iPhone X Nearly 6 months in, the iPhone X isn't that successful

[rdy0329]

I think the cheaper LCD offerings success all depends on whether Apple decide to leave off fundamental features like the rumours unfortunately suggest. The rest of the lineup has gotten stupidly expensive and I know from experience consumers have noticed this and have adjusted spending habits in my part of the world.

Fundamental features like 3D touch was never experienced by iPhone 6 holdouts anyway. Coincidence? I think not! Seriously though, let's just wait how Apple will price 2018 models to lure holdouts out of their outdated cave (into a modern cave with animoji).

To add, What I noticed about Apple is that they try to closely match their LCD and OLED screen's calibration to the point where OLED is only better on showing true blacks.

 

[44267547]

Not sure they even need to change much with the LCD offerings. I think the X is proof enough that the average consumer doesn’t find enough of a difference between OLED and LCD to make it worth paying the difference. If going with the cheaper display technology knocks enough off the price to bring the price of the phone down to a level people are used to paying, it’ll sell.

I Agree the consumer really doesn’t care much about LCD and OLED displays. Most probably don’t even know the differences that they entail. I think when consumers see the iPhone, they see the latest form factor and camera upgrades, which is things that they likely are simple enough to understand. Look at Samsung’s Galaxy S9 marketing, it’s all about the camera geared to what the consumer likely cares about.

 

[Adelphos33]

Moment of truth. Earnings later today, and there are about 4 and a half months left until new iPhones are announced. If have been wrong about this, I'll happily admit it.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Keep in mind that the price of the iPhone X is not primarily driven by the cost of its components. It's based on the market. Apple set the price based on what they expected consumers would pay, targeting a higher profit margin than the 8/8+, and considering the limited rate that they could produce them.

Apple has room to drop the price if they want to. It will certainly help that the components will get cheaper to make after a year of production (of course there will be some enhancements for the iPhone XI). There is still the matter of limited OLED display supply. If they lined up LG as a secondary supplier, then this would improve, but recent news is that LG couldn't cut the mustard.

Also it’s still debatable whether LG can actually make high quality displays after the pixel 2/LG G6 debacle.
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Moment of truth. Earnings later today, and there are about 4 and a half months left until new iPhones are announced. If have been wrong about this, I'll happily admit it.

They aren’t going to tell us how many iPhone X units they have sold so unless there is a massive slump in their earnings (which I doubt) you can’t really declare the X a flop.

 

[Princejb134]

I live in NYC - I see a lot of Xs in the wild. My point was that I also see many more people not upgrading where as in prior years, a larger percentage people upgraded to the latest phone.

https://9to5mac.com/2018/03/19/iphone-x-analysts/

i live in nyc also and see iphone x everywhere. I have been tempted to get it since im actually one of the few who likes to notch but don't want to pay $1000 + tax for a phone. Im still using my 6s on 10.3.3 and it still runs without lag so i see no reason to upgrade at this time.

 

[JPack]

They aren’t going to tell us how many iPhone X units they have sold so unless there is a massive slump in their earnings (which I doubt) you can’t really declare the X a flop.

We’ll know based on the ASP.

 

[Cape Dave]

i live in nyc also and see iphone x everywhere. I have been tempted to get it since im actually one of the few who likes to notch but don't want to pay $1000 + tax for a phone. Im still using my 6s on 10.3.3 and it still runs without lag so i see no reason to upgrade at this time.

I live in MA. Have not seen an iPhone X yet. My dad is 90. He has bought every thing Apple has ever made on day one. He still thinks Newton was a great product. That home speaker thing, he was the first to buy it. But for whatever reason, even he has not bought the X yet.

And no one else I know has bought one either. I find this strange.

 

[44267547]

Moment of truth. Earnings later today, and there are about 4 and a half months left until new iPhones are announced. If have been wrong about this, I'll happily admit it.

Just as a Pre-teaser article upon ‘Analysts’ predictions for the earnings call reference the iPhone X:

Seems the end results are showing some positive results based off recent reports for the iPhone X producing second best quarter:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ticipated-clues-about-iphone-x-sales.2117179/

 

[madKIR]

In NYC it always feels like almost everyone has an X now...

 

[redman042]

I Agree the consumer really doesn’t care much about LCD and OLED displays. Most probably don’t even know the differences that they entail...

I'm not sure about that. I mean, if you ask the average consumer whether they care, they probably would shrug, but if that same consumer walks into a store and looks at a bank of phones side-by-side showing demo photos and videos, I think they would readily see the difference. For years, Samsung had the OLED advantage over iPhone and they certainly went out of their way to show that off in in-store displays. The lack of OLED was often claimed as a major disadvantage for iPhone. Now that a model of iPhone has it, it should be an equally important advantage.

 

[44267547]

I'm not sure about that. I mean, if you ask the average consumer whether they care, they probably would shrug, but if that same consumer walks into a store and looks at a bank of phones side-by-side showing demo photos and videos, I think they would readily see the difference.

I’m sure there are some who readily see the difference between LCD and OLED as you noted, rather that’s an influencing feature purchase or not, I don’t really think it is to the consumer. Like I said before, I think consumer see’s the superficial side of things with alterations like a new form factor, Face ID, dual camera, those are all the things at Apple markets _heavily_. Apple barely even markets the OLED display except for their keynotes. I can attest to those who do have the iPhone X, no one has mentioned the OLED display, except for those that likely frequent a tech forum.

And I’m sure there is a swath of iPhone users who don’t compare iPhone models in store, they just simply order and upgrade when the time comes to the latest model, if that’s what they choose.

For years, Samsung had the OLED advantage over iPhone and they certainly went out of their way to show that off in in-store displays. The lack of OLED was often claimed as a major disadvantage for iPhone. Now that a model of iPhone has it, it should be an equally important advantage.

But generally speaking, iPhone users don’t care about Samsung, because they’re usually very loyal to the iPhone brand regardless of what kind of display it has. I do think there are those who were questioning why Apple did not migrate to OLED sooner, but I don’t think that’s a transition point to swing iPhone customers to Samsung because of an OLED display.

I Agree that is OLED superior LCD technology, but the LCD display panels Apple has been using for years are the best in the industry and I think that’s been more than sufficient for the consumer, because that’s what they been used to for so long.

 

[willmtaylor]

Moment of truth. Earnings later today, and there are about 4 and a half months left until new iPhones are announced. If have been wrong about this, I'll happily admit it.

Pretty sure the links provided in the thread have already shown that, no?

 

[JPack]

I'm not sure about that. I mean, if you ask the average consumer whether they care, they probably would shrug, but if that same consumer walks into a store and looks at a bank of phones side-by-side showing demo photos and videos, I think they would readily see the difference. For years, Samsung had the OLED advantage over iPhone and they certainly went out of their way to show that off in in-store displays. The lack of OLED was often claimed as a major disadvantage for iPhone. Now that a model of iPhone has it, it should be an equally important advantage.

The average consumer cares about better contrast and deeper blacks, up to a point. That point is when money is involved.

If the 6.1" model is $150 or $200 less expensive than a similar OLED model, then it changes the entire scorecard. If we're comparing one iPhone to another iPhone, the only difference being OLED and price, the consumer is less likely to care.

We've already seen this in action with the iPad (2017) vs. iPad Air 2. Does the consumer care about laminated vs. non-laminated displays? No, especially when Apple pulls the price lever down.

 

[Piggie]

I'm sure if you went into the street and picked random general iPhone users, most of them would think Apple actually makes all the items in the iphone in it's own factories.
They may have an idea they are made in the far east, but they'd never guess, Apple just buys parts from other companies.

 

[Phone Junky]

"We're thrilled to report our best March quarter ever, with strong revenue growth in iPhone, Services and Wearables," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Customers chose iPhone X more than any other iPhone each week in the March quarter, just as they did following its launch in the December quarter."

 

[Adelphos33]

"We're thrilled to report our best March quarter ever, with strong revenue growth in iPhone, Services and Wearables," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Customers chose iPhone X more than any other iPhone each week in the March quarter, just as they did following its launch in the December quarter.

1) That's not really a big accomplishment - the newest iPhone should always be the best selling iPhone in any given year

2) ASPs did go up, and iPhone units increased year-over-year. So Apple is indeed selling a lot of high priced iPhones, including iPhone X

I think the iPhone X is doing better than my posts (and some of the reporting) implied, but probably still less than the "supercycle" expected this year

It'll be interesting to see how Apple continues to adjust iPhone pricing over time

 

[NT1440]

1) That's not really a big accomplishment - the newest iPhone should always be the best selling iPhone in any given year

2) ASPs did go up, and iPhone units increased year-over-year. So Apple is indeed selling a lot of high priced iPhones, including iPhone X

I think the iPhone X is doing better than my posts (and some of the reporting) implied, but probably still less than the "supercycle" expected this year

It'll be interesting to see how Apple continues to adjust iPhone pricing over time

1) The 8, 8+, and X are all equally new...

 

[Adelphos33]

ASPs were a bit lower than expected, so a higher mix of 8s and such this quarter versus last quarter. Still high ASPs though

 

[44267547]

ASPs were a bit lower than expected, so a higher mix of 8s and such this quarter versus last quarter. Still high ASPs though

And All those predictions of Apples “Doom” for Apple this quarter were wrong, again.

Tim Cook:

“Customers chose iPhone X more than any other iPhone each week in the March quarter, just as they did following its launch in the December quarter."

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...rofit-on-61-1b-revenue-52-2m-iphones.2117215/

Also: (Somewhat unrelated to the thread):

Revenue up 16% YOY, EPS is up 30%, Accessories revenue is up 40% and Services revenue is up 31%.

All in all, I would say that’s fairly successful.

 

[The Game 161]

Just because it didn’t sell as many as Apple hoped didn’t mean they didn’t still smash it sales wise.

 

[Adelphos33]

Just because it didn’t sell as many as Apple hoped didn’t mean they didn’t still smash it sales wise.

I listened to the call... a couple of things jumped out

1) Cook said the fact that the X was the best selling phone each week surprised them
2) This is the first time the “highest end” phone was the best seller
3) They expect volumes to pick up once they move features to lower price points

This iPhone X thing was a bit of an experiment. When Apple introduces Face ID and full screen at $799 or whatever this fall, volumes will pick up.

 

[C DM]

Moment of truth. Earnings later today, and there are about 4 and a half months left until new iPhones are announced. If have been wrong about this, I'll happily admit it.

Pretty sure the links provided in the thread have already shown that, no?

Seems like we all can move on (more or less like we could have some time ago): Tim Cook: iPhone X is a Super Bowl Winner' Even if You Wanted It to Win 'By a Few More Points'

 

[Freakonomics101]

Not every iPhone owner is willing to switch to android just because the competition offers a cheaper alternative with OLED. It also depends where Apple prices the 2018 OLED iPhones and the 6.1 LCD iPhone may not have as many as advantages the OLED models have with 3D touch, wireless charging and certain camera capabilities may not be included. But then again, the consumer may not care about those features and a 6.1 LCD cheaper price point Might be more attractive with similar iPhone X features.

The 6.1 is a definite no to me since it won't have Tap to Wake. That's one thing I love about the X. I turned off Raise to Wake and helps with my battery life. Plus I don't need or use it with the X.

 

[dumastudetto]

Seems like we all can move on (more or less like we could have some time ago): Tim Cook: iPhone X is a Super Bowl Winner' Even if You Wanted It to Win 'By a Few More Points'

It's only the best-selling model of the best selling smartphone in the world. I say only because I am sure some idiotic analysts are going to try and spin this as a gigantic fail for Apple before the week is done.

 

[ftaok]

This iPhone X thing was a bit of an experiment. When Apple introduces Face ID and full screen at $799 or whatever this fall, volumes will pick up.

While Jon Gruber can be a smug <expletive> sometimes, he nailed the raison d'être of the iPhone X. Way back when the X was just a rumor, I recall an article he penned surmising that Apple wanted to produce an iPhone with highly innovative components, but said components would be too difficult to produce in the quantities required for iPhone adoption. So they'd have to put these components into a special iPhone "pro" with a very high price in order to keep sales numbers low.

Then when the components were ready for mass adoption, these bits would make it down the line.

The trick, for Apple, would be how high to price this iPhone pro, to get enough sales to make it worthwhile, at the same time, making sure buyers of the regular iPhone wouldn't be too tempted to buy up.

Sounds like Apple was, perhaps, anticipating the 8/8 plus would both outsell the X, thus explaining Cook's surprise that the X is doing so well.

Or perhaps, it's just revisionist history on Cook's part to dress up the numbers with a good story.