Apple may cut iPhone orders by 30% for Q1

[ShintaiDK]

http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Trends/Parts-makers-brace-for-iPhone-production-cut

The stocks of everyone in the supply chain is also dropping.

The U.S. company had initially told parts makers to keep production of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus for the quarter at the same level as with their predecessors -- the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus -- a year earlier. But inventories of the two models launched last September have piled up at retailers in markets ranging from China and Japan to Europe and the U.S. amid lackluster sales. Customers saw little improvement in performance over the previous generation, while dollar appreciation led to sharp price hikes in emerging markets.

The smartphone stagnation may hit harder than expected in 2016.

 

[Denithor]

Wonder if this will hit the entire industry or just Apple? I'm still using an HTC One M7 will likely look into a new phone this year, I'm sure a lot of people will as well. Perhaps you're thinking that most people at this point have "a smart phone" and there will be less of a rush into the smart phone market from non-users? In my mind that saturation point would have happened at least a couple years ago, somewhere around the iPhone 4 and 5 generations.

 

[ShintaiDK]

From the looks of it, people wont upgrade due to hardware as previous. And people are not willing to spend the same kind of money on a smartphone.

 

[deasd]

I think it's just because emerging market are shrinking. High-price smartphone would got hit hard.

 

[StrangerGuy]

If Apple has it bad this year, Qualcomm and Samsung + everyone else dabbling in high-end Android would be in a total bloodbath. I already said the market is dead for the S820 when it previewed at AT but apparently the nerds who can't see outside benchmarks wouldn't believe me.

 

[el etro]

It's not only the economy or the smartphone market is declining: consumers perceived how futile is to buy a smartphone full of superfluous luxury components.

 

[Fjodor2001]

From the looks of it, people wont upgrade due to hardware as previous.

Yes, I guess this was bound to happen. The phones have become good enough too especially with regards to performance. Not much to improve on nowadays except for perhaps battery life, unless they invent some completely new functionality (but we've not seen that happening for quite some time).

And people are not willing to spend the same kind of money on a smartphone.

Do you have some source for that? From what I can tell, at least in western countries people still buy expensive phones. However they just do not buy new ones as often. But that is just my own observation so I don't have statistics to back it up.

 

[Phynaz]

China's economy is landing hard, expect similar news from all companies with a significant exposure there.

 

[poofyhairguy]

If Apple has it bad this year, Qualcomm and Samsung + everyone else dabbling in high-end Android would be in a total bloodbath.

"High-end" Android is basically just Samsung at this point.

But in trade mid-range is more than good enough for cheap.

 

[Megatomic]

"High-end" Android is basically just Samsung at this point.

But in trade mid-range is more than good enough for cheap.

Mid-range is where it's at for the Android market. An iPhone 6c could be a winner given the current economic circumstances.

 

[poofyhairguy]

An iPhone 6c could be a winner given the current economic circumstances.

Ug, just the thought of Apple launching what will probably be a 1GB RAM phone in 2016 for $400+ made me throw up in my mouth a little. I hope for the sake of clueless consumers the iPhone C line (or more exactly the iPhone 6 and 6+ guts) gets retired for good this year.

 

[Commodus]

Ug, just the thought of Apple launching what will probably be a 1GB RAM phone in 2016 for $400+ made me throw up in my mouth a little. I hope for the sake of clueless consumers the iPhone C line (or more exactly the iPhone 6 and 6+ guts) gets retired for good this year.

Isn't the rumor (albeit unsubstantiated, so far) that this smaller iPhone will pack 2GB of RAM? If so, problem solved.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Isn't the rumor (albeit unsubstantiated, so far) that this smaller iPhone will pack 2GB of RAM? If so, problem solved.

Hey, if the iPad Mini 4 can why not?

 

[Megatomic]

Isn't the rumor (albeit unsubstantiated, so far) that this smaller iPhone will pack 2GB of RAM? If so, problem solved.

The last rumor I read was that it's a smaller 6s with everything but 3DTouch. But who knows.

 

[soulcougher73]

From the looks of it, people wont upgrade due to hardware as previous. And people are not willing to spend the same kind of money on a smartphone.

yeah i think smart phones are now where computers got to 5 years ago or so. They are fast and good enough. No need to upgrade as you wont really see a performance boost.

 

[s44]

yeah i think smart phones are now where computers got to 5 years ago or so. They are fast and good enough. No need to upgrade as you wont really see a performance boost.

They hit this point over two years ago, though, which is why you see the effect now.

If my S4 had SD800 instead of SD600 I'd consider just keeping it forever.

 

[Subyman]

Wonder if this will hit the entire industry or just Apple? I'm still using an HTC One M7 will likely look into a new phone this year, I'm sure a lot of people will as well. Perhaps you're thinking that most people at this point have "a smart phone" and there will be less of a rush into the smart phone market from non-users? In my mind that saturation point would have happened at least a couple years ago, somewhere around the iPhone 4 and 5 generations.

Should hit everywhere. Samsung has already warned investors of a rough 2016. IMO, the subsidized prices have gotten out of control. I used to upgrade for $100 and then it jumped to around $200. Last time I went to upgrade to the 6S and it was $300 + an upgrade fee and tax, so it came out to nearly $400 for an on-contract phone. I balked and decided to keep the 5S until it either dies or something else comes out.

You can tell they are starting to try to find new ways to sell these expensive things when they are offering monthly payment plans directly through the manufacturer.

 

[Subyman]

They hit this point over two years ago, though, which is why you see the effect now.

If my S4 had SD800 instead of SD600 I'd consider just keeping it forever.

Yup. People like me with that 2 year old phone that surfs fine and does just about anything I need it to without a hiccup are hard pressed to pay the upgrade fee. I'd like more storage, but that wasn't an option this time around without laying down another $100.

 

[Artdeco]

Still a big meh, from me, Apple has been spot on with their guidance, earnings due in a few weeks, we shall see.

 

[sbpromania]

The market is clearly saturated, companies need to reinvent. Evolution is not going to keep people come back and buy the latest smartphone.

I guess that some breakthroughs are really needed in the smartphone market.