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iPhone Sales in China Declined 24% in First Six Weeks of 2024
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You can describe it as "anti-American". I call it "economic nationalism", but I agree that it has to be a significant part of it.
Either way, it's a very real problem for Apple, and the share price is now being affected by it. Investors are getting spooked, and that may get worse unless Apple pulls a rabbit out of a hat with the next iPhone.
The need to upgrade is not there like it used to be. This is first year I didn't upgrade my iPhone. Phone keeps getting bigger and a bit more expensive. I'm traditionally an early adopter. But, the features are not as exciting or must have. Memory/storage is low. Phone is heavier/bigger.
I have an iPhone 15 for testing at work. My personal iPhone is a 14. And, I only got a 14 because my 13 broke. I basically lost a bit of interest in upgrades starting with the 13.
I have an iPhone 15 for testing at work. My personal iPhone is a 14. And, I only got a 14 because my 13 broke. I basically lost a bit of interest in upgrades starting with the 13.
But that’s not the reason. You guys actually think iPhone is suffering?
Apple just sold $4B more iPhone than in 2022.
Counterpoint research is guessing. These numbers aren’t official and the economic issues in China are well documented.
Every year, people declare Apple not innovative enough and every year they put up bigger numbers. Do they grow massively? No, but they have over 2B devices.
Research like this comes out and so many run to explain why it’s happening but you ignore Apple continues to put up record numbers. Official numbers.
Officially, China was off 12% in 2023, largely a win considering the Chinese markets are off 50% in the last 5 years. iPhone is killing it in every other market and the Chinese have proven they love the iPhone. We can’t act like their overall economic issues don’t matter.
Eh?
A randomized poll of computer users would predominantly consist of people who would never be interested in buying a Mac in the first place, regardless of spec. They are just too much money for too little perceived benefit unless you have a particular interest.
It would be far more interesting if we could poll the group of computer users who could be potential Mac customers. Unfortunately, that’s difficult to do.
I’m sure they do. But there is a huge problem in that, because they can only gather that data from the people who bought a mac, not from those who chose not to! And that category is, after all, the majority.
So you only get telemetry data from the college student who got a Macbook Air from her parents when she started, not the one who bought a Windows laptop to be able to game a bit on it every now and then. Of course the Macbook Air user uses her computer for that which it is suitable for, because that is what she can do with it. If she has other wants or needs she will have to use another computer. And if not a Mac, Apple will never realize that it’s just her Mac that is relegated to typewriting and websurfing.
I have a friend who just quit working. He has a good stash of money, just bought himself a $5000 gaming PC, and wanted to replace his Mac Pro with something newer. But he won’t buy. Not because he cannot do it, but because he thinks Apples upgrade prices are obscene, and gets too angry to want to give them money. He, like myself, has used Macs since the mid -80s, written software for them (still has a developer account) and so on. A staunch supporter in the real world. But he has simply lost his regard for the company (and it is not as if any of us need a Mac, anything goes really), so - no more telemetry data from him. He just doesn’t show up any more, and Apple has no idea why.
And I think that is part of why Apple appears to make such strange and contradictory moves. Why they equip their whole line-up with actually decent little GPUs, promote games such as Resident Evil Village and Baldurs Gate - only to give those same small attractive consumer laptops half the RAM, and a quarter of the storage of a $400 gaming console, allowing at most the installment of one (1) game, if that. It’s weird. But people do notice, and are generally aware of that which concerns them. Photo buffs know that Apple has nerfed the regular iPhones so they can’t use ProRes, even though they use exactly the same hardware as previous Pro models that do. Mac Studio owners know they can’t upgrade the NAND, even though it’s socketed, because Apple blocks it. And even though I bought a Studio Max, that’s still a dick move, and I’m not very likely to recommend Macs anymore.
These things don’t build consumer loyalty and brand appreciation, even among us that still buy their products for whatever reason. And again, Apple can’t gather data from the ones who turned in the door. But maybe there were reasons they walked out, and Apple is shooting themselves in the foot with some of their policies, loosing those who might very well otherwise become (or stay) customers and part of their greater eco system.
I’ve been a Mac user for almost 40 years. But the Apple of today has become something it didn’t use to be, and it’s a bit sad to see.
"Although the iPhone 15 is a great device, it has no significant upgrades from the previous version, so consumers feel fine holding on to the older-generation iPhones for now," — where is my foldable iPhone 15 Ultra?
The cost of everything decreases year on year? DECREASES? D e c r e a s e s? Again, decrease???
I've said it forever, but Tim Cook is simply riding on the coattails of Apple's previous innovative nature. Tim has zero vision and is the most boring person in the world to listen to.
Oh well, at least Tim created some really expensive goggles.
Oh well, at least Tim created some really expensive goggles.
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Time for Tim Cook to make another surprise visit to China 😂
www.macrumors.com
He's probably on his private ✈️ there now.
Apple CEO Tim Cook Visits China Amid Reports of Lower iPhone 15 Sales
Apple CEO Tim Cook has made a surprise visit to China amid reports that iPhone 15 sales are down in the country compared to last year's iPhone 14...
www.macrumors.com
He's probably on his private ✈️ there now.
No, it simply because Chinese have lots of more choices when choosing smart phones.
When iPhone 15 pro was revealed, I knew it wouldn’t sell.
You forgot a third possible reason. Same design over several generations. At least Apple could change the look of the camera cluster to reinvigorate sales in China and probably beyond.
It will be the same story with the 16 Pro if it looks exactly the same. Exclusive AI features or a 48mp ultra-wide camera won’t cut it.
So Apple and Oppo loss ground to Huawei mostly. Vivo stayed about the same.
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Huawei’s satellite voice feature is miles ahead of others.
In Europe we also have lots of more choices, hence the 20 vs 80% iOS vs Android market share. However, iPhones are still more accessible to an average European than to an average Chinese.
iPhone Sales by Region (mm)
| Year | Americas | Europe | China | Japan | Rest of Asia Pacific |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 70.3 | 33.9 | 71.2 | 15 | 12.2 |
| 2016 | 62.9 | 34.6 | 58.3 | 14.6 | 14.8 |
| 2017 | 69.3 | 36.8 | 51.6 | 15.3 | 13.3 |
| 2018 | 74.8 | 38.2 | 44.8 | 14.9 | 14.2 |
| 2019 | 65.7 | 36.3 | 31.4 | 14.8 | 12.8 |
| 2020 | 73.3 | 37.3 | 34.9 | 14.7 | 14 |
| 2021 | 84.3 | 56.1 | 42.9 | 17.8 | 17.3 |
| 2022 | 99.8 | 56 | 43.6 | 15.2 | 17.2 |
| 2023 | 98.1 | 56.8 | 43.7 | 14.6 | 17.8 |
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Apple is clearly failing to keep up with the innovation in the marketplace, their products were once the gold standard for innovation in tech and under Cook this has taken a back seat to profit. The two go hand in hand, the iphone 15 is no more than a mid market phone, the 16 will be the same.
That's why $100bn was wiped off the value in the past week or so and over $400bn since the peak. It's computing line up is now no more innovative then some brands that you can buy for half or a third of the price. Focus needs to move back to innovation and not milking customers for every penny they can whilst delivering standard tech.
That's why $100bn was wiped off the value in the past week or so and over $400bn since the peak. It's computing line up is now no more innovative then some brands that you can buy for half or a third of the price. Focus needs to move back to innovation and not milking customers for every penny they can whilst delivering standard tech.
Who cares? They are communists, so let them have their own communist products.
You probably haven't used any modern Samsung, Oppo or Huawei flagship because their SW and HW is on par with Apple, actually Samsung seems to have less bugs (at least noticeable bugs), Apple is not what it used to be, probably the only thing holding many people from switching is the ecosystem which is still a bit superior, but competition is also closing that gap. So we'll see.
How could you blame Tim lack of innovation, and at the same time blame him spent 10B trying to create a self-driving car?
For $10bn he could have pretty much purchased Rivian, NIO or Lucid outright, had working market delivered vehicles they could then use to innovate from there. Including manufacturing. It's basic stuff, $10bn effectively written off for a product which was never core to the business when they could have partnered or acquired is getting a career ending event for nearly any other company on the planet.
the evidence you present that all the "rotteness" emanates from Tim Cook is compelling. where can I subscribe to your patreon/substack? (I'm not a Tim Cook fan and occasionally a critic but the issues at such a huge corporation as Apple are never the product of a single thing or person, just how the success of Apple was never down to a single person i.e. Steve Jobs — or Woz back in the day — though you could make a better argument for Woz in the pre-Lisa, pre-Mac days because it was his genius in the motherboards)