Finally, Apple might be coming around to seeing the $1,000 iPhone X the same way that many of us do: as a great, but too-expensive smartphone.
A new report suggests that slowing demand for Apple's best smartphone has pushed the company to contemplate that this current smartphone market might not have enough support for its uber-pricey device.
Taking it a step further, Fast Company's report about Apple's revelation cites a "supply chain source with direct knowledge of Apple’s plans" who says Apple is disappointed with sales of the iPhone X. This same source claims Apple only ordered 8 million iPhone X handsets for Q2 of 2018, and that the company is trying to "burn off" unsold units that it over-ordered.
But not everyone is concerned. "I think it is really dangerous to infer trends from individual supply chain sources, and I am pretty confident that this particular conclusion is ridiculous," says Avi Greengart, research director at media analytics firm GlobalData. "iPhone sales always spike at launch and then taper off somewhat, and we clearly saw from Apple’s earnings that the iPhone X was a smash hit. Can everyone afford $1,000 phones? Of course not, that’s why Apple introduced the iPhone 8 alongside the X and keeps selling older iPhones as well."
This news come in stark contrast with previous reports that showed the iPhone X as a major driver of sales over the 2017 holiday season. Above Avalon analyst Neil Cybart claimed that the X contributed about 35% of total phone sales during the holiday quarter, which works out to about 27 million phones.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook claimed that the iPhone X outsold all other iPhone models every week of the first quarter after the device’s launch, but that's a comparative statistic, and Apple's target for sales could have been pegged to a higher rate than what it's seen. And while some point to the high average iPhone sale price of $796 (across all models) as a sign that the X was a hit, the iPhone 8 Plus costs $799 and $949 (for 64GB and 256GB of storage, respectively) and could have helped raise pricing.
What does this mean for you, the consumer? Hopefully, Apple will try to sweeten its offers to move iPhone X handsets ahead of the models it releases this fall. The company may also consider releasing those upcoming models at lower prices, such as the reported $550 LCD display-based iPhone.
