
'Anemic' iPhone 8 demand drags Apple shares lower - prando
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-iphone/anemic-iphone-8-demand-drags-apple-shares-lower-idUSKBN1CO1E7?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtechnologyNews+%28Reuters+Technology+News%29
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immad
Apple Stock is up 34% in the last year [1].

Its only over the last 2 months that it is very slightly down or flat.

Seems like iPhone 8/X was already priced in the stock and its going mostly as
expected.

[1]
[https://www.google.com/search?q=apple+stock](https://www.google.com/search?q=apple+stock)

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rm999
The story is about a near-instantaneous ~23 billion dollar drop in the market
cap of Apple after reports of production slow-downs; at least that's the story
several analysts are telling. Your comment is very insightful and puts this
drop into perspective (i.e. it's not that big of a drop), but the reality is
some major investors clearly found the news unexpected.

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mikeash
$23 billion sounds big, but it’s less than 3%, and assigning a cause to _any_
stock market movement is fraught with peril.

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sova
Stocks are oscillatory by nature! At least some people understand this caveat.
Not to mention the X comes out soon, and it'll probably rocket again.

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mrweasel
The current iPhone line up is to broad. There's currently five different
models of iPhone, not counting the Plus models.

Introducing the X, and the 8 seems like a mistake that only serves to confuses
customer, or worse, make them reconsider their actual needs. I don't think
most owners of the iPhone 6, 6s or 7 are displeased with their phones, so
there's no need to replace them. If they break, then why not save the money
and buy the cheaper option, which have served them well until now?

The beauty of the iPhone marketing, as least initially, was that there was at
most two models to pick from. It makes the choice much easier for the customer
and made the sales figures for then new models look better.

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otakucode
My first thought upon the unveil was that the 8 might not have a great market
and might get classified as the 'poverty phone' as absurd as that sounds.
Given that new model iPhones are already a luxury good, splitting that on
price so substantially seems... strange. If you're buying a luxury phone,
dropping hundreds of dollars on one... are you going to be satisfied with
anything less than the X? Are the social status symbol needs the consumer is
trying to meet with those phones going to be met with an 8?

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Tiktaalik
Yes it reminds me of when the Xbox 360 released a $100 cheaper stripped down
"Core Pack" without a harddrive, headset and other things. It was mocked by
gamers and the enthusiast game press and labelled (not very appropriately) the
"retard pack."

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ecshafer
To be fair, losing the hard drive was a pretty big deal, regardless of the
verbage using colloquially. To many it seemed like a maneuver to try and get
unknowledgeable buyers (parents and grandparents)to get the better deal. Which
they would then have to buy the peripherals later on down the line.

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geophile
My iphone 6 is probably on its last legs. The X phone is too expensive and not
available anyway. The 8 isn't that much of an improvement on the 7, so if I
don't want an X, I'll probably save money and go with a 7. Sluggish sales for
8 are not surprising.

~~~
Tiktaalik
Same. I have a 5s and I'm tired of running out of storage space, so it's time
for an upgrade.

As a Mac fan, I follow Apple news, but even though I watched the press
conference I've forgotten if there were any substantial benefits to the 8 over
the 7 other than presumably faster specs and a mildly better camera. Seems
pretty similar.

I definitely feel no need to grab the 8, and the 7 (or even 6s) seem like good
options when one considers the price drops.

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Yetanfou
Just put in a (bigger) MicroSD-card...

Yes, this is tongue-in-cheek, however it does remind me of the famous "I need
a new car, the tank is empty" (or, in earlier times "the ashtray is full")
quote of senseless consumption. Hardware-wise those devices should be able to
last much longer than this, were it not for the planned obsolescence of
limited memory space, OS-update mandated slowdowns and eventual abandonment.

Hardware can last a long time if it is made to last. It can remain useful for
many more years than the 2- or 3-year update cycle. My phone is 6 years old,
I'm typing this on a 13 year old laptop, both still work fine for daily use.
Both have user-replaceable parts, both can be upgraded.

Both run free software.

~~~
geophile
The problem is that the combination of an old iPhone and a new OS tends to
suck. And batteries wear out.

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nihonde
I will never understand the decision to name the new model "ten" instead of
"ex". It made the iPhone 8 _two_ generations obsolete before it even arrived.

Either way, demand for the X will inevitably shift this blip in the other
direction after it hits the streets and people see it in action.

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russellbeattie
It's the 10th anniversary of the iPhone.

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nihonde
They have no excuse. They painted themselves into this corner before with Mac
OS. Not to mention the history of abject failure of anniversary edition Macs.

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ntsplnkv2
Not a surprise.

People who want the latest and greatest are waiting for the X.

The 8 isn't big enough of a jump over the 7 so many will keep their 7 or if
they have an older model will simply buy a 7 to save money.

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robterrell
Side by side, the 8 is impressively faster than the 7. I don't know about
cameras or anything, but the CPU upgrade was no joke.

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stbtrax
sure, but for 99% of what most people do, web,text,maps. Is it appreciable?

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empthought
There is no upper bound on what "web" will require of hardware. Web developers
will see to that.

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dylanhassinger
Steve Jobs revitalized Apple by streamlining the product line and guaranteeing
high quality. Tim Cook has done exactly the opposite. Makes me really sad

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bsaul
Reading all those stories of lagging iphones after upgrading to ios11 really
makes me start to believe in planned obsolescence... has anyone seen an
article giving any kind of concrete proof of a company such as apple doing
that ?

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ProfessorLayton
Apple hasn't done enough to make me want to upgrade from my 6S . Should I
break/lose my 6S, I may even replace it with another one and pocket the price
difference between the newest models.

Many of the more interesting features are in the Plus sized phones (cameras),
which I'm just _not_ in the market for. My pockets aren't getting any bigger
no matter how many features they add, and I'm not convinced the iPhone X will
be a UX improvement over Touch ID yet.

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jlgaddis
I upgraded to a 6s (from a 4!) as soon as they came out. The girlfriend got a
7 as soon as they came out, then got a 6s after she broke the 7. Neither of us
see any reason to upgrade any time soon (we both buy our phones outright so
that's a nice chunk of change). I would _like_ an iPhone X -- just because
it's "cooler" \-- but I really can't justify spending that much for it when I
have a 6s that works just fine.

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Kyragem
I think the demand for the iPhone X will be tepid. It is too expensive and no
popular apps require that much CPU/GPU horsepower. My iPhone 7 still works
great.

~~~
calvinbhai
Expensive is a relative term.

For someone who can afford an iPhone+ and usually not the lowest storage
capacity, iPhone X is clearly affordable/manageable.

The whole iPhone line up has a price anchoring effect pushing the buyer to
consider the next slightly expensive option, from iPhone SE all the way to
iPhone X. I know many who are waiting for X, which is ideal for the Snapchat
generation of (literally) rich kids as well as the ones who want the most
sought after gadgets.

I think the 7+ sales really gave Apple an idea about how much customers
were/are willing to spend.

The current price of iPhone X is positioning Apple well for selling an iPhone
X+, when/if that ever happens, they can just reduce the current iPhoneX price
by $50 and have an X+ for $50 or $100 more.

With the product and price lineup Apple has, its set for a great year in 2018.
If $AAPL goes down, imo its a great chance to get a few.

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srinivasang87
I did get the 8, because I was moving up from a 5. I had pretty poor battery
life on the 5 somehow - it would drop to 1% from 20-30% instantly! And
performance was manageable but not great with the latest iOS version and apps
(like Google Meet which is needed for work).

Overall, I went for the 8 believing it will have good overall standing in the
long run, in terms of performance and battery life, as opposed to the 7.

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myrandomcomment
I have a 6P. I had been thinking about getting a 7 because I wanted the NFC
stuff for metro cards. Looking at the cost of a used 7 vs a new 8 and taking
into account the speed differences I will likely get an 8. There is no wow
factor that is driving this however. My 6P was fine for everything until I put
IOS11 on it at which point it lags so badly.

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crusso
I have a 7. I may get an 8; but since I know the X is coming out soon, I
figured I'd wait a bit longer.

I wouldn't be surprised if lots of people are in a holding pattern like I am.
Not long after the X comes out, some pent-up demand will avail itself on
Apple's supplies of both the 8 & the X right through Christmas.

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yourkin
It seems that the iPhone 8's sole reason for existence is to cater to the
conservative crowd and prevent a backlash of public opinion when Apple takes
things to far in a way that that segment considers too radical.

Apparently those people contrive not that big of a percentage and everyone
else is holding on till iPhone X.

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spyspy
Apple has been iterating on the same phone body for too long. For better or
worse Apple had a reputation for pushing design limits over and over, yet the
last 3 models (6/7/8) have looked exactly the same. The X is what the 7 should
have been. Two years too late and $200 too expensive.

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sschueller
They should have split the release into 6 months like Samsung (S vs Note) .
Call the iPhone 8 the iPhone 7S and then 6 months later release the iPhone X
under the name iPhone pro or something like that.

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6nf
You can't even pre-order the X yet. The demand for the X around my neck of the
woods is massive.

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skc
Sort of article that will be pointed to when Apple inevitably breaks sales
records yet again.

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0xbear
How is it “anemic” when it’s pretty much sold out everywhere?

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readhn
"everywhere" NYC/BOSTON/SF is not everywhere...

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0xbear
It’s even sold out online, on the Apple store. You have to wait 2-3 weeks to
get one.

