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iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

nytimes.com

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Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#11

Post by venomsnake »

Shivetya wrote: post #7
revelation wrote: post #5

Are we past peak-smartphone or is this just noise from model release schedules? It took PCs 20+ years to get good enough, smartphones managed the same in much less than 10 it seems.

yet for the most part PCs dropped significantly in price but smartphones seem to be holding the 400+ range which is still woefully overpriced for most of the phone buying populace because not only are you putting out 400 bucks but usually under obligation to send forty to eighty more a month. That is a good chunk of the the lower and middle classes.

The PC have not dropped significantly in price. High end gaming PC (that you build yourself) always costed about 1500-2000$. It is just that the majority of tasks could be done in lower and lower segments of the market.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#14

Post by ericabiz »

johansch wrote: post #6
ericabiz wrote: post #4

I run a repair shop. We've repaired over 3,000 Apple devices for customers. We are always chatting with our customers, so we get a ton of feedback from them about what they're doing with their phones. We hear a few things consistently: 1) Providers have switched from "free upgrades every 2 years" to a plan cost and a monthly phone cost, so people now really know how much their phone costs--and many would rather save…

(Lots of interesting data; upvoted.) > It's $79 for us to fix an iPhone 5/5C/5S screen right now Interesting, since I have a 5s with a broken screen glass that I haven't bothered getting fixed yet. :) It used to be quite a bit more, I think? Have you figured out how to separate the glass (etc) from the actual display, or have replacement display+glass packages just gotten cheaper? (If you are replacing the display -…

All depends on the cost of parts. Part cost is very low right now...I advise people to get it fixed ASAP if they have the money! You never know what it will do--part cost bounces around like the stock market. Last year it bounced really high there for a bit, and now it's come back down.

The backlight, LCD, digitizer (touch "web"), and top glass are all one piece. They come bonded from the factory. I never recommend glass-only repairs, and they're nearly impossible to do yourself. Some shops will do them, but realistically, with the 5 series screen cost so low right now, there's no reason to risk digitizer issues with a glass-only repair. (It's very difficult to replace only the glass without breaking the delicate digitizer "web" right below it.)

From what we can tell, there is very little difference between an OEM display and the ones repair shops sell. The 6 model is slightly thicker. On a 5, you probably won't notice it.

It is all about the warranty if you choose to get it replaced from a shop--some percentage of the screens are just going to have issues, and you want a shop that stands behind their work. (No repair shop warranty will cover if you drop or break the screen, though!)

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#15

Post by overcast »

ericabiz wrote: post #4

I run a repair shop. We've repaired over 3,000 Apple devices for customers. We are always chatting with our customers, so we get a ton of feedback from them about what they're doing with their phones. We hear a few things consistently: 1) Providers have switched from "free upgrades every 2 years" to a plan cost and a monthly phone cost, so people now really know how much their phone costs--and many would rather save…

3D Force Touch was one of those features I feel would have only caught on, if it was one of the original iPhone features. Tacking it on later, with little to no support in apps, makes it forgetware. I actually really like the functionality, and I completely forget it exists. There needs to be some type of small indicator reminder that a button HAS 3D touch.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#16

Post by tetraodonpuffer »

revelation wrote: post #5

Are we past peak-smartphone or is this just noise from model release schedules? It took PCs 20+ years to get good enough, smartphones managed the same in much less than 10 it seems.

now that phones are quite fast and have good cameras, what is the main driver towards upgrading? so that you go from 300ppi to 500ppi? not going to make much of a difference and for most people not worth the upgrade costs.

The only issue is that phone manufacturers have even more of an incentive to bloat the OS more and more (and make it slower and slower on old models) and to deprecate it faster (on older models) so they can sell more hardware if people want to get the latest security fixes / software

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#17

Post by r00fus »

ericabiz wrote: post #4

I run a repair shop. We've repaired over 3,000 Apple devices for customers. We are always chatting with our customers, so we get a ton of feedback from them about what they're doing with their phones. We hear a few things consistently: 1) Providers have switched from "free upgrades every 2 years" to a plan cost and a monthly phone cost, so people now really know how much their phone costs--and many would rather save…

I think the reason most 6S's are rose gold is that it's the new latest color - i.e. you want the latest, and also to message that to everyone else? Get a rose-gold phone.

Also, considering probably the vast majority of servicing of iPhones happens at an Apple genius bar, I'd say your (very informative) views of the population have some selection bias.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#18

Post by venomsnake »

marblar wrote: post #12
venomsnake wrote: post #8

For any exponential function comes time when its growth cannot be sustained. Smartphones are boring and mature, we haven't had killer app in ages - welcome to the PC market of 2007.

That’s a logistic function, not an exponential.

Expecting x% growth year over year is exponential, I think

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#19

Post by benologist »

r00fus wrote: post #17
ericabiz wrote: post #4

I run a repair shop. We've repaired over 3,000 Apple devices for customers. We are always chatting with our customers, so we get a ton of feedback from them about what they're doing with their phones. We hear a few things consistently: 1) Providers have switched from "free upgrades every 2 years" to a plan cost and a monthly phone cost, so people now really know how much their phone costs--and many would rather save…

I think the reason most 6S's are rose gold is that it's the new latest color - i.e. you want the latest, and also to message that to everyone else? Get a rose-gold phone. Also, considering probably the vast majority of servicing of iPhones happens at an Apple genius bar, I'd say your (very informative) views of the population have some selection bias.

There are still states in the US that don't have a single Apple store, lots with very few. Then there are ~180 countries with none and a handful of countries with very few. iPhone 6S is officially available in over 130 countries.

http://www.cultofmac.com/278978/apple-stores-usa/

Repairs are probably orders of magnitude more common outside of Apple stores.

Re: iPhone Sales Drop, and Apple’s 13-Year Surge Ebbs

#20

Post by Analemma_ »

rrggrr wrote: post #13

50.6b net income on 39.4% gross margins. A bit early to be writing Apple's obituary or anything even close. Retail is suffering nationwide and I suspect Apple is caught up in this decline.

Yeah, but "50.6b net income on 39.4% gross margins" doesn't get those juicy clicks like "Apple is DOOOOMED!!1!" does. These journalists gotta put food on the table somehow.
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