Apple: Good news, everyone – sales are less bad than we thought. Not amazing but not bad. $84bn is $84bn, tho Apple managed to turn what was expected to be a terrible quarter into merely a not-so-great one as the Cupertino phone-flinger barely topped its own recently lowered estimates. As expected when CEO Tim Cook issued a warning to shareholders earlier this month, Q1 FY 2019 (PDF) revenues took a significant hit from the same …
the_cost_of_each_iphone_at_launch_adjusted_for/...inflation
Problem with that approach is that inflation measures have become fairly meaningless due to statistical manipulation and negative real interest rates. I suspect a different picture would appear if adjusted for what really matters in this particular context, changes in discretionary & disposable income.
The absolute level of disposable income varies greatly by country, but also the changes. Apple's domestic market would be hit far less hard than a low income country by (eg) rising fuel prices. ICBA to check, but I'll wager that the affordability of new iphones at launch has become steadily worse outside Apple's saturated and largely Anglophone core markets. Launching ever more expensive phones was certain to end badly in emerging markets.
That's quite some margin but to be fair, they use a lot of their own components eg processors, and I hazard to guess that completely in-house revenue eg services has a higher margin that pushes up the average. Other manufacturers that outsource more components share that margin.
I'm curious to see what margins Samsung mobile has, since they also make a lot of their own components
"That's one hell of a profit margin. Still don't think you're being taken to the cleaners, fanbois?"
Not really. Small price to pay to avoid Android. I'm not a fanvboy, I don't really like Apple much, but I'm forced to use them because of the dearth of choice in the market.
And I've never paid more than half the new price for one, unlocked no contract.
Well said. I agree with this.
Currently it's rock or a hard place with mobile phones. I absolutely refuse to have Google anywhere near such a personal device so I'll stick with my Apple handset for the time being. I'm currently using a 6S which cost me bugger all when I upgraded recently, and I won't go anywhere near the newer Apple handsets until this one breaks, and even when I do it will probably be a second hand replacement.
"At 24% it's's a GINORMOUS profit margin. Compare to say Tesco for 2018:"
Apples to Oranges comparison : margin for retailers is always very tight. Better comparison is Samsung mobile, the latest figure I can find for them is 17% margin. As I mentioned in previous post, this could be linked to making own components, most smartphone makers struggle to turn a profit
He didn't open the box. Else he'd not have been so utterly out of touch with reality. Others who have opened the box will know...
But stay inside your cave and build all your knowledge of the world by looking at the shadows cast on the cave walls by things you can't see or imagine.
No, I didn't think of that, some old fart named Plato did:
https://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/cave.htm
Having got the market totally wrong at the last results call, Apple did the decent (and by the SEC required thing) by telling investors early that numbers were going to be down. So by the time they came to report the market had already priced in the reduced forecast. Would have been a shock if results had varied significantly from the reduced forecast but you can expect Apple did everything necessary to make sure they didn't.
And there's still a lot to like: margins are up and other divisions made more money than expected. The "wearables" section is interesting because it looks like Apple really is making money where nobody else can. Millions of people still love what they produce (they own the high-end tablet market) and don't mind the walled garden. And yet… there's no doubt that they're nervous about the much vaunted halo effect going into reverse. Expect plans designed to keep the sheep in the Apple fold with upgrade offers. And they have to hope that nobody else comes up with something really new.
Hmm, kind of like my 3 1/2 year old unlocked Windows Phone that cost $147 including tax and shipping. Although I have to admit it doesn't just keep working - I had to replace the battery a year ago when it no longer lasted a full day. That's $12 and 15 minutes of my time I'll never get back.
At my phone upgrade, last spring, I wasn't motivated to spend a grand for a new phone and refuse to lease a phone, so the best option for me was a reconditioned iPhone 7+. I paid $400 for that and I OWN it. As the iPhone XR wasn't moving, I kept receiving e-mails from Apple trying to convince me to pay $450 for an iPhone XR. Didn't need one and wasn't motivated to buy one. Feel the same about the newer Macs. There are plenty of re-conditioned Macs out there that will get the job done for me, so that is what I will upgrade my aging first generation Mac Pro Workstation to, on MY upgrade schedule, NOT Apple's. Let all of the entranced, make Apple Rich. Their re-conditioned tech is just fine with me. I'll be using mine until it dies and replace it, for less. :-)
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