iPhone price cuts are coming, teases Apple CEO. *Bring-bring* Hello, Apple UK? It's El Reg. You free to chat?

Apple has refused to tell The Reg whether the premium iPhone price cuts that CEO Tim Cook promised for punters outside of the US will reach the UK, citing inclement weather as an impediment to comms. A local price cut seems unlikely. Sales of the handset fell 15 per cent year-on-year to $52bn in Apple’s Q1 ended 29 December, …

[Locky]

The reasons for the iPhone sales slump were threefold

I've re-read your 3 reasons a number of times, and there must be a typo because I just can't see "a lack of innovation leading to Apple flogging the same product for an inflated price" as one of the options

I must be holding it wrong

[JDX]

Re: The reasons for the iPhone sales slump were threefold

They have arguably been doing that for several generations while sales and profits continued to grow so that clearly cannot be the whole answer.

I expected lots of "Apple is going to collapse as all the sheeple finally wake up" comments, clearly Apple might shrink - to a few hundred billion. They are still THE premium smartphone.

I'm sure they'll be around for a while longer... iPhones and iPads might be moving to slower upgrade cycles but they ARE still being upgraded, the Mac has never been more popular against the PC.

The reason Apple is shrinking/stalling is there isn't really anywhere else TO grow. They sold to nearly everyone who they want to sell to and now they are a bit stuck.

[HolySchmoley]

Re: The reasons for the iPhone sales slump were threefold

>They are still THE premium smartphone.

Except for people who value function over form, control over their own device, adherence to standards (headphone and charging sockets), replaceable battery, micro SDHC slot, reasonable screen and cable resilience, USB connectivity to move music / images / other data, access to the file system, transparency about flaws and bugs and the resolution status, not being one of the herd, being ably to think differently (not using 'different' as if it was an adverb), not being a hipster / chav clone, etc.

For the rest, it's THE premium smartphone.

[MyffyW]

Re: The reasons for the iPhone sales slump were threefold

You missed proper rounded corners. Very important requirement in our household ... well worth a thousand quid {cough}

[Anonymous Coward]

Re They are still THE premium smartphone.

No, idiots that paid a premium price tell themselves this to help them sleep at night.

A Pixel2 can be picked new up for £450 that beats the latest iPhone XR in every category, a Pixel3 destroys it, and still costs less.

Similar stories apply for high end Samsung, Sony, Huawei devices.

[werdsmith]

Re: Re They are still THE premium smartphone.

A Pixel2 can be picked new up for £450 that beats the latest iPhone XR in every category, a Pixel3 destroys it, and still costs less.

It is indeed a lovely phone hardware wise. Unfortunately it uses Android as its OS therefore it loses.

Also, there's no way I'd pay as much as £450 for a phone even if it didn't have a poundshop OS on it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Re They are still THE premium smartphone.

" Unfortunately it uses Android as its OS therefore it loses."

Why? it's superior in every way to iOS, which is still very very basic, and very very buggy. It's developed behind closed doors of course, so who knows what security nightmares that Apple are hiding....

[The First Dave]

Re: Re They are still THE premium smartphone.

Android is developed behind closed doors, so who knows what security nightmares Google are hiding...

[DenTheMan]

Re: Re They are still THE premium smartphone.

There is a fascinating hackers window of opportunity in nearly every OS release for IOS.

But who knows what lurks on both

[werdsmith]

Re: Re They are still THE premium smartphone.

Why? it's superior in every way to iOS, which is still very very basic

Put it this way, I don't like Apple very much but if Android was the only OS choice then I would choose no phone.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Re They are still THE premium smartphone.

it's superior in every way to iOS

Apart from privacy. And updates. And transparency.

Personally I think the head of every smartphone manufacturer should have something about themselves they want to keep deeply private, in order to truly understand how important privacy is. In Tim Cook's case, it was being gay - until he was accidentally outed on national TV.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Re They are still THE premium smartphone.

You post shit and know shit.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Re They are still THE premium smartphone.

A Pixel2 is indeed a fine smartphone; except for two major downers. A. it's only (remotely) affordable because it sells your data to the highest bidder, and B. the app that connects to my bike works on every Android phone out there, except the Pixel2 and the Oneplus 5T. Go figure.

[smot]

Re: Re They are still THE premium smartphone.

I figured. I don't have a bike.

[boshy]

Re: The reasons for the iPhone sales slump were threefold

one of the reasons, i believe that they were considered a premium device, was the level of integration with the rest of their products - apple tv, mac, watch, photos - the whole thing just worked and worked easily. at upgrade time people were prepared to buy a bit more for ease.

trouble is the USP is being reduced and it's relatively easy to switch.

- google photos allows me out of icloud easily (and is much less intrusive)

- chromecast / firestick / native TV applications let me view photos on my tv

- Spotify has negated my need for itunes

when users start moving out of the eco system, the reason to pay a premium reduces and when that premium gap is so much more, the propensity to buy decreases.

sure people will always buy a premium brand as a status symbol - tag heur watch vs timex for example, but you become more and more niche.

I've just moved out of the apple ecosystem after 8 years, can't see a reason to go back

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: The reasons for the iPhone sales slump were threefold

Now they have users locked into iMessage, iTunes and apps, they can increase the prices of services, increase the app store cut... They have a walled garden of disgruntled users that have no way out.

[macjules]

Re: The reasons for the iPhone sales slump were threefold

£1,000 for access to text messaging and iTunes is still a little bit over-priced don't you think?

[Fred Daggy]

Re: The reasons for the iPhone sales slump were threefold

... and security updates. And not have to reinstall from scratch media just to get it working.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: The reasons for the iPhone sales slump were threefold

They have a walled garden of disgruntled users that have no way out.

They don't seem to be too disgruntled.

Apple Devices Earn Highest Customer Satisfaction Score Among PC and Tablet Makers

iPhone 7 Plus tops smartphone consumer satisfaction survey

[werdsmith]

Re: The reasons for the iPhone sales slump were threefold

I've re-read your 3 reasons a number of times, and there must be a typo because I just can't see "a lack of innovation leading to Apple flogging the same product for an inflated price" as one of the options

I must be holding it wrong

---

What we need on The Register comments is some innovation in the jokes. This must be the 5 billionth time this has been repeated. Each time the commenter probably thinks they are being original. The commenter forgot to say that Apple steal tech from other people and pretend they invented it. And use the words "isheep", "sheeple" and "idiot tax" for some extra originality.

[IDoNotThinkSo]

Re: The reasons for the iPhone sales slump were threefold

There is something to be said for tradition, though.

We'll still be following it in 100 years long after anyone alive can remember why it started.

If Apple last that long, of course.

[alexmcm]

Re: The reasons for the iPhone sales slump were threefold

You apparently don't read Private Eye. They know how to flog a joke to death. They still publish a picture of Andrew Neil with an Asian dancer in a vest whenever anyone asks, with a knowing wink... yeah I know, that joke is from the 80's, 90's, the original joke is lost in the mists of time.

I used to know what it was about...

[Goldmember]

Re: The reasons for the iPhone sales slump were threefold

The lack of innovation is number 4. Maybe that was omitted as it's what Apple has been doing continuously for the past decade.

Number 5 on the list (also conveniently left out of the report) is that they simply went too far with the upward pricing this time. It's easy to blame China - it seems to be a very fashionable thing for anyone/ thing coming out of America to do so at the moment - or a slightly strengthened dollar. But the fact is that Fanbois are willing to pay a premium for the shiny with the Apple logo. Most are even willing to be fleeced a bit for it. However there's an upper limit, which Apple has well and truly exceeded.

[Robert E A Harvey]

so

Nothing to do with removing the headphone Jack then?

[DaLo]

Re: so

Who's Jack?

[Andy 68]

Re: so

Mine

[Anonymous Custard]

Re: so

I heard he tried all trades but couldn't master any of them.

But people say he's alright...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: so

I don't know about you, but I'd rather Jack than Fleetwood Mac.

[Huw D]

Re: so

Skinny bloke. Ate no fat. His wife, on the other hand...

[JDX]

Re: so

No. Well, it might delay one upgrade cycle but people who stay with new iPhones are not going to suddenly keep an old phone for 5 years instead of 2. People have/will be pushed wireless whether they want it or not, especially since all the big Android companies are/have gone this direction too.

[Prst. V.Jeltz]

Re: so

"People have/will be pushed wireless whether they want it or not, especially since all the big Android companies are/have gone this direction too."

My mobiles have always been wireless..

[Jamie Jones]

Re: so

la-de-da, hark at you, show-off!

[The Nazz]

Re: so

Cook : "Now then team, i need some ideas to add value to this new iPhone line we're developing"

Team : "Jack off."

Cook : "Good idea, may as well get some pleasure from this whole shebang."

Sorry.

[Anonymous Coward]

"He used Turkey as an example, where the lira depreciated by 33 per cent"

Sure, why not use a comfortable extreme corner case? Why not blame lackluster sales in Venezuela also? There maybe inflation played a real role... not elsewhere where central banks would like to see it increase as it stays very low. The best Apple product remains its reality distortion field.

[David Shaw]

Re: "He used Turkey as an example, where the lira depreciated by 33 per cent"

except, on my visit last summer to a complicated part of Turkey, went to the local airport shopping centre where they had a Media-World/Dixons type shop. My PFY spotted the iPhone corner of the store, and from 30 feet away proclaimed them all to be fake Apple iPhones!

When we started to take them apart, metaphorically, they were average grade eastern rip-offs, yet somehow the shop had kept the genuine iPhone prices in stratospheric TL. I think they had a single genuine SE and very many fake devices. I gather that a lot of the current fakes are being aimed at Apple Store repair chain, so Cupertino has had to develop a 'genuine dead phone detector'

Previous to this I've encountered iPhone 4's, which turned out to be skin'ed land-fill android, stuffed into a nearly iP4 case. At least in China they were only asking thirty quid for that, in the street.

One to watch for , John Lewis was selling 128GB (real) SE's last week as a "special purchase" at £249, that's about all I'll pay at present for the genuine rounded corners. That was a reasonable deal. (Some watchers thought that Apple might have been market-testing as several truckloads of high GB SE's suddenly appeared on the US market at the same time, sold out in hours)

[Anonymous Coward]

So, people aren't buying phones yearly, happens.

Mobile phones.

1. Mobile phone the size of a shoe.

2. Mobile phone in a pocket.

3. Mobile phone with a touchscreen.

Land lines.

1. Phone with a rotary.

2. Phone with DTFM.

3. Phone with wireless RF.

Sure. phones are old news yet again. Only reason you keep buying them is because you're bored or forced too. Either way, the actual phone is old hat with no sentiment attached.

[fibrefool]

£832.50, not £999

There is this thing in the UK called VAT.

so iPhone prices in the UK are approx 10% higher than the US, not 30%. Can't imagine they'd do anything about that - since a further plunge in the pound could easily wipe out the difference.

and I can't see anything in the near future that could cause instability in the pound. Can you?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: £832.50, not £999

It's funny how price comparisons always seem to highlight the currency exchange rate, but not the tax differences.

US prices are listed as exclusive of sales tax, which can be different in each state etc.

UK prices listed inclusive of VAT at 20%

Then they expect us to make a direct comparison...

[Grikath]

Re: £832.50, not £999

Ummm... You look at the prices for business contracts/sales?

Given that VAT is often deductible for business expenses, outfits that cater to businesses habitually quote the price without VAT ( usually with the VAT-included in smaller print ). Pretty easy to make comparisons if you know where to look.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: £832.50, not £999

@Grikath

Of course you CAN find that info to make the comparisons yourself. Or you could just divide by 1.2

The point was that the comparisons published in the media tend to be vastly inaccurate and most people don't realise it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: £832.50, not £999

So they dont have sales taxes in the usa?? News to me!

[Glen 1]

Re: £832.50, not £999

They do, but the price on the sticker is typically excluding taxes

[Phil Endecott]

Re: £832.50, not £999

They do have sales taxes, at least in most states, but the quoted prices (as here) are always exclusive of tax.

[GrumpyKiwi]

Re: £832.50, not £999

Listed exclusive of sales taxes because there are almost 50 different rates. From zero (in five states) to 7.5% (California of course).

[Glen 1]

Re: £832.50, not £999

"7.5% (California of course)."

Why 'of course'? Do you think that's high?

In the EU The lowest 'standard' VAT rate is Luxembourg's at 17%

The UK's is currently 20%

And yet we (UK) spend less per head of our taxes on the NHS than the US spends (in taxes) on their own government backed health schemes.

Which begs the question, if the NHS is such good value for money, why are we being taxed so heavily? State pension? Apologies for the digression.

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Re: £832.50, not £999

Montana is about a hours drive away from me & I have a very nice mail drop box just on the other side of the border for any US purchases with 0% sales tax.

Icon - Helicopters Montana.

[Prst. V.Jeltz]

Re: £832.50, not £999

hmm , i wonder if i could do the same with the Isle of Man, they have some odd tax regulations.

[quxinot]

Re: £832.50, not £999

If you want to drive an hour to get there, I'm afraid you're in for a tough time.

Lifejackets, please!

[Carpet Deal 'em]

Re: £832.50, not £999

This is wrong. Many (most?) states allow cities and counties to stack on some amount of tax, making the actual tax rate far more variable(for example, total tax in California varies between 7.25% and 10.25%). That said, I'm pretty sure there's more to the difference between US sales tax and European VAT than being a separate line item vs. being incorporated into the list price.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: £832.50, not £999

Also consumer rights are greater in the UK than the US which increases costs.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: £832.50, not £999

This, exactly. I've heard of warranties for many things you'd expect to last a year being 90 days in the US, and even a 30 day warranty on a brand new laptop in one case.

It's easier to sell stuff cheap if you don't have to worry about it lasting a worthwhile length of time or replacing it when it breaks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: £832.50, not £999

don't worry about that brexit will sort that problem out!

[Anonymous Coward]

So, iPhone sales are a bit sluggish - so lets encourage people to buy now by telling them that the phones may be a bit cheaper in a bit. Sounds like a case of "your selling it wrong to me!

[ukgnome]

I haven't read the article yet, but I just felt the need to applaud the Reg for the correct onomatopoeia

Why do people think phones ring?

[Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?]

I haven't read the article yet, but I just felt the need to applaud the Reg for the correct onomatopoeia

Why do people think phones ring?

Mine doesn't ring, bring, beep, tinkle or anything else. It screams "Ceeeeeeelebrate good times, come on!" at an embarrassingly high volume during important meetings.

[Aladdin Sane]

I'm guessing it's on silent the rest of the time?

[Anonymous Custard]

You think you've got problems - mine plays Ode to Joy by the Muppets (with a little help from Beethoven)...

That said it's certainly a unique ringtone and I always know when it's my phone ringing when I've left it on my desk when I get a coffee etc. It always raises a smile when people hear it for the first time too (and is quite infamous around the office, although thankfully I don't get that many calls on it).

And yes it does often end up on silent mode, but only because I've turned it off to silence those damn annoying pop-up ads without mute buttons when I've been playing a game on the phone and forgot to switch the ringer back on again. Why can't the iPhone have seperate volume controls for ringer and media?

[JetSetJim]

Will be nicking the Muppets Ode to Joy ringtone, cheers

[DiViDeD]

You think that's bad?

For years, my ringtone has been

this bit of scary Keaton Wears Teeth nonsense

It's always amusing to see the heads turn the first time my mobe rings at a new site.But then, I am easily amused!

[shaolin cookie]

> Why can't the iPhone have seperate volume controls for ringer and media?

It does, you just have to flick the switch in Settings->Sounds and Vibration->Change with buttons (the wording might be slightly different, I'm using a different localisation).

[paulf]

I've had Kirsty MacColl - There's a guy works down the chip shop, swears he's Elvis for years if only because it makes a lot of noise pretty quickly. No point having a quiet intro as by the time I hear the phone it'll have gone to voicemail.

Only exception is the Mother in law has Star Wars- The Imperial March (it's totally justified).

[Aladdin Sane]

"Don't move, you're surrounded by armed bastards!" works well for text messages.

[CountCadaver]

I have the "Bump the elephant" theme for the wife (with her blessing I'm not suicidal) as she's seriously accident prone, plus the whistling from Birdie right at the start makes it easy to hear.

[quxinot]

May as well use Pantera's "The Great Southern Trendkill" for the same effect.

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opyVdN8GZtc )

Though you'll end up hating your phone more. It works well on an alarm clock if you tend to be slow to respond in the morning, though.

[Alistair]

....

Mine yells "Thhheeeeeeerrree are stars in the southern sky........"

But that's just dating me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Captain Pugwash theme for me - always raises a gentle smile from those around the table of a certain age...

[Tenkaykev]

Pugwash here too. The first thing I do if I change my phone is to copy Cap'n Pugwash to it. On one occasion I was sitting in a Pub and heard the opening bars of Pugwash, reached for my phone and realised that some other bugger was using MY ringtone :-)

Fittingly the Pub was the Jolly Sailor on Poole Quay.

[Martin an gof]

I get a lot more texts than calls. Texts use the 'sting' from the end of 1970s/80s Newsround which I found - much to my joy - on a BBC Music and Movement LP which was about to be turned into a clock. It also contains a lot of other fantastic Radiophonic Workshop material by Delia and her pals.

My workmates - all around the same age - find it most nostalgic.

M.

[David Shaw]

I can't remember why, but my iphone speaker emits the dulcet tones of Joe Jackson et al , never get tired of hearing this as my ringtone

[David Nash]

Why do people think phones ring?

Some phones ring.

But clearly "ring" has evolved to mean "the state of receiving an incoming call, even if it is not actually making a noise"

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Re: Why do people think phones ring?

I have the theme from Doctor Who (Any version from Classic - Orbital - New Series, dependent on mood), the opening "sting" means I don't miss it when it rings.

Icon - Where's me sonic screwdriver?

[0laf]

Re: Why do people think phones ring?

I've got Two Tone as used by Matt LeBanc in Episodes. It's pleasingly irritating and actually works well as a ring tone.

[Anonymous Coward]

Getting in before a no-deal Brexit ?

Not being an international trade expert (so I really should be negotiating Brexit) I wonder what "no-deal" looks like to Apple Inc ? Presumably their sales are logged back to Ireland, so the UK crashing out of the EU will lead to some serious tariff action, surely ?

Also there's the little matter of an "EU wide" warranty in the event of a "no-deal" ?

Be curious if asking questions rather than asserting something triggers a downvote ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Be curious if asking questions rather than asserting something triggers a downvote ?

That'd be a "yes" then .....

[The Cowboy Online]

Re: Getting in before a no-deal Brexit ?

Or maybe the downvotes are for the "the UK crashing out of the EU" comment?

[GlenP]

I can confirm...

That I am in Northampton (UK East Midlands) and there's no snow.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I can confirm...

I am in Malvern, I cannot confirm anything as the air is too thick to see the ground; it IS cold though.

Not reach LWIII levels of coldness yet though

https://youtu.be/yAqNMzxGvuI

[Kevin Fairhurst]

Re: I can confirm...

His problem with snow was obviously that there was none, and therefore he was having to go to work.

(Corby based but drive through Northampton on my commute)

[Anonymous Coward]

It's the wrong type, and it's gone wrong!

Wrong type of snow on the (phone) line.

[Anonymous Coward]

Savings? What savings?

Oh yes, those that have been more than gobbled up by the drop in the £/$ exchange rate after a No Deal BREXIT?

Just another excuse for Apple (and all Oil Companies, Gas Companies, Tesla and Boeing and ...) and anything traded in USD to raise their prices.

Welcome to another few years of £1 == $1 people. Some of us have experienced that before. It is not pretty.

[JDX]

Re: Savings? What savings?

XE is a real thing, when a pound only buys $1.20 instead of $1.80 of course things cost more.

pound/Euro parity is entirely feasible in the short term.

[batfink]

"Our users are hanging on to their iPhones a little longer"...

Mr Cook left off "users have no reason to upgrade" from his list.

My 6S does everything I need a phone for. Everything past there has just been "more of the same", with slightly better cameras, higher-res screens, more powerful CPUs, mild waterproofing - none of which offer me any incentive to buy, as the 6S is good enough for all of those things. Well, except for waterproofing, but then again I tend not to take my phone swimming. Sometimes there are actual steps backwards, like replacing Touch ID with Face ID.

So, when my 6S dies, I'll buy a, er, replacement 6S, not a £1200 iPhone X or whatever.

I wonder whether we're now at the point where mobile phones are just a commodity. like landlines used to be. Yes people will still buy them as they need them, but they're no longer objects of excitement. If that's the case, then Mr Cook had better start factoring that into his forecasts.

[Alistair]

Re: "Our users are hanging on to their iPhones a little longer"...

@batfink :

I seem to be in a rather strange perception mode. I was about to ask you *when* you'd been able to buy landmines at commodity prices. Either that or my glasses need cleaning....

(I'm pretty sure that they trade at somewhat higher than commodity prices even on the black market)

[GlasshalfHull]

Re: "Our users are hanging on to their iPhones a little longer"...

Not just me who saw "landmines" at first glance then?

The 6S battery change we undertook at an Apple store was certainly not efficient or particularly cheap after a 50+ minute drive to the Apple store and five hours it then took to fix it. At least it was Christmas and I was off work, and it seemed a good way to re-purpose the phone to another family member (now with a decent battery life). I meanwhile will stick with Android and can see no reason to reconsider based on Apple's 2019 product portfolio.

[batfink]

Re: "Our users are hanging on to their iPhones a little longer"...

And I'm sure that landmines WOULD probably be referred to as "objects of excitement"....

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "Our users are hanging on to their iPhones a little longer"...

You'll probably find (long before your 6S dies) that it is locked out of newer ios versions and that everything in the app store requires a newer version of ios than can be installed on your perfectly functioning phone.

of course you will also find that apps already installed no longer function because they have upgraded the systems they connect to and dropped all support for the older versions.

coming from the person with a perfectly functioning (as a phone) 4S

[David Shaw]

Re: "Our users are hanging on to their iPhones a little longer"...

I actually have a few landmines here in the Research Centre; someone thought that it'd be nice to build a simple cheap 'ground penetrating' radar with 500 Watts CW at a few Megahertz, having tuned the RF to a nuclear resonance of some particular nitrogen bonds in the plastique. I built the tin box, filled it with landmines, and from not very far away blasted with high power, got no coherent responses. Did manage to get really good 'remote NQR' return signals from a bottle of di-nitro-toluene when that was tried instead.

er... I prefer experimenting with things other than deflagrating hardware nowadays, tho' maybe I should try my rNQRradar on a spare fruity 'phone?

[adnim]

Moto G first Gen

still works and does what I want after 5 years.... It cost a tenth the price of an Apple flagship Iphone

LineageOS - Android 9 fast enough. Battery still lasts a couple of days with my usage.

I have always been a function over form kind of person.

Regardless of manufacturer if I can't root it, I don't want it.

[JDX]

Re: Moto G first Gen

That's nice for you. Thanks for sharing. None of us knew you could buy a cheap Android that would work after a few years.

I mean it presumably won't do a lot of the things a new/pricey phone will but you'll smugly say you don't WANT to do those things, as if that's relevant to those who do.

[adnim]

Re: Moto G first Gen

I didn't down vote you JDX...

You are right I don't want or need anything the latest Iphone does.

I just wonder how many people buy an Iphone because of the hype and actually use all of the functions it provides that a 5 year old phone doesn't.

My car is 17 years old. It doesn't do a lot of the things a new motor will either. I dread buying a new car, I will have to root that as well.

My reasons are more about ownership and control than saving money. If what I write makes people think twice before purchasing Apple, my point will have been made.

I hope you enjoy the sense of self esteem owning an Ithing gives you.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Moto G first Gen

I mean it presumably won't do a lot of the things a new/pricey phone will

AFAICS there have been no killer capabilities on smartphones for years now, so perhaps you'd care to list the miracle advances of the latest Jesusphone over this household's only-retired-at-Christmas Sammy S5 that dates back five years in technology, but was bought four years ago as a very heavily discounted offer?

[Prst. V.Jeltz]

Re: Moto G first Gen

Can anyone list *anything* the new phones can do that my free iphone 5 cant?

Heres some examples of wrong answers:

wireless charging - GIMICK

thumb / face recog - thats ADMIN , not a *use* / app

HD screen - nobody needs hd on a 6" screen

zillion pixel camera - no thanks , my jpgs are already a ridiculous size

notes / calendar - office stuff , - all phones can do that.

satnav - all phones can do that

The majority of apps available are just interfaces for various shops

...so what is the latest greatest new thing?

[Colin Wilson 2]

Re: Moto G first Gen

" ... so what's the latest greatest new thing?"

The newest iPhones have amazing facial mapping capability. They use it for Face Id, but it can be used in any apps that need to recognise faces.

They also have amazing 'Augmented Reality' features builit into their custom processors.

Combining these two amzaing new technologies gives us 'Animojis'. So you can create a cartoon turd that talks, smiles, blinks and winks when you do.

And now, with the latest version of iOS it can even stick its tongue out!

** Sigh! **

[Peter Mangles 1]

Re: Moto G first Gen

WiFi Calling/VoLTE, as no phone network is perfect, especially inside some types of building,,,

[khjohansen]

Re: Moto G first Gen

"Battery still lasts a couple of days with my usage..."

.. Now THAT would be a killer feature on a recent phone ;>

[Martin an gof]

Re: Moto G first Gen

Moto G first Gen... still works and does what I want after 5 years..

I am typing this on my own first gen MotoG. Likewise it runs LineageOS. The battery still lasts a day under heavy use with WiFi etc. and in my normal use I can get five or six days - though I used to get nine or ten when it was new.

As noted, very few (if any) 'must have' features have appeared in phones since then, though the faster processor, greater amount of RAM and SD card slot of my son's G5 do make me jealous. Shame there isn't an official LineageOS build for that phone yet.

M.

[Ice Cold Beer]

All this still doesn’t make me want to replace my iPhone with a newer version of the same thing (that doesn’t do anything different!) come on apple your innovation is lacking...

[Anonymous Coward]

UK discounts?

Unlikely. Anglophone core markets of the iPhone have held up fairly well despite the rapacious pricing of newer models. It is emerging, marginal and mostly non-English speaking markets where the expected growth has been absent.

The logical strategy is to discount only in those markets, either by attempted location-locking of the handsets (as Samsung tried some years back), to offer market-specific versions designed to be difficult to move into the grey import market. Or to offer subscriber discounts through the network operators, and ensure these stop if the handset isn't regularly used on the market it was shipped to.

Lets face it, Apple users in developed markets appear to WANT to be pillaged. Why would they want a discount on their shiney?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: UK discounts?

Either Apple or the Contract selling stores are already discounting iTat; go look at the "bargain" contracts available on iTat right now; 24 month contracts that were £50+ are either £40 ish, or have had their monthly data allowance MASSIVELY increased (25GB to 75GB or more for a recent example).

Only the "official" price of the stuff hasnt budged, unlike the US where deep discounts are already being used to try and push the unwanted stock.

Only one iPhone and one Air left in my extended family now; and as of this week, over half of them have bought Xiaomi or Huawei.

[Anonymous Coward]

Slight error in the article

The 900 million units Cook mentioned is not the "units flogged to date", they passed the mark of selling their billionth iPhone a while ago. 900 million is the installed base of currently active and in-use iPhones. Despite the sales decline, the installed base is still increasing, something they will focus on more because of its implication for continued future growth in Services (also why they broke out the gross margin for Services for the first time)

[Evil Auditor]

Where?

"I've got a problem with snow where I am at the moment."

At the gents of some fancy downtown club?

[sanmigueelbeer]

battery replacement program

Apple used their strength to negotiate for a reduced cost (to the consumer) to replace the battery even though the "design choice" of the battery was the real cause of the issue. Instead, consumers are asked to pay for an Apple design flaw.

Other than that, the new phones will have more cameras and, guess what, Night Mode.

However, the main question I would like to ask is not about whether or not Apple will lower the price. Instead, I would like to know by how much. $100 "discount" is a token gesture and a joke. 10% doesn't even count. Since Apple has voiced their concern about the slump in sales in China, I would presume that Apple is going to drop the price there. And since the sales in US is strong, there won't be any significant discount. And before anyone could say about "gray import", Apple is one of the few companies who offer "international warranty" of their product but with proviso as to where the warranty claim can be used (like what they're using in Australia).

If Apple is serious, I'd say 15% to 20% would be sufficient.

[0laf]

the whole range is just too expensive

They've hit the needs and wants trigger point with prices and very little has change with mobiles in the last few years. They've all evolved but not big changes. So now there really isn't a huge difference between a £200 phone and a £1200 phone. Thre probably isn't even that much difference between a £50 seocnd hand phone and a £1200 mobile.

Many people might want a new Iphone XS but precious few really need one.

I wasn't biught into the Mac ecosystem so it was reletively painless for me to jump ship. My GF however is very tied in with iCloud/itunes subscriptions and a MacBook for business use. But she is choosing to run down these items rather than buy a new phone. Her old SE packed in recently but she chose to switch to my old SE rather then buy new.

[ColonelClaw]

By some strange coincidence you could replace 'Apple iPhone' with 'Nvidia RTX cards' and the prediction would still be correct!

Hubris, eh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Price cuts you say?

If they aren't at least 50% cheaper, then forget it.

My old 5S works perfectly fine.