The drop in iPhone sales among Chinese consumers that hurt Apple so much last year is now a thing of the past, according to market analysts. The company saw five straight months of growth in that important region.
US adults spend more time on their phones and tablets than watching traditional televisions. While phone use has been on the rise for years even as TV use dropped, the most recent annual survey done by eMarketer is the first in which mobile devices came out on top.
Only a few years ago, TV use was significantly ahead of phones and tablets. Not any more.
A decision by the Trump Administration forced Google to revoke Huawei’s Android license, and a respected analyst says that could cause millions of buyers around the world to get iPhones instead.
Apple’s iPhone sales in the U.S. are starting to flatline, according to data from the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.
Growth of the iPhone install base in the U.S. has been on a downward trend for years now, but CIRP’s latest report reveals that growth was at its slowest rate ever during the first quarter of 2019.
Apple’s most affordable 2018 handset is a real hit in N. America. There were more than twice as many iPhone XR units shipped during the first three months of this year in this region as its next nearest competitor.
Even so, Apple and the entire phone business had a very weak first quarter.
The fact that iPhone sales were down in the first three months of the year is no secret, but new information shows that the decline wasn’t isolated to one or two areas. No, Apple admitted that iOS handset sales dropped in every region of the world.
Although Apple no longer reports the number of iPhone units it sells, the company did admit there was a steep decline in handset revenue in the first three months of this year. Analysts are out with their exact estimates, and the number of iPhones shipped last quarter could have dipped as much as 30 percent.
The iPhone XR accounted for 38 percent of all Apple’s US handset sales during the first three months of this this year, according to a market research company.
Combined with the iPhone XS and XS Max, these 2018 models totaled 59 percent of all iOS handset sales in the US last quarter.
The latest round of iPhone price cuts on China have accomplished their goal, according to an analyst with Wedbush. Demand for Apple handsets has increased in that country.
That’s very good news for the company, as CEO TIm Cook said early this year that slow sales in China were the entire reason Apple saw a revenue decease at the end of 2018.
We’ll soon know if Apple made progress drumming up more demand for the latest iPhones in Asia. Weak demand in China caused a surprising year-over-year drop in Apple’s total revenue during the last quarter of 2018.
CEO Tim Cook and co. have just scheduled an earning call with investors for April 30. We’ll find out then if the company managed to improve its situation during the first three months of 2019.
iPhone sales are down, especially in emerging markets. The reason is simple: Apple’s devices cost too darn much. And the solution is equally simple: Apple must make a new budget model. In short, it needs a successor to the iPhone SE to ensure short-term profits as well as long-term viability.
This device has to have a low, low price. Even if that means a phone so bare-bones that most Americans turn up their noses at it.
Americans about to purchase a handset are far more interested in an iPhone than in devices running the rival Android OS, according to a survey done by an industry analysis firm.
But the news isn’t all good for Apple. The same survey found only moderate interest in the company’s rumored streaming video service.
China is not the only part of the world where Apple’s iPhone is losing market share to hard-charging Chinese brands.
Sales of the iPhone are falling off in Europe and Thailand, the second-biggest smartphone market in Southeast Asia, where shipments fell by more than 50 percent.
The days when people bought a new iPhone every two years are over, according to an industry analyst. In fact, many people are holding on to their handsets for twice that long.
That’s bad news for Apple’s bottom line, as faster upgrades mean more profits.
Apple’s last quarter was so bad the company broke its long-running streak of outselling Samsung during the holiday gift season.
Going back for several years, the maker of the Galaxy line of Android handsets always outsold Apple during the first three quarters, and in total sales for the whole year, but iPhone would came out on top in Q4. Not last quarter.
Not included in the Q4 financial results Apple just announced was the number of iPhone units sold. An analyst firm quickly filled in the gap, estimating that 65.9 million iOS handsets shipped in the last quarter of 2018, down significantly.
This is the first quarterly earnings announcement in which Apple didn’t reveal how many iPhone, Mac, and iPad units it had sold.
When Apple unveils its earnings report for last year’s crucial holiday quarter, the entire world will be watching for signs of the company’s long-rumored impending doom.
Several factors will make Tuesday’s Q1 2019 earnings call Apple’s most important in years. Depending on how it goes, it could have an enormous impact on the company’s stock’s performance in 2019 and beyond.
Ming-Chi Kuo, a tech analyst with a decent record for accuracy, predicts Apple will sell more iPhones in 2019 than many other analysts are anticipating.
To be clear, Kuo isn’t predicting a banner year for iPhone sales. Just not a terrible one.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly said the company would rather make the best smartphone than the cheapest.
Yet, Apple’s budget model iPhone XR sold more in the U.S. during the fiscal quarter that ended in December than the iPhone XS and XS Max combined, according to new research.
The Chinese phone market cratered in the final quarter of 2018, but iPhone sales in the country did even worse.
This poor showing is primarily a result of the high prices Apple charges for its handsets, according to an industry analyst.
A recent unconfirmed report indicated that Foxconn, who produces handsets for Apple, had laid off thousands of employees. But the company itself says it’s actually hiring 50,000 people, a sign that iPhone sales aren’t a weak as some fear.
Still, there are indications of a slowdown in Foxconn production, just not a dramatic one.
Slumping iPhone sales have caused Apple to rethink its hiring strategies for certain division.
During an employee meeting earlier this month, Tim Cook was asked if the company is about to go on a hiring freeze. Cook reportedly responded that a total hiring freeze wasn’t a solution, the company would reduce hiring in some areas.
Sales of iPhones seem to be weaker than in previous years, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve has an explanation: a drop in consumer spending in China.
The implication is that the slowdown in iPhone sales isn’t a result of anything Apple has done.
The iPhone XR is Apple’s newest handset but more of its units are already in use than the iPhone XS which launched two months earlier. And the XR is on course to pass the XS Max in the near future.
That said, all three are still trailing the installed base of 2017 iOS models, especially the iPhone X.
Apple CEO Tim Cook warned investors today that weak iPhone sales could translate into revenue shortfalls in the billions of dollars.
Cook blames the expected revenue drop on fewer-than-expected iPhone upgrades and weakened demand in China.
