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Apple Might Discontinue the iPhone X This Summer (bgr.com)

BGR shares a startling prediction from Ming-Chi Kuo, the Apple analyst at KGI securities: Kuo -- who we should note has an exemplary track record with respect to iPhone rumors -- adds that Apple may opt to discontinue the current iPhone X entirely if sales are underwhelming. "KGI also expects a trio of iPhone models in the fall of 2018," AppleInsider notes. "He predicts the iPhone X will be 'end of life' in the summer of 2018, instead of being retained as a lower-cost option in the following year." If Kuo's projection pans out, this would represent a marked shift in Apple's iPhone sales strategy. Going back nearly a decade, Apple has always positioned older iPhone models around as a wallet-friendly alternative for users who weren't keen on paying a premium for Apple's latest and greatest.

31 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. As long as... by jawtheshark · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As long as they keep the SE in the current form factor. The SE is basically the only iPhone that has good price/value ratio. I had the philosophy of getting my wifes old iPhone when she gets the latest model every two years. Last one she got was a 7 and, as such I got her old 6. Never again. These phones are so thin, I basically let it slip all the time, and within two weeks I let it fall, shatter the screen and TouchId was ruined too. Third party repair was so-so, and a half functioning phone sucks. So, I ponied up for the cheapest SE, getting back the 5 form factor. I couldn’t be happier. First time in over 10 years, I actually paid for a new phone.

    --
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    1. Re:As long as... by vux984 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It might not be the right phone for you, but it seems to me that the phone was not the issue.

      After all, your wife used it for 2 years and handed you a perfectly intact phone.

    2. Re: As long as... by Brockmire · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In the Vancouver area, I regularly see Asian women with phones the size of their faces. It's kinda comical. They also seem to hold them closer than most people, so you can often see a head with hair and a phone/tablet looking thing for their faces.

  2. This is not even planned obsolescence anymore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's just an environmental nightmare. Phone hardware per se can last 10+ years, WHY do we have to buy the new shiny model again every 12 months? And what happens to the rest?

    Apple being "environmentally friendly" is just a huge joke. They don't even pretend to greenwash anymore.

    1. Re:This is not even planned obsolescence anymore by mschwanke97402 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's just an environmental nightmare. Phone hardware per se can last 10+ years, WHY do we have to buy the new shiny model again every 12 months? And what happens to the rest?

      Apple being "environmentally friendly" is just a huge joke. They don't even pretend to greenwash anymore.

      Clearly you just want to bitch. All high-end phones can be traded in for the new model. They don't throw those used phones away. They get refurbished and resold. All of the carriers do this. There are 3rd parties that will buy your phone too. Before the carriers started doing trade-ins and leases, I'd sell my used iPhone on Craigslist for a pretty good price. So, unless you completely destroy your phone or toss it in a drawer when you get a new one it is being re-used somewhere.

    2. Re:This is not even planned obsolescence anymore by mspohr · · Score: 2

      I've purchased a few "refurbished" Nexus 5 phones to replace family phones which have been dropped too many times. They are cheap and work great. Usually they look just like a new phone. I'm sticking with the Nexus 5 until there is a compelling reason to upgrade. It's plenty fast, has all the features I need (and none of the bells and whistles which just irritate me).
      I'll let the bozos who have to have the latest and greatest phone dump their old gear on me.

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  3. never owned an iphone by FudRucker · · Score: 2, Insightful

    and considering this iphone X debacle I think I will stick with off-brand android phones, so far my samsung is doing okay, but i am not sure i want to continue blowing hundreds of bucks every couple of years just for a phone i only use for phone calls and txt msgs, hopefully china will flood the market with decent phones that sell for under a hundred that are comparable to samsung galaxy S# models

    --
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    1. Re:never owned an iphone by thegarbz · · Score: 5, Insightful

      hopefully china will flood the market with decent phones

      As a matter of interest if all you're doing is phone calls and txt msgs why are you waiting for a "decent" phone? There's plenty of options out there even with the label "smartphone" that could suit you for under $100.

      Hell go buy a second hand Galaxy S5 and a fist full of spare batteries and you'll have something that lasts you forever.

    2. Re:never owned an iphone by jon3k · · Score: 2

      and considering this iphone X debacle

      Huh? I'm using an iPhone X and it's great. What's the debacle?

  4. Re:Apple is dying by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Last time they at least could go re-hire Jobs.

    They need another Jobs at the helm. Design by committee and a leader that doesn't know exactly what he wants is killing them.

  5. The iPhone X is a terrible phone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's not surprising. The iPhone X is a terrible phone, and Apple has been caught trying to trick people into upgrading.

    Face ID is a failed experiment. It manages to combine barely working with being insecure as hell: you have to hold the phone at very specific angles to get it to see your face, meaning that casually unlocking the phone is a chore. But it will also unlock using a simple folded photograph if held correctly, making it trivial for adversaries to unlock. Face ID needs to go away.

    The removal of the home button is disastrous, if only because Apple already delegated a ton of functionality to it that now has to be redistributed across the rest of the phone. The home button used to perform different functions based on if you tapped it, or clicked it, or double-clicked it, or double-tapped it, or triple-clicked it. But now they've removed that button entirely and replaced it with ..... nothing. So now the power button has to take over for functions like accessing Apple Pay and Siri. Meaning that as simple a thing as turning off the phone now involves secret button combinations. (It's click volume up, click volume down, then hold the power button, in that order. I kid you not. Hold the power button briefly to bring up the power controls, longer to forcibly reboot.)

    The new "home space" as the bottom means that a ton of apps now have UI that is right next to it, making triggering it incredibly annoying. Of course, "legacy" apps that aren't "optimized for iPhone X" have giant black bars on the top and bottom, meaning that the apps that place controls on top of the "home space" are in theory "optimized for iPhone X" but developers don't seem to have figured out how to deal with a giant dead area at the bottom of the screen.

    And then there's the notch, transforming a somewhat nice looking display into a horned ugly mess. You'd think this being an Apple decision the status bar wouldn't have been an after-thought, but quite a few pieces of information are flat-out missing on the iPhone X because there flat-out isn't space. Don't believe me? Swipe up the control center and .... no, wait, it's now swipe down the control center, but only from the right horn, because the left horn handles the old "swipe down" gesture. Anyway, swipe down the control center, which will display the "old" iPhone status bar, and look at all the icons that used to be hidden. "Minor" things like bluetooth status and battery level, for those bluetooth headphones you now have to use because there is no headphone jack.

    So, anyway, I'm not surprised. The iPhone X is a disaster even if you ignore the price.

    1. Re:The iPhone X is a terrible phone by gmb61 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But it will also unlock using a simple folded photograph if held correctly, making it trivial for adversaries to unlock.

      Please cite your evidence for this. I'll wait.

    2. Re:The iPhone X is a terrible phone by dk20 · · Score: 4, Informative

      why do people always post "cite your evidence.. i 'll wait" but cant seem to bother using GOOGLE??

      Here is a 10 year old boy unlocking his moms phone
      https://www.wired.com/story/10...

      here is a mask unlocking a phone
      https://www.macrumors.com/2017...

      here is the face ID not working for apples own demo
      https://www.theverge.com/circu...

      try using google..

    3. Re:The iPhone X is a terrible phone by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 2

      One of my few gripes last month was that it was hard for me to unlock in bed laying on my side with faceid. That seems to have improved dramatically since then.

      The issues with the screen and home zone you describe are pretty limited for me; most of my apps don’t take advantage of the notch yet (and there are a number of great ways to improve the UI by adding in support, like putting the menu in the top left so it disappears), but not that big of a deal.

      I have almost gotten over the animated poop, but there is a time and place for everything.

    4. Re:The iPhone X is a terrible phone by dk20 · · Score: 2

      what, a 3d printed face mask isnt enought? https://www.theverge.com/2017/...

  6. I'm sorry, but ... by Qbertino · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Apple" and "wallet friendly" in the same sentence simply does not compute. Really not. And I've got an MB Air myself.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  7. Re:Bullshit by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

    Look at the iPod shuffle 2nd generation, 3rd generation and 4th generation.
    They clearly went back to the basic design of the 2nd generation because the 3rd generation was bad.

    They discontinued the "puck" mouse and never done the same mistake again.

    They removed the "scrollwheel" volume controller in QuickTime and went back to a regular slider in subsequent versions.

    Those are the only three examples I can think of right now.

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  8. Re:Hahahah by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 4, Informative

    BGR, an Android boy-Army? LOL - BGR is about the biggest Apple enthusiast out there!

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  9. Misleading title is misleading. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    While there are plenty of people that hate Apple and the iPhone X (I prefer touch id and no notch myself), this isn't about the X as a concept being discontinued. Apple is just considering not selling the $1000 phone as the lower cost option, once the replacement models come out. Usually they will take the current flagship model and offer a cheaper lower memory version as the budget device when a new replacement is offered.

    They could put a version of the 8 as the lower cost option, or the 8 itself if there's no replacement for it. There's also rumor of an SE coming out.

    The replacements for the X are still slated to have FaceID (a possibly updated version) and a notch (though maybe smaller).

    I would prefer to have a TouchID option on newer phones, and hopeful that Apple keeps that as an option as it seems FaceID is here for the long run.

  10. iPhone X facial recognition authentication: by Narcocide · · Score: 2

    A case study in why just because you can doesn't mean you should.

  11. Who makes this stuff up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I switched from a Galaxy S7 to the Iphone X. I'm a happy customer. It's great phone, period. After all of the investments that Apple has made to build the X, there is Zero chance that Apple would return to it's old, tired design. None.

    1. Re:Who makes this stuff up? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 2

      I agree, and would never go for a phone that is 'nothing more than a data source for Google.'

      Which is why I chose an inexpensive Samsung Galaxy phone. Samsung has a somewhat adversarial relationship with Google, which is a good thing in my book.

      One thing I would never, ever, do is buy a phone where the whole stack from the hardware to the OS came from a single sourced vendor, and with a locked single app store. That's just putting your head in the lion's mouth.

  12. Re:Good by Sebby · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sorry for the rant, but I just had an encounter with an idiot in the grocery store and I am still pissed. Not that it does not happen every day though.

    Which - running into idiots, or you getting pissed? :)

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  13. Re:And the concensus is... by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The thing is, as an X owner and a longtime Apple watcher, I can tell you exactly how this will play out — because this isn't the first time Apple has revised their plans when the customer base failed to see the value in a product line. One other relatively recent example is the Mac Pro — aka, the "trash can." Yeah... it was pretty universally hated for a lot of reasons, and Apple has acknowledged that it's on the chopping block. We're still waiting to see the outcome of that one.

    The Mac Pro wasn't universally hated. A certain subset of pro users like it a lot — the ones who don't have any significant storage requirements and need really, really quiet machines. A different subset hate it — the ones who now have to install a separate RAID enclosure right beside their machine because they can't stick up to 240 TB of SSDs in each one like you can with the previous generation (or, more realistically, up to 48 TB of spinning rust), and are instead stuck with the paltry 1 TB that Apple graciously allows you to buy. (You can get more storage even in their laptops now, which is beyond sad.)

    The bigger problem with the Mac Pro, of course, is that it is too small to accommodate subsequent generations of twelve-core CPUs and high-end GPUs, so they can't upgrade it to the current tech without significantly redesigning it. Their insatiable lust for thinness/compactness and their bizarre infatuation with proprietary SSD-only storage slots finally bit them in the a**. And it's good that they're having to rethink things. Maybe next time, they'll pay more attention to their target audience saying, "Here are our minimum requirements" before they design things, rather than just saying, "You'll adapt to what we sell," because at some point, their customers will get tired of doing that.

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  14. Re:Apple is dying by Dr.+Evil · · Score: 2

    It's like 1996 all over again! Let's ask Michael Dell what he would do with Apple?

    They're seriously in danger of losing their position as the most profitable company in the world. https://9to5mac.com/2017/07/20/apple-global-fortune-500/

  15. iPhone X opposite of a debacle - Revelation by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Virtue-signal much?

    Only it doesn't seem like signaling ignorance is much of a virtue. Unlike you, I've owned both Android and iPhones so I can see what both sides are like.

    The iPhone X is exactly the opposite of a "debacle". It is by far the largest improvement in using a phone I have had, since the original iPhone first came out. FaceID is the future and I am not buying another mobile device (laptop, phone or tablet) that does not support FaceID (not facial recognition: 3D face authentication) - between that and the replacement of front buttons with gestures it is that much of a leap in UX improvement over even the best touch sensors. The OLED screen is like a distant second in comparison and is actually a mixed bag compared to a great LCD. It is amazing to think this is only the first version to FaceID, think of how the first touch sensors were - FaceID is so much more reliable than they were.

    The thought that Apple would cancel the iPhone X is laughable; the only thing to wonder about is when does the rest of the line will get FaceID and join us in the future.

    Those of you who do not have one, may find this hyperbolic... but someday you will understand.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  16. Re:Bullshit by EvilSS · · Score: 5, Insightful

    FaceID is optional. If you don't like it, don't enable it.

    I don't think the problem is that people don't want to use it. I think the problem is that people just like the fingerprint sensor more and opted for the lower priced 8 with it than going for the more expensive X that lacks it.

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  17. Re:Apple is dying by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The apple store in that picture would easily pass as a very cultish church. All you have to do is replace the apple logo with a church of scientology logo.

  18. Re:Apple is dying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The ipod was like another mp3 player at the time.

    Creative Labs' Nomad. It had more space than the iPod. Some models might have had wi-fi. It wasn't lame. (That's the meme, at least.) I had a Nomad. It was terrible. It had a 6GB laptop drive (compare to the original iPod's 5GB 1.8" drive), was the size of a portable CD player (compare to the iPod's "bar of soap" size), and transferred music to/from the drive via USB1.1 (compare to the iPod's Firewire connection). Oh, and it didn't have WiFi either. That's why the CmdrTaco "review" of the iPod has been such a dank meme for so long. It was hilariously off-the-mark.

    itunes the software they bought the company that developed it and it was one of a dozen MP3 apps out there at the time.

    Cassidy & Greene's SoundJam MP3. Apple didn't buy the company or the software. They hired away their developers, then tasked them with re-creating SoundJam MP3, but with more brushed metal texture and fewer supported audio formats. Total dick move, and the press called Apple out on it back then. That was before Apple had gotten fully and firmly past the press' collective gag reflex. Now, journalism is practically sustained by the "protein shakes" dispensed by Apple.

    The value wasn't in Jobs, but in the NEXT OS which became OS X and then IOS and still lives on.

    You think Gil Amelio would've kicked ass and taken names like Jobs did from 1997 to 2007? Hardly. When interviewed, Amelio called bringing Jobs back was his greatest act to help the company. Because it worked. Yes, basing Mac OS X on NextStep helped. But Mac OS X isn't NextStep. It's FreeBSD with some cross-pollination with OpenStep. There's A) no original NextStep code involved (since NextStep ran on 68k machines only) and B) it's not OpenStep either, but instead FreeBSD with a GUI that works somewhat similar to OpenStep's, but is based on PDF instead of PostScript. (And, yes, I'm aware that PDF is technically PostScript 3. But it has some compatibility breaks with PostScript 2 and earlier.)

    Tim Cook, however, can't run the company for shit. Time after time, he's made POHR mistakes. He's John Sculley 2.0. I'd rate AAPL a "sell, now", starting with the day Jobs died. And as for Android, I wouldn't rate Alphabet much higher. Android is a shit-show of epic proportions. It makes Windows look well-engineered and secure.

  19. If only people would read the article by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 5, Informative

    Or even the summary.

    The iPhone X might be deprecated as a low cost option. That means it wonâ(TM)t be around next year for cheap. Instead, the iPhone 8 will be the cheap option and the three new phones will effectively be 3 different updated iPhone X models.

    There will still be Face ID on the new phones. They will still not have home buttons.

    If you were hoping to get an X from Apple $200 cheaper next year, this might be disappointing to you, but it doesnâ(TM)t mean much else.

  20. Re: Bullshit by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 3, Funny

    Whatâ(TM)s wrong with smart quotes?

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