Apple Says Profits Were Flat, Citing Slump In China (nytimes.com)
Due to an economic slowdown in China and diminishing demand for new iPhones, Apple's profits in its most recent quarter were flat compared with a year earlier. "The disappointing financial performance had been expected since Jan. 2, when Apple, for the first time in 16 years, revised its forecast for the quarter," reports The New York Times. "But the announcement on Tuesday indicates a difficult road head for Apple, which just five months ago became the first company to be worth more than $1 trillion. The company said it expected between $55 billion and $59 billion in revenue in the current quarter, just below analysts' expectations for $59 billion. Apple's earnings per share were $4.18, beating analysts' expectations by a penny."
In addition to the quarterly earnings, Apple reported revenue of $84.3 billion, a decline of 5 percent from one year ago. "Revenue from iPhone declined 15 percent from the prior year, while total revenue from all other products and services grew 19 percent," Apple said in a press release. Analysts had estimated revenue of $83.97 billion and earnings of $4.17 per share. "While it was disappointing to miss our revenue guidance, we manage Apple for the long term, and this quarter's results demonstrate that the underlying strength of our business runs deep and wide," said Tim Cook. Apple's active install base of 1.4 billion is "a great testament to the satisfaction and loyalty of our customers, and it's driving our services business to new records thanks to our large and fast-growing ecosystem," Cook said. The Verge adds: "iPhones account for 900 million of those devices. iPad revenues were up 17 percent against the year-ago quarter; Mac was up 9 percent; and Wearables/Home/Accessories were up by 33 percent."
In addition to the quarterly earnings, Apple reported revenue of $84.3 billion, a decline of 5 percent from one year ago. "Revenue from iPhone declined 15 percent from the prior year, while total revenue from all other products and services grew 19 percent," Apple said in a press release. Analysts had estimated revenue of $83.97 billion and earnings of $4.17 per share. "While it was disappointing to miss our revenue guidance, we manage Apple for the long term, and this quarter's results demonstrate that the underlying strength of our business runs deep and wide," said Tim Cook. Apple's active install base of 1.4 billion is "a great testament to the satisfaction and loyalty of our customers, and it's driving our services business to new records thanks to our large and fast-growing ecosystem," Cook said. The Verge adds: "iPhones account for 900 million of those devices. iPad revenues were up 17 percent against the year-ago quarter; Mac was up 9 percent; and Wearables/Home/Accessories were up by 33 percent."
Only 80 billion dollars in the months?
It's over.
gley shift make velly many coppy-cat!
Apple needs to get off its ass and monetize all the user data they have. Google and facebook have been pretty successfull at it. Tim your responsibility is to your shareholders not your users.
**Life is too short to be serious**
See subject: Too kinky for me & you project your own "issues" that way you know Mr. UNIDENTIFIABLE ANONYMOUSdamus troll, lol!
APK
P.S.=> Anyhow - there ya are... apk
I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.
Blame way overpriced flagshit devices. That was a typo but I think it plays. Does it play?
Sure, they increased the price of every single new iPhone, but I'm sure it was exclusively China and the Trade War that imposed zero tariffs on Apple products that is to blame (in fairness, China is very anti-US, and specifically pro-Chinese, especially when the US is actively anti-China).
It cannot have anything to do with the iPhone XR starting at $699 USD, iPhone XS starting at $999 USD, or the iPhone XS Max starting at $1099 USD. Given that the iPhone 8 -- the same tier as the iPhone XR -- was itself raised $50 to $649 USD from $599 USD for the iPhone 7, that's a lot of increases in a very short amount of time with no real justification beyond shortsighted greed. And now Tim Cook and Co are reaping the rewards -- massive profits on smaller unit sales because they aren't packing enough into the more expensive units to justify their price, which is the literally the first lesson in pricing yourself out of a market.
People in the US are not excited to pay those prices. I have zero reason to upgrade to an iPhone XS from my iPhone 8 beyond a nicer screen and modestly nicer camera, and the iPhone XR is just more money for the same phone with a faster processor.
In past years I was a pretty consistent 2 year cycle upgrader because I enjoyed the performance boost and camera improvements, but Google has taken the lead on software-based camera improvements without adding seven trillion lenses onto the back of the phone. I suspect that Apple will pump out a crappy iPhone XI this year that will be a modest bump over the iPhone XS, for $999 USD, possibly with USB-C (like the iPad Pro thankfully -- finally -- conformed to using!) and a third lens (or maybe they'll just put that on the "Max" variant for an extra $100 USD).
I will only upgrade if they can compete with Google's camera quality, particularly in dark shots. Otherwise I'm going to hold out until my iPhone 8 is on death's door because I have no interest in paying for a computer to get a phone, regardless of the merits of the processor. I don't want 2 or more lenses, I want software Google's Pixel camera at the price of a Google Pixel phone.
Amusingly the deepest tether keeping me on iOS is my Apple Watch. It feels amazing compared to every other smartwatch that I've tested and it only works with iOS. I think that Apple is going to have to try to open up future Apple Watch models to Android to get deeper market penetration, like they did with Apple Music, and I will get a Google Pixel if they ever make that leap.
People buying $300 products in China and not the expected $1200 designed product?
People buying $500 to $1000 South Korean products and from brands in China?
Who in the free West would have expected Communist enforced patriotism to be so strong?
That China could alter the social credit score on what smart phone brand a person was reported as using?
Who wants to risk their social credit on the wrong smart phone brand?
That people have the freedom to select an amazing South Korean smart phone with more features?
A much better design from Taiwan for $800?
That a factory in Communist China would make a smart phone for $300 and accept that sale price to build its own export brand?
Innovative ways to not need a notch?
If only the desktop market had an advanced GPU and CPU ready product to be productive and game on?
Something new to sell to make a profit as a $1200 smart phone use becomes a brand from innovative South Korea and low price China?
Is the desktop OS ready for hours of 5K and 8K games and supportive of the needed GPU hardware?
Rather than just making the art and music for 5K and 8K games?
More ads in the browser?
Make the US gov pay per user for full PRISM like access?
Become a movie company with great new movies to rent?
Find ways to ensure people buy a new smart phone sooner?
Make repair work a sin?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
You say peak smartphone is here, but what makes you think that? I don't see any sign that demand for smartphones is in any way lacking or declining. It only increases...
So he asks me things like "well, should I move into the browser coding area next?" &/or other areas of interest he has there to help PRESERVE his career
Learning Swift is still a career forward move and builds on the strong base he already has, even more-so is learning Python and Tensorflow. Even if it just wanted to stay at Apple that would be worthwhile...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Look, you set the price too high. Just shift the price lower on the curve, and you can maximize your profit.
In a time when you're flooding the market with $1000 phones, reconsider your original $500 price point. You'll see that unit sales of the $800 version are ok, and the $500 model is doing very well, so you know you need to fire your marketing and sales teams who skipped out on basic accounting and economics classes.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Huawei will be the winner!
Apple, the loser!
The problem with his comments is that they don't make sense when you look at how Apple got it's butt kicked in India. India is an untapped market; 2018 had 150M phones sold and over 1B people live there. But the market is not made for US$1,000 phones; it needs a product that fits India appropriately. Xiaomi launched a budget phone and a premium phone that cost in US$420 and they owned the market there.
Apple needs to get out of the Western world way of thinking and Western world prices. THe growth markets are India, China, and much of Southeast Asia (655M people across 11 countries), but their markets don't have room for a $1,000 phone.
lack of innovation
I guess Apple prefer to externalize, and that's unfortunate.
If Apple were to internalize, they might realize that, for the past few years, they have been adding new features to the iPhone that people aren't really all that interested in. For example, a screen that covers the whole face of the phone, OLED screen that you have to run dark-mode on so you don't rip through your battery, animojie, AR/VR, and an inferior Intel radio.
At the same time, they have been removing features that people liked. For example, headphone jack, home button, thumbprint reader, and superior Qualcom radio.
As they're doing this, the phone's price is continuing to climb.
It's Apple's fault. Not China. Not Trump. They should do what Microsoft did with Vista when they knew they'd fucked up... Forget about new features. Go back and fix everything people hate and come out with the "Windows 7" of iPhones. The one everyone wanted in the first place with all the features they like and none of the features they hate or don't care about.
THIS is why people are worried about Apple going down hill. Until they're honest about why they had a bad year, they can't fix the real problems that caused it. Is anyone going to tell Tim? Or is it" The Emperor's New Clothes" over there at Apple?
There's only so many interested buyers & many people aren't as "affluent" as they used to be (economics being 'down' as we're all hearing) + what others told you - I've seen similar reports before like ones they're putting out to you.
* I.E. - Lots of things... including common-sense (mostly, it was THIS ONE in our conversations that led me to my conclusions really - the FACT Apple began pursuing overseas markets so aggressively told me they were "running DRY" in USA etc. (toss on the fact that Google is a STRONG COMPETITOR via Android too? Market saturation in combination w/ MANY 'poorer-than-usual' U.S. Folks just seemed to say so to me...))
(Sorry for late reply - getting into "Criminal Minds" on NetFlix!)
APK
P.S.=> My nephew programs Objective C, Swift, C/C++, PERL, Python, Javascript & probably others I'm not aware of so, I'm pretty certain he'd function well anywhere he lands (plus he's a hard worker/dedicated persona)... apk
Start selling real computers again, Apple!
Sooner than you know it, some Chinese company buys Apple for pennies..
They only issued debt as a way to leverage that overseas cash for buybacks and dividends. With the tax law change that's no longer necessary, so they are no longer issuing new debt and it will shrink as the bonds mature.
But don't let facts interfere with your Apple hatred.
flat
Seems to me you people can't tell the difference between "news" and "opinion".
Maybe that is why you spend so much time watching Faux-"News", instead of real news.
Time to vote that piece of shit out.
It's a stockholder issue. Not a nerd issue. Unless you have skin in the game what could matter less?
The dollar is very strong right now. So when Apple jacks the price of their phones up by 20%, people think 20 percent is a lot... but if you add another 10-20% relative to other currencies, people outside the US saw up to a 50 percent increase between generations. Ask Apple, Cisco or any other major multinational who measures their income in dollars how that as impacted them.
Why don't you fist your own ass instead. With how many dicks you take daily at the glory hole in the Pilot Travel Center off of I-85 near your house it is the only way you get any feeling.
Apple seems to make no mention of the astronomical pricing of its latest iPhone models. Apple has always been known as a premium brand commanding premium prices. But several years ago, Apple experimented with lowering prices on its cheapest Macbook and iPhone models. And more and more consumers became Apple customers. But over the past few years, Apple has once again changed course, this time raising prices drastically. So it's no wonder that iPhone sales are declining.
But this may have a bigger effect on Apple in the future. With more customers shunning the iPhone, Apple is also likely to see future reduced sales on all its consumer products. Why buy a $1500 iPhone when a $400 Android phone will do? And then former iPhone users see that Android phones have a lot more flexibility like being able to place widgets on the home screen; no more boring grids of icons. After that, they see that they can forego buying a $1500 Macbook and instead by a $400 Chromebook.
Apple is shooting itself in the foot by raising its prices.
Apple had 0% growth, and Harley Davidson had actual 0% profit. Both due to the tariff nonsense. Your economy and China's are linked, supporting each other, growing together. Pursuing policy defined by hate of China is shooting both feet off and calling it good.
See subject & to any who DOUBTED me on another apple issue? EAT YOUR WORDS (proof) https://apple.slashdot.org/com... (only NOW are the security sites getting wind of it when I knew that was fixed DAYS ago).
* TROLL CHUMP!
APK
P.S.=> You're also PROJECTING your own "StRaNgE" practices & "phantasies" onto me - don't - I'm NOTHING like YOU (ugh, whacked in the head = you)... apk
Economy is driven by relative growth, that makes it a technical "loss" when they get the same records profits than the last period, it's stupid but Economy is stupid run by stupid people to keep shareholders and manipulators entertained.