Apple Loop: Poor iPhone Sales Scare Apple, iPhone XR Price Cut, Surprising Return For Classic iPhone

Taking a look back at another week of news from Cupertino, this week’s Apple Loop includes falling iPhone sales, Apple cuts iPhone XR pricing, the return of the iPhone X, a review of the Mac Mini, everyone waiting for the MacBook Air, and the best Black Friday deals for Apple hardware.

Apple Loop is here to remind you of a few of the very many discussions that have happened around Apple over the last seven days (and you can read my weekly digest of Android news here on Forbes).

Is There Good News In Apple’s iPhone Sales Figures?

Lots of attention has been placed on the falling sales of the 2018 iPhone handsets. Although Apple has decided it is no longer reporting sales, there are enough indicators from the supply chain to illustrate the downwards trend on the expected iPhone sales. It’s a scary outlook for Apple on the surface, but this could be good news for when the time comes to talk about its quarterly numbers:

Apple has already stated that it will no longer be offering sales figures for the iPhone, instead focusing on the software and services side of Apple in the near future. With the increased retail price of the leading iPhones, and the increasing margins of the devices further down the portfolio, it’s likely that Apple’s revenue and profit will remain high.

This increase in numbers alongside the perception of falling sales will (hopefully) be seen as confirmation that Tim Cook’s new storyline for Apple is working.

More thoughts on this here on Forbes.

Wong Liang Shen (30) holds up his new iPhone XS Max after being the first customer in line for new products at the Apple Store in Kuala Lumpur (Photo by Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty Images)Getty

Apple Cuts iPhone XR Price

Alongside falling numbers in the supply chain, Apple is cutting the wholesale cost of the iPhone in Japan. By offering larger subsidies, the hope must be that carriers will put more effort into selling the newer handset thanks to the larger margins. Benjamin Mayo reports:

Apple is set to lower prices of the iPhone XR in Japan by offering subsidies to Japanese carriers… The price drops are apparently going into effect as soon as next week. The $750 price is somewhat disguised in Japan due to bundled carrier contracts, but the device is seemingly being overshadowed by the still popular iPhone 8 in the region.

More on 9to5Mac.

Welcome Back To The iPhone X

Coupled with the lower sales of the iPhone XS and XS Max, and a potential commitment to Samsung to purchase a certain number of OLED screens, Apple has increased production of the iPhone X (reports The Wall Street Journal), a handset that was effectively discontinued in Apple Stores with the launch of the 2018 family of handsets. Jon Porter looks at the details:

The move is allegedly due to an agreement made with Samsung to purchase a certain quantity of OLED screens. With this year’s OLED-equipped models failing to sell in the quantities needed to fulfill the terms of the deal, the report suggests that Apple is turning to last year’s model for a solution. Apple ceased selling the iPhone X in stores when the XS was first released.

The iPhone X is thought to be cheaper to produce than the XS or XS Max thanks to its age, which means components and manufacturing equipment is cheaper, according to the WSJ report. In the past, legacy models have been produced when there’s enough demand for them in certain markets.

More at The Verge.

Reviewing The Mac Mini

As part of Apple’s October launch event, Tim Cook and his team finally updated the Mac Mini. The base price has risen slightly to $800, but it retains a plethora of ports, hardware encoding in the T2 chip, but a weaker GPU. Marco Arment has taken a closer look as he reviews the 2018 edition of the Mini:

The point of the Mac Mini is to be as versatile as possible, addressing lots of diverse and edge-case needs that the other Macs can’t with their vastly different form factors and more opinionated designs. The Mac Mini needs to be a utility product, not a design statement. (Although, even as someone tired of space-gray everything, I have to admit that the Mini looks fantastic in its new color.)

His full review can be read here.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple unveils a new MacBook Air during a launch event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on October 30, 2018 in New York City. This is Apple's first full upgrade of the laptop in three years. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)Getty

We’re All Waiting For Air

Meanwhile analysts are hopeful that the falling market share of macOS powered machines in Q3 2018 was down to people waiting for the long-rumored update to the MacBook Air - which arrived in October. The fall of 2.5 percent saw Apple lose fourth place in the market share table to Asus, with HP, Lenovo, and Dell staying on the podium. Ben Lovejoy reports:

The model was updated with Intel’s latest eighth-generation processors, an improved third-generation keyboard, True Tone display and the option of 32GB RAM.

It’s likely that a significant factor was people waiting for the new MacBook Air, launched last month. A smaller number of customers will also have been awaiting the 2018 Mac mini.

The real test will be whether Apple recovers share in the holiday quarter – something we’ll now only know from estimates, as the company ceases reporting unit sales.

More at 9to5Mac.

And Finally…

It’s Black Friday weekend and every manufacturer is rolling out deals to help shift stock. Apple is not alone, but as Cnet’s Rick Broida notes it may not be much:

Apple doesn't really "do" Black Friday, at least not the way other stores do. There's no weeks-ahead leaked ad, and historically not much in the way of Black Friday discounts.

But if you’re looking for the best value Black Friday deals for Apple hardware, you need to look outside of the Apple Store. Gordon Kelly and BestBlackFriday.com have rounded up where to start:

Yesterday Apple confirmed a four day Black Friday sale. But you’re in for a nasty surprise. History tells us that Apple.com is consistently the worst Black Friday sales destination of the year. For example, last year Apple gave gifts cards valued up to $150 only when you bought old models at full price. There are far better Apple Black Friday sales, and these are the best of the best…

More Black Friday deals for Apple here on Forbes.

Apple Loop brings you seven days worth of highlights every weekend here on Forbes. Don’t forget to follow me so you don’t miss any coverage in the future. Last week’s Apple Loop can be read here, or this week’s edition of Loop’s sister column, Android Circuit, is also available on Forbes.

Let's block ads! (Why?)