Apple Tells Suppliers iPhone Demand Has Slowed as Holidays Near (bloomberg.com) 39
Apple, suffering from a global supply crunch, is now confronting a different problem: slowing demand. From a report: The company has told its component suppliers that demand for the iPhone 13 lineup has weakened, people familiar with the matter said, signaling that some consumers have decided against trying to get the hard-to-find item. Already, Apple had cut its iPhone 13 production goal for this year by as many as 10 million units, down from a target of 90 million, because of a lack of parts, Bloomberg News reported. But the hope was to make up much of that shortfall next year -- when supply is expected to improve. The company is now informing its vendors that those orders may not materialize, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
Not giving Xmas gifts that won't come til 2022. (Score:2)
A few people in my family are interested in certain Apple products. Those Apple products currently have estimated delivery times of 5-6 weeks. Those people are getting other things for Christmas, since I can't get them the Apple products they want in time for Christmas. Simple.
The demand is still there; I'm just being strategic about how I react to it.
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We are still in a pandemic and it is narcissistic to believe it will not any effect on the supply chain.
Mostly kids and iPads, yes.
And I'm just saying, as you have pointed out, supply chain constraints are not the same as weakening demand.
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But from an economics point of view, one drives the other. The kid might still want an iPad, but if they can't get one for xmas, the demand for a present will be met by something else. Since most kids don't have their own money for big ticket items, even if the iPad supply ramps back up in January, that sale might get pushed to a birthday in June, or even next xmas, and maybe by that time the kid's
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But from an economics point of view, one drives the other. The kid might still want an iPad, but if they can't get one for xmas, the demand for a present will be met by something else. Since most kids don't have their own money for big ticket items, even if the iPad supply ramps back up in January, that sale might get pushed to a birthday in June, or even next xmas, and maybe by that time the kid's demand has shifted to a Playstation or eBike or whatever.
There are still no viable alternatives to an iPad.
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Citation required
Seriously?
I think it is you that needs to provide a Citation.
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Same.
I tried to buy Apple iPad and iPad Air in both Seattle and Santa Barbara and all they had before MID-JANUARY was iPad Pro which costs twice as much and has features nobody cares about.
No supply, no sale.
No, I don't care what their excuses are.
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Same.
I tried to buy Apple iPad and iPad Air in both Seattle and Santa Barbara and all they had before MID-JANUARY was iPad Pro which costs twice as much and has features nobody cares about.
No supply, no sale.
No, I don't care what their excuses are.
If there is no demand for iPads, why were you trying to buy one?
TBF: the iPhone 13 doesn't bring in that much more (Score:3)
Unless you are a cinema pro or you like wasting money.
OLED screens are a thing since the iPhone X, battery is ~ the same, CPUs are improving but they are not bottlenecks.
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Last year I switch to a Samsung phone, I had been using an iPhone of some type for over a decade.
I had the Origional iPhone, the iPhone 4, iPhone 6, iPhone X
I gave my wife my iPhone X and I got a Samsung S20. And after getting use to Android over iOS. I am not missing much, nor am I really gaining anything major.
The iPhone 13, is just big and bulky, and I don't use the camera feature all that much anyways so why bother upgrading.
App makers try to make sure that they can support iPhone and Android custome
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Most people don't purchase new phones on an annual cadence, let alone the high-end models, so you need to look at the accumulation of features in the base models over the course of a few generations to get a better sense of the upgrades most people are seeing in actuality.
For instance, you mentioned OLED screens as having been around since the iPhone X. That's true, but it misses the fact that OLED didn't reach the base model until the iPhone 12, so the 13 was still the first time many people got their hand
People are broke (Score:2)
The pandemic has significantly affected workers in most of the world. Here in the USA rising childcare costs mean that a lot of people can't afford it any more. Couple that with less disposable income which affects lots of other jobs and a lot of people just don't have the cash for a new phone they don't need.
Until we get cash back in people's hands the downturn will continue.
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Actually the pandemic had created a lot of extra consumer demand. People are home, alone and trying to fill a void in their hearts, which often means getting a cool gizmo. The smartphone is considered a rather affordable luxury item. Even a poor person can often afford a top of the line phone with a plan that pays for the phone over time.
However if everyone can now get the Top of the Line Luxury product, then there is little status in getting it anymore. Combined with being home all the time, that means t
Re: People are broke (Score:2)
Just bought my gf a backpack for work because she started taking public transportation. It's essentially a drawstring sack with shoulder straps, not even all that big.
How much /should/ something like that cost? I don't know... maybe $25 if I'm being profligate.
How much did it actually cost? $200 on sale from $450. It has a logo. So she can now show off the logo I bought and demonstrate to all her coworkers that she's better than them.
Consumerism is weird. And dumb.
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That's not actually true. In most tech cities, children were already rare. Meanwhile, the young adults have a ton more discretionary money because they haven't been able to eat out, go to a night club, jet off to Tahiti, etc. Rolex and other luxury watch and leather goods sales have skyrocketed.
The money is there; just the goods aren't, so the money goes in search of goods that are.
model 13 (Score:3)
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I always wait 3 versions before replacing my iPhone.
iPhone 5, 5 SE, 8, 11.
Wake me up when the 14 is out.
Is it a Phone with a camera or (Score:1)
Would have bought one if I could get one (Score:2)
Re: Would have bought one if I could get one (Score:2)
You live in a country where you don't speak the language well enough to navigate a web site? Take a class, bruh.
Re: Would have bought one if I could get one (Score:3)
Re: Would have bought one if I could get one (Score:2)
Each year this time (Score:3)
We get these rumors about "Apple cutting back iPhone orders" in early December each year. Well DUH! The first quarter of the calendar year, and particularly the 2nd quarter, have much weaker demand than the 4th quarter. Now there could well be some -relative adjustments-, but since Apple doesn't publish data, this is all attempts to read tea leaves from the dregs of Apple's complex supply chain. And in particular, the last couple of days we've seen stories on both supply shortfalls and production reductions. It's very unlikely both of these are accurate.
Bad news about Apple sells clicks. That's what "journalism" is all about these days, generating clicks. Of course, the collective memory of the Internet is short, so few spend any time figuring out if the author of today's "bad news" story has a track record. The one exception to this is the ped30.com quarterly collection of analyst predictions and then actual results. Use your favorite search engine for best and worst site:ped30.com You can see how poorly the 'professional analysts' perform, quarter after quarter.
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Incrementalism isn't worth $1100+ / yr. (Score:2)
Sorry, I'm not an Apple fan but the ever-increasing costs of cell phones for minor, incremental changes aren't justified. It can be justified for some who always want the latest and greatest but after those die-hards have bought theirs, you're left with people who break their old phone and those who are waiting on upgrade availability.
It's the same with Android too, I can't see spending that much every year.
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Have no idea why someone would spend $1000+ for a new phone.
People trapped at home don't care about phones (Score:2)
As a practical person who doesn't
Received in three days (Score:2)
We ordered two new iPhone 13 Pro Max through AT&T on Friday and received both of them within three business days (yesterday and Tuesday). I was expecting far longer of a delay!
Telling you it's the notch.. (Score:1)
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I wanted to get an iPhone because of the significant implications from a privacy perspective.
FTFY.
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Not everyone is a gullible as you
And not everyone is as stupid as you.
Now what?
Ooh, Only 80 Meelion Units! (Score:2)
About a zillion companies would do anything to have a tenth of those sales; so let's get some perspective, here.