form factor once the supply chain and demand concerns have worked themselves out. I think the multi release was just a bridge to get them to the new price point and form factor.

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