iPhone Sales ‘Pause’ Amid Anticipation for iPhone 8
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In the wake of Apple’s semi-sweet fiscal second-quarter earnings call Tuesday afternoon, during which the Silicon Valley tech-giant reported iPhone sales being slightly below Wall Street’s estimates, the company’s stock slid around 1% per share in early trading on Wednesday morning, as Apple Chief Executive, Tim Cook, noted that there’s been an apparent “pause” in new iPhone sales.
During Tuesday’s conference call, Cook was inquired about his thoughts on a report that the iPhone was stuck in a 9-year trough of eagerness among buyers intent on upgrading their smartphone. Cook unabashedly admitted that, yes, Apple has noticed a “pause” in iPhone sales — however, instead of pointing his finger at this study or that survey, Cook offered up some of his own rationale to substantiate the otherwise lackluster news.
Cook indicated that while his company is clearly “seeing what we believe to be a pause in purchases on iPhone,” he was just as quick to add that it’s almost unanimously believed the decline is due to “the earlier and much more frequent reports about future iPhones.”
In other words, though Apple’s iPhone sales for the fiscal second-quarter fell short of almost all expectations, the reason there was even a decline at all is largely because of the seemingly incessant hype circulating the web about Apple’s upcoming iPhone 8, which could also be christened the iPhone Edition, according to several sources with deep ties to Apple’s Far East supply chain.
This signature device, if indeed the litany of rumors prove true, will represent a so-called “super-cycle” for the iPhone, ushering in a completely reimagined handset, boasting a multitude of next-generation technologies, a new material design, and a gorgeous nearly edge-to-edge OLED display — just to name a few of the many rumored features.
Whether or not users are actually holding off on upgrading to an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus because they’re well aware that a dramatically redesigned iPhone 8 is looming remains to be seen; but either way, Apple’s highly-anticipated, iPhone 8 is almost certain to sell quite a number of units this year, with some analysts even going so far as to raise their guidance on Apple’s stock throughout the rest of 2017.
Worth noting is that it’s not uncommon for a company like Apple to sell less of a product when it’s 50-75% of the way through its annual life-cycle — just as it’s not uncommon to sell more iPhones than ever before, right? So while the momentary stagnation may cause a stir among analysts, and an overall reconsideration of the company’s outlook for fiscal Q3 and beyond, the ship is bound to turn around in Apple’s favor once the 2017 iPhone season starts kicking into full-gear.