Apple iPhone 6 sales disappoint, shares plummet 7%

[Mopetar]

Meh - folks act like all the electronics we buy (TV, stereos, etc) are all Chinese brands.

Does brand really matter much outside of quality or our perception of it? Whether you've got a phone made by a U.S. company or a Chinese company, they're both assembled in the same place and both companies are likely multinationals that are owned by investors or investment groups all over the world.

Brand is useful if it carries a history behind it, but as companies get sold, bought, absorbed, spit out again, etc. that history starts to become meaningless.

 

[slackerinabox]

Meh - folks act like all the electronics we buy (TV, stereos, etc) are all Chinese brands. Even in far more mature and commoditized markets, brands still matter.

For sure Samsung is a huge target and has a ton of challenges and they will need to continue to differentiate. The Edge display was different (even if only for style), their cameras this year are arguably the best you can buy, their displays are better than others.

Whether they can keep ahead of the curve is a fair question - but folks act like the writing is already on the wall when they've probably sold more flagship phones this year than all the rest of the entire Android ecosystem combined.

Samsung got it's brand recognition after just a few years of rather solid marketing (and, ok, the galaxy s2 and s3 were great products for their time as well), marketing can be bought and these Chinese firms have deep pockets. It'll take years, but they seem to have adopted a smart slow and steady attitude to the world market (emerging markets first since they have the most growth, build a reputation and expand into the U.S.).

Besides samsung, the rest of the android market seems to run on low-margin/great value phones. I mean, what premium handset vendor is succeeding? I think a larger than you'd think percentage of Android users value bang for buck over all else and would jump the samsung ship for a shiny phone that's a banging deal.

 

[dawheat]

Samsung got it's brand recognition after just a few years of rather solid marketing (and, ok, the galaxy s2 and s3 were great products for their time as well), marketing can be bought and these Chinese firms have deep pockets. It'll take years, but they seem to have adopted a smart slow and steady attitude to the world market (emerging markets first since they have the most growth, build a reputation and expand into the U.S.).

Besides samsung, the rest of the android market seems to run on low-margin/great value phones. I mean, what premium handset vendor is succeeding? I think a larger than you'd think percentage of Android users value bang for buck over all else and would jump the samsung ship for a shiny phone that's a banging deal.

I don't want to make this thread go even more off-topic, my only point was people seem to be assuming Chinese domination of Android as a done deal - and other markets that seem to make even more sense don't reflect that. Samsung's TV market share is about 23% as well - which is oddly close to their mobile phone share.

Part of it may be branding (how long will it take for Huawei to be a brand your parents buy), part may be reputational (will Huawei non-Nexus devices ever be approved for corporate and government devices), and part of it is whether Samsung's conglomerate structure keeps giving them some meaningful differentiators (screens, SOCs).

That being said, only Samsung seems to be selling flagship level Android phones in any level of volume and profitability - and that being a far cry from Apple. I see this more of a sign that there is no money to be made at the Android high end for other OEMs.

 

[stlc8tr]

The fiscal Q4 numbers only included a few days of 6S/6S+ sales so it's the next earnings report that will refute or confirm Achtung!'s prediction.

WSJ reports that Apple is confident enough to order 85-90M units for delivery by end of year.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-preparing-record-number-of-new-iphones-1436367371

OK, the results are in and Achtung!'s doom & gloom forecasts were way off the mark (as everyone predicted. ).

http://9to5mac.com/2016/01/26/apple-earnings-fy16-q1/

With that in mind, Apple reported $75.9b in revenue, $18.4b in profit, 74.8m iPhones sold, 16.1m iPads sold, and 5.3m Macs sold. Although the October through December period was probably a stacked quarter for Apple Watches sales, the company doesn’t break out category sales for that product for “competitive” reasons.

That compares to $51.5 billion in revenue, $11.1 billion in profit, 48m iPhones, 9.8m iPads, and 5.7m Macs reported in the previous quarter. During the same holiday quarter a year prior, Apple reported $74.6b in revenue, $18 billion in profit, 74.4m iPhones, 21.4m iPads, and 5.5m Macs for comparison. Analysts were predicting around $76.6b in revenue, 75m iPhones, 17.3m iPads, and 5.8m Macs.

 

[openwheel]

Yay!!!! Party at Commandus' house yall!!! BYOB and Apple Watches.

 

[Ns1]

OK, the results are in and Achtung!'s doom & gloom forecasts were way off the mark (as everyone predicted. ).

http://9to5mac.com/2016/01/26/apple-earnings-fy16-q1/

Wait for the spin about how 700k phones less than expectations = I TOLD YOU SO THEY'RE DOOOOOOOOOOOOMED

 

[Ns1]

oh here's the spin:

Apple has reported the slowest growth in iPhone sales since the product's 2007 launch.

The US tech giant sold 74.8 million iPhones in its fiscal first quarter, compared with 74.5 million a year ago.

Apple said revenue for the next quarter would be between $50bn (£34bn; €46bn) and $53bn, below the $58bn it reported for the same period a year ago.

This would mark the company's first fall in revenues since it launched the iPhone.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35412892

 

[Mopetar]

Wait for the spin about how 700k phones less than expectations = I TOLD YOU SO THEY'RE DOOOOOOOOOOOOMED

Clearly Apple is doomed and glorious Samsung will deal them a deathblow shortly.