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Apple To Drop iPhone XR Price in Japan Amid Weak Sales (wsj.com)

Posted by msmash on from the losing-charm dept.

A month after Apple's new iPhone XR release, the company is set to discount the device in Japan, The Wall Street Journal reports. From the report: Less than a month after releasing the iPhone XR, Apple is moving to offer subsidies to mobile-network operators in Japan to shore up sales of its least expensive new smartphone, people familiar with the matter said. The de facto discount of the handset, coupled with cuts in production plans, are a sign of limited enthusiasm among consumers for the model, which has fewer features than Apple's other two new releases and costs more than still-popular older models like the iPhone 8.

74 comments

  1. If you want an iPhone by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Apple is selling the refurbished 128 gig iPhone 7 for $469:

    https://www.apple.com/us_edu_8...

    Seriously, why spend $800-$1300 on an iPhone... or any phone?

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:If you want an iPhone by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Even 469$USD, especially for a used phone, is too much.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:If you want an iPhone by Frederic54 · · Score: 1

      Especially the XR, no SD Card, no audio jack, and a 720p screen LOL?!?

      I bet in Japan, like in north america, they have wwwaaaaayyyy better phone for half the price.

      --
      "Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
    3. Re:If you want an iPhone by bogaboga · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Even 469$USD, especially for a used phone, is too much.

      For the same reason some folks do the following: -

      1: fly Business Class for three times the Economy Class ticket price

      2: Have mansions as homes yet obviously do not use all the space

      3: Drive Lexus, Mercedes or Lamborghinis, yet a Renault or Chevy could be just as effective

      4: Are willing to spend up to US$5,000 on a dinner plate with the likes of the Clintons etc...

      Need more?

    4. Re:If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      $469 plus or minus whatever fees/sales tax/commissions is fine for a phone, especially if you are going to hand it down to someone else. The question is is the phone still going to work right as advertised or is it a permanently scaled down model?

    5. Re:If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Seriously, why spend $800-$1300 on an iPhone... or any phone?

      I assume Apple has two primary customers at this point: rich people and corporate users.

      The rich have the money to blow on anything overpriced. However, the initial iPhone sales model ($200 upfront and monthly installments) may have hooked people who thought the phone was relatively inexpensive.

      Corporate users pay for durability, utility, and security. They care less about the upfront cost (they'd be the only ones to shell out serious money for Windows on ARM emulation). For instance, consumers would almost never buy a tablet with 4G support (they'd just use WiFi), but a corporation that distributes them to employees for inventory-tracking (or something) would.

    6. Re:If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You mean have more money than brains?

    7. Re:If you want an iPhone by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

      Even 469$USD, especially for a used phone, is too much.

      I’ve bought refurbished Apple stuff - it’s the only way I buy it, actually. With the phones, both the battery and the shell are new. The warranty is the same as new. And I’ve never seen a less-than-perfect screen on an Apple-refurbished product.

      If you’re gonna buy Apple kit, refurb is the way to go.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    8. Re: If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you want durability, you definitely don't get an iPhone. Especially given that a lot of them have both a glass front and back to ensure they break regardless of how they are dropped.

      Companies get it because they see Apple's advertising and think they're great phones for business. They're alright, but if they got android for instance, they even can use stuff like team viewer to make remote changes

    9. Re:If you want an iPhone by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Apple used to have economy class items. Since Tim Cook took over, all the low-cost items have been dropped and the prices of the remaining items have gone up.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    10. Re:If you want an iPhone by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Apple used to have economy class items. Since Tim Cook took over, all the low-cost items have been dropped and the prices of the remaining items have gone up.

      ... and Apple's profits are hitting record highs, so this looks like a smart strategy.

    11. Re:If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > If you’re gonna buy Apple kit,

      I don't think Apple has sold anything that you have to put together since the 1970s.

    12. Re:If you want an iPhone by snapsnap · · Score: 1

      I did a search for kit on store.apple.com, and while there are some results, none of them are kits. I miss the days when you could buy a kit and assembly it.

    13. Re:If you want an iPhone by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2

      While market share continues to slide. It's a great short-term strategy, but when there's an economic hiccup (and we're about 2-3 years overdue) and consumer consumption drops - Apple will have, essentially, nothing to offer most consumers and will see a pretty big retraction not just in market share, but in profits.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    14. Re: If you want an iPhone by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      The Apple 1 was only available as a kit. It was a single pc board and you had to come up with your own power transformer (a heavy item to ship). You also had to attach your own parallel-strobed ascii keyboard. There was a patch by at the keyboard input to add inverters if needed for your keyboard. The Apple 1s most commonly seen for big-bux sales today are augmented kits with the add-on parts the original owner came up with.

    15. Re:If you want an iPhone by Tough+Love · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but used.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    16. Re: If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it take a keyboard and mouse im willing to ditch the pc

    17. Re:If you want an iPhone by melted · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Not really. It's substantially faster than this (and probably next) year's crop of fastest Android devices, has better apps, and will receive updates for many years.

    18. Re:If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While market share continues to slide.

      In your dreams. Let me guess: if I ask you for proof, you will give me some 5 year old source that actually doesn't prove your claim again?

    19. Re: If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it was just a phone, that would be a fair comment. These devices are so much more than that, they just happen to take phone calls as well. So if you want an amazing piece of technology that does X and Y, then what youâ(TM)re willing to pay depends on what you expect of X and Y.

    20. Re:If you want an iPhone by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      Used I-phone, all sticky with scratches!

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    21. Re: If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Many Americans who have iPhones have no idea what they cost. It's just a fee added on to their monthly bill. And once it's paid off they keep paying that fee.

    22. Re:If you want an iPhone by Iwastheone · · Score: 1

      Seriously, why spend $800-$1300 on an iPhone... or any phone? Why spend more than $80? My Moto E4 serves me quite well. Just asking...

    23. Re:If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let me guess, proof is provided and you dismiss it or change the goalposts.

    24. Re: If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shh...he still thinks Steve works there.

    25. Re:If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They did release iPad 2017 and iPad 2018 that seem to be economy class items, relatively.
      Well if you want a model with 128GB storage, LTE modem or both then it's severely overpriced. +25% over base model to get the 128GB instead of 32GB, and +61% for 128GB and LTE. That's severe margin right there. Otherwise I'd be interested : other walled garden computers in that range are Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, high spec phone with Google Play, Windows 10S (also Xbox One but I would just get a Playstation instead). iPad is not thus that unreasonable and I would probably want iOS as the walled garden. I may be unusual as I don't have walled garden computers yet (played plenty consoles in the past just not Internet connected ones)

    26. Re:If you want an iPhone by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Here you go.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    27. Re: If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      An iPhone is not a Mercedes, Lexus, Lamborghini or Ferrari

      An iPhone is a Toyota and an Android is anything between an old Fiat and a Lamborghini With a commercial sticker or two...Except that the iPhone Toyota costs the same as the Android Lamborghini With commercial stickers

      For the price I prefer the Lamborghini to the Toyota

    28. Re:If you want an iPhone by tsa · · Score: 1

      No. They just like to spend their money on that.

      --

      -- Cheers!

    29. Re: If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck your refurbished ugly ishit.

    30. Re:If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then Apple can reduce their 150% margin to say 75% which will cut the "price" in half.

    31. Re:If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Canada we have iPhone SX for 2000$ hahahahha Apple has to pull their heed from their ass :)

    32. Re:If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So... APPL's marketshare was up YoY thru the first two quarters of 2018?

    33. Re:If you want an iPhone by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Check the longer-term trend. It's downward. Not a surprise it's up for the quarter when new models are released - but the long term trend is down.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    34. Re:If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      New models are released in the same quarter every year.

    35. Re:If you want an iPhone by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Yes. And? Market share continues to slide. The trend is irrefutable.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    36. Re:If you want an iPhone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your boys don't think so.

      https://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/os

  2. Stuck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Effectively I can't do any more with an iPhone XS or XR that I could do with an iPhone 6.
    It reminds me of what the Windows ecosystem used to do 20 years ago, advertising better specs, not better utility. Looks like Apple is finally too fat and stuck on the innovation train.

    1. Re:Stuck by dknj · · Score: 2

      The camera is a little nicer than an iphone 6, i.e it does way better in low light. Other than that, you are spot on.

    2. Re:Stuck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the camera was your main reason for a smartphone then you would not buy apple in the first place. so the minor improvement is hardly going to be a winner.

    3. Re:Stuck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the combination of no 3.5 + a fucking goddamned notch is unappealing for Most normal people.

    4. Re:Stuck by EvilSurfinCow · · Score: 1

      "Effectively I can't do any more with an iPhone XS or XR that I could do with an iPhone 6."

      There are a few feature differences but there is a big difference in performance. I don't see much performance difference between iPhone5 and iPhone 6 (which I still use depending on occasion) but there is a huge difference in performance.

      Before I got the iPhone X, both the 5 and 6 were great and I didn't really have any complaints. Now that I have the X, the 5 and 6 just seem very slow.

      With that said, my work paid for the iPhone X, and I'm fairly certain if it was coming out of my own pocket I'd probably be looking at something less expensive since 1200euros is quite ridiculous for a phone. However, I greatly enjoy the phone so I'm happy to have it :)

    5. Re:Stuck by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Effectively I can't do any more with an iPhone XS or XR that I could do with an iPhone 6.

      What is the obsession with doing more? Phones have been largely feature complete for a while now with the only real innovation left being to turn them into something else, like a full desktop ala Samsung Dex.

      My current laptop can't do more than my pervious one could either. It can however do it faster and better. I'm not fan of the upgrade cycle, but that alone is no reason not to produce high-end top tier deviecs for those who want them.

    6. Re:Stuck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let me get this straight. You buy a phone based on the camera?

      I wish that the extraneous camera's and shit would be removed as they serve no useful purpose whatsoever.

    7. Re:Stuck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are phones with a wide angle camera and a longer range camera. This example doesn't seem so useless to me

  3. Dear Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Get the fuck out of California once in a while to see how normal people live. We're not all rich assholes who can afford whatever the fuck we want whenever we want it.

    1. Re:Dear Apple by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Get the fuck out of California once in a while to see how normal people live. We're not all rich assholes

      Once you correct for living expenses, California has the highest poverty rate of any state.

    2. Re:Dear Apple by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      So what? It does not matter if you pick the average or the median, it does not apply to anyone making the decisions at Apple.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    3. Re:Dear Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dear Apple, if you take this guy's advice then maybe someday you can be a profitable company.

    4. Re: Dear Apple by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      Clue: nerds don't care if tech companies are profitable. Maybe you came here by mistake and meant to be reading Barron's or Forbes.

    5. Re: Dear Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, fuck you apple.

  4. Why didn't they make a small X by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The device really has no real appeal, being the slighty cheaper "middle child" of the whole range. If it were the size of the 5S/SE (or even smaller, with an edge to edge screen) I'd be interested.

  5. Because they couldn't make a small X by joh · · Score: 1

    They didn't make a small X because the sensors for FaceID along with the camera and everything else cause the notch up there to be wide enough that there wouldn't be enough room on either side for the status bar items in a smaller display. A smaller phone would have needed a full-width bezel on the top and due to Apple's obsession with design and symmetry this was just not an option. The resulting phone would have looked too much like what 100 Android phones look like.

    The only way to make a smaller X would have been to do away with FaceID and put a TouchID sensor on the back, making the notch on the front much smaller. This again probably wasn't what Apple wanted because they didn't want to mar the uptake of FaceID by offering a convincing package of a new phone with the old TouchID, making FaceID in their expensive phones look like a crutch.

    You don't need to agree with everything (or anything) Apple does but they usually have good reasons (good for Apple) to do what they do. They aren't idiots (far from it), they just want your money.

    1. Re: Because they couldn't make a small X by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If they aren't idiots, are you able to explain the lack of a headphone jack? Because I still don't grasp the logical chain of causal thinking that underpinned the decision.

    2. Re: Because they couldn't make a small X by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 2

      Apple is trying to become a music streamer and they wanted to close the analog hole. Rigid DRM is now just a software patch away. (Plus they will offer the same sort of additional arguments they used to for why a one button mouse was superior)

    3. Re: Because they couldn't make a small X by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think they really need to add some more DRM, they can simply count on user ignorance and laziness then when they negotiate with the music industry they can say, most of our users are using wireless stuff or built-in speakers or proprietary "airplay".
      The analog jack or RCA or electric wire with no connector at all will always be here and available in some form. I'm not even saying the users are dumb. It'd be like, some people think of you as a genius because you showed them you use a Playstation 2 gamepad to USB adapter to play some games on PC with old PS1 and PS2 controllers. It's a trivial old thing (if you knew about it) but people by large don't know about this. Similar with putting two hard drives inside a computer, or formerly using two monitors.

      You don't have to make things mandatory or forbidden if people don't even care about their options.
      Don't ban books when people don't read them anyway

    4. Re: Because they couldn't make a small X by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They can't close the analog hole. Open the phone up, connect a new wire to the speaker wires. You just got the flexibility of the headphone jack back!

      Not something every Joe will do - but an easy mod for anyone interested in "analog piracy".

  6. More worrying by seoras · · Score: 1

    Putting the fruit bashing aside I find this worrying because the sales data I'm seeing from my own business globally would seem to suggest a sudden drop in consumer confidence, especially in the US.
    If I compare sales last thanksgiving to this year the difference is night and day. Our sales tends to be seasonal and well matched annually in fluctuations.
    When the dot com bubble burst I was working at Cisco, who were the first company to be valued at $500Billion (look at them now), and I remember Chambers saying how sales hit a brick wall literally over night. Different market (consumer / enterprise) but the global economy affects all.
    I'm not going to finger point or speculate here I'm just pointing out that it may not be just Apple who are feeling it and if that's true then "winter is coming" ;)

    1. Re: More worrying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agree and also look at jobs. Usually a hot job market closely precedes a recession. It is about time anyway so no real surprise.

      The only downside is losers tend to vote for shithead Democrats who promise the moon and fail to deliver.

    2. Re:More worrying by Tough+Love · · Score: 2

      Tired of winning yet?

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    3. Re: More worrying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What has trump delivered so far? Please do tell what promises he has fulfilled? Where is his wall? Where is those "peace talks" with the Koreans going?

    4. Re:More worrying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We hit this wall with mobile phones some time ago. The answer from vendors was more expensive and botique phones to keep the profits the same while selling fewer devices. We need really just need a few select buyers of our million dollar phones.

  7. That's it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm packin' up & movin' to Japan.

    1. Re: That's it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bad move if you like women with tits

    2. Re: That's it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're looking at the wrong porn sites. If anything that would be the only reason to move there.

  8. Mobile Devices Have Peaked by donweel · · Score: 1

    Most phones do the tasks we need them to do in our every day life. The iPhones I have owned donâ(TM)t stop working till Something heavy gets dropped on them or they fall when I am up on a ladder. No need to buy a new one. Aside from some fancy new bells and whistles the older models work just fine. I think new phone sales will continue to soften.

    --
    Many a long talk since then I have had with the man in the moon; he had my confidence on the voyage. Joshua Slocum
  9. Oh the notch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe people just don't like the notch on the screen.
    For me, I will never buy any phone with a notch on screen.

    1. Re:Oh the notch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I will if it has an audio jack and SD slot, FM radio, a bright screen, a bright torch light, a powerful front camera in that notch (so I check my haircut or something, perhaps do a video call some day in the future) and runs Lineage or Linux.

      don't care about CPU/RAM too much I think unless it'd run desktop linux, then I care about the RAM.
      If it has notch and removable battery, I'd go for it too. I don't know if that exists. Some phones with notch are low end enough to have micro USB (if for some reason you'd like that better) and jack, SD, FM.

  10. Too little, too late ! by stooo · · Score: 1

    Apple To Drop iPhone Price ?
    That's overdue.
    But it's too little too late.

    --
    aaaaaaa
  11. Japan wants price increases by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Japan wants price increases, well not all of Japan, but the Abe Administration and many economists, though through wage increases is the desired driver. Given Apple draws service and accessories revenue might be worth trying to push more devices trying a price elasticity decrease.

  12. IMPERSONATING ME AGAIN? apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    gweihir KNOWS u IMPERSONATE me https://it.slashdot.org/commen... c6gunner proves it https://linux.slashdot.org/com... he forgot to SUBMIT as AC & using his registered 'lusrname' instead (because he tried to mock me both BEFORE & after I FAIRLY challenged him to show he's done better work - he had ZERO).

    & NO WAY I'd "cry" like you "playing victim ne'er-do-wells" on /. (TROLL /.ers, not all) OR post on hosts offtopic.

    YOU HELPED ME https://science.slashdot.org/c... (& you quit trying to make me look bad trying to "tell lies" on hosts as "ME" IN YOUR IMPERSONATIONS of me e.g. https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... as regards Intel speculative execution attack? Hosts PREVENT 'EM)

    APK

    P.S.=> I KNOW the 2nd to last link above's KILLING YOU - YOU ACTUALLY HELPED ME getting me to see if hosts stop more than portsmash (& Meltdown + Spectre too) & "lo & behold" - hosts WORK on 'em - U LOSE... apk

  13. Iphone XR by sophia246 · · Score: 1

    iPhone XR is a very nice phone I m using this it's really good If anyone face router connection issue clicks here https://www.routertechnicalsup...