Yikes! Talk about not starting 2019 off on the right foot. After briefly halting trading of its stock on Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared a letter with investors revising the company’s guidance fo| Techie World
Yikes! Talk about not starting 2019 off on the right foot.
After briefly halting trading of its stock on Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared a letter with investors revising the company’s guidance for revenue for the first quarter of 2019.
Cook pins the lower revenue projections on a number of factors, including “challenges in emerging markets” and “economic deceleration, particularly in Greater China,” as well as factors like “US dollar strength-related price increases” and customers choosing to replace their existing iPhone batteries instead of buying new iPhones.
Simply put: new iPhones are too expensive, starting at $749 for an iPhone XR and $999 for an iPhone XS. And so, too, is every other product Apple sells, including the new iPad Pros, which start at $799, and the new MacBook Air at $1,199.
Maybe Apple pushed its “Apple tax” a bit too far this time around.
Apple tested how high it could push prices with the $999 iPhone X. At first, the move was greeted by a collective, “Are you nuts?” But then people acquiesced.
A thousand dollars isn’t an unreasonable amount of money for a device that does so much. While past quarterly earnings reports painted a clear picture that iPhone sales were down and had plateaued, the higher average sale price (ASP) per device helped offset reduced unit sales.
The narrative shifted from “Apple’s doomed because it’s not selling more iPhones” to “Relax, everything’s fine! It’s all gonna work out.” And it seemed that way for about a year. Now, however, things look more dire for Apple.
See that asterisk? It probably wouldn’t be there if the new iPhones were flying off shelves.
It’s hard not to notice Apple’s rising prices.
As a reviewer, I still believe that even at $750, the iPhone XR is a great value (I put my money where my mouth is and bought one for my mom for Christmas!) But I understand it’s still a big chunk of money for some.
Monthly installment plans have no doubt helped soften the blow of the full cost of an iPhone by splitting the actual price into more manageable monthly payments.
It’s kind of like a TV. Do you need a new TV every year? Absolutely not.
