Apple is a multibillion company that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer softwares, and online services. Their products ranges from a laptop to a watch to a phone. One of their two latest releases last year, iPhone X has been long under the talks of specialists. Though iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X, are all priced a bit higher than their other competitors, still nonetheless, majority of the world seems to be having at least one iPhones in their pocket. Personally possessing one of the them, iPhone 6 specifically, it definitely has a lot features that sets it apart and makes it a much better handheld device from its competitors. Just like any other technological company, Apple too had security breaches due to which most of the features of the iPhone X got leaked months before its actual release date. Not only that, with the new hype for the famous notch on top of the screen, a bezel-less design, and features thats includes a stainless steel case, a 3-D facial recognition system on the front, and a 5.8-inch OLED screen, was probably what gave them an incentive to drive up the price of the company’s 10th anniversary flagship model. Consequently, they also knew at least the religious iPhone buyers will definitely invest blindly in it. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple Inc., even said that though iPhone X may look expensive than the previous releases but its rather “less than a coffee a day at one of those expensive coffee places.”
But even after all this heightened publicity, Apple has decided to discontinue the iPhone X after the summer of 2018. According to John Gruber’s article, rumors suggests that iPhone X production may cease as early as this summer. Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst for KGI Securities, suggests that this might be because sales of the iPhone X are disappointing particularly in China. Since Apple released their iPhone X abreast 8 and 8 Plus, they cannibilised their sales of iPhone X as the main difference between the two series is the notch on top, 3-D face ID, and an OLED display. Other than that iPhone 8 is even $300 cheaper than X and has a full functioning screen too. According to CIRP (Consumer Intelligence Research Partners) who measured the total US iPhone sales 30 days after the launch of that particular phone, in 2017 iPhone 8 series accounted for 40% of the total sales whereas iPhone X accounted for only 30%. This proved that a four digit price tag scared the consumers upon seeing it and if they are getting somewhat everything that iPhone X provides in a cheaper yet new and latest device, then why not go for that. Not only that, companies like Oppo, Huawei, and Samsung, all are competing in the China market now head to head against Apple’s phones sale. Bringing the same if not better functionalities with cheaper prices, companies like Huawei is also surpassing companies like Apple in global smartphone sales. This shows that their is a growth for another competition in the market for cheaper yet better quality controlled phones in countries like China, that could change the whole marketing strategy for every company.
Photo credit: 1) https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/
2) https://www.cirpllc.com/blog/2018/1/30/iphone-x-accounts-for-30-of-sales-in-first-month
21st Century Citizenship 