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SINCE IT WAS first announced back in 2007, the iPhone has been a consistent performer in the smartphone market, and has been one of Apple’s most lucrative products.
Fast forward to today and it’s expected Apple’s smartphone range will have crossed the one billion mark.
It’s expected that the milestone will be announced at its third-quarter earnings call which will take place tonight. The Financial Times originally reported it would likely have sold 13 million iPhones this month which would bring it over the mark.
The iPhone makes up more than two-thirds of Apple’s revenue, despite the company launching new products like the iPad, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. In the previous quarter, the iPhone generated $32.9 billion in revenue, selling 51 million units, while the next biggest product, the Mac, generated $5.1 billion with 4 million units sold.
Despite it dominating the smartphone market, a fall in iPhone sales between January to March led to Apple’s first revenue decline in 13 years. Apple attributed much of the fall to a struggling Chinese economy, which is the second-largest market in the world for Apple products behind the US.
Also, the saturation of the market, with cheaper Android devices flooding the market and rivals like Samsung upping their game, meant it was harder for Apple to convince people to upgrade sooner.
It’s expected this earnings call would also show a decline, predicting revenue to range between $41 billion and $43 billion.
As a way of reversing slowing iPhone sales, Apple launched the iPhone SE in March, a 4-inch device designed to appeal to users who weren’t keen on upgrading to the larger iPhone 6s and 6s Plus range.
Influence
Advertised as a combination of a mobile phone, an iPod and internet device, the original iPhone became the cornerstone of how smartphones are developed now. Apple announced it had sold its one millionth iPhone 74 days after it launched and it sold its billionth iOS device (iPhone and iPad) back in November 2014.
Earlier this year, Apple revealed that more than one billion of its devices are in active use today, including iPhones, iPads, Macs and Apple TV to name a few, but it has been facing serious challenges with smartphone sales.
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The iPhone is aimed at people who want security, consistency of UI and relative ease of use. The technology is stable and perfectly functional. Apple’s pricing model is to maintain the exclusivity of the device and hence maximize the price and their margins. They have no interest in competing with cheap android devices.
It’s hard to justify apple now, to new customers who’ve never owned or experienced their devices. Most new buyers will choose a good value for money,relatively cheap android and why wouldn’t they?!
because sometimes there is no choice. i.e. all schools implementing ebooks are now forcing kids to purchase high end apple iPads at €700 for ebooks, when a €100 tablet would do exactly the same job. This leads to whole generations of kids being appleified.
Have to agree. Apple try to tie you down. No direct access to hard drive No removable battery Can’t play mkv avi or mpeg Have to convert to QuickTime Have to use iTunes Flash does not work. Went from ios to android years ago. Would never go back.
But it’s adapted to a lot of that… or set a trend.
Most phones now follow a similar design to the iPhone. Most don’t have removable batteries (and few people have any interest in carrying spare batteries around when they can use power bars etc to charge their phone and other devices, or cover/battery combinations).
avi/mpeg etc is gone the way of the Dodo in most cases too. We’re streaming from Netfix, Youtube or similar now more than every before and it was mostly a change driven by Apple with iTunes, pretty much everyone else followed.
Agree with your sentiment James, just to mention that you can play those movie formats, you just need to use a 3rd party app like VLC.
Vlc on android. Can easily file on android can’t on ios. As for avi mpeg mkv being obsolete… I think you proved why people who know tech go android. Also my phone does have removable battery so will my next note. Also will have expandable memory.
awesome company
Google is an awesome company.
I googled “an awesome company” and guess what? The didn’t even come back in the top three! So there ya go
*they
The fairytale of the Emperor’s suit of clothes always springs to mind when I hear Apple being praised for their average products, ludicrous prices , poor performance (browser Safari (Joke)!native email that spends time catching up with any 2 bit Mail App). People are afraid to just say … eh.. it’s nothing special. Oh.. I understand it though… if i paid those prices I too would be inclined not to criticise, as one tends to do if one has been truly taken for a turkey… out of self pride ! LOL !
“a major milestone ” – what could that mean??
Could it be an end to their aggressive tax avoidance policies, the ending of their demands for state funding. Probably not most likely its just a new iphone without a headphone port that requires loads of proprietary equipment.
I never understood why men buy iPhones. Women, sure – it’s a nice fashion accessory to go with your handbag, with an easy to use interface & limited functionality. But I just assumed most men would prefer something less Kardashiany.
Says the lad with a baby on his back ya big girls blouse ya
That’s not a baby, it’s his second head you heartless monster.
Presumably because most men are comfortable enough with their penis size not to be concerned of randomers on the street think their mobile phone is Kardashiany.
Nothing New coming tonight ! Apple just tweet their products trying to squeeze a few more sales.
I can never understand why people feel the need to explain why they don’t like Apple. It’s a free choice you don’t need to buy one nor do you need to bore us to death in every article about why your phone is better because it can do xyz. Guess what? No one cares what phone you own or what it can do! I don’t go into every motoring article on the journal and start extolling the virtues about why my car can do the same speed as a Jaguar on public roads but costs 20 grand less. It’s a pointless argument.
Tonight won’t change anything unless they redesign the phone and put in a oled screen which won’t happen I guess until next year.
Well if they want to keep up with Samsung then yes an oled screen is what they need but I do agree battery should be a priority.
How would it look if Apple switched to OLED now, considering the original Samsung Galaxy from 2009 used an OLED screen?
OLED screens are known for their efficiency so they would help improve the battery life. They benefits are definitely noticeable on a small screen, colours and particularly black levels are far superior on an OLED screen
guess who’ll probly be making the oled screen for apple..
Have an iPhone 6S+ as my personal phone and a Samsung S6 and the Iphone wins on all fronts battery life screen quality OS stability camera etc, maybe it’s just Samsung but really don’t like Google’s OS! The only thing I won’t like with Apple’s next gen phone is if they drop their headphone socket, i don’t want to have to do use an adaptor for my headphones to work!
Since when is the Samsung 6/7 range a cheap android device!
Apple, I think, are one of the easiest companies to dislike because I think it galls certain people (myself included) to see what is on paper, a lower specification and less innovative product commanding a higher price than its competition and maintaining this for nearly ten years now. Its the marketing that makes up the difference of course, as well as the consistency of operation from iteration to iteration.
Iphones are not for me and I can safely say I will never buy one with my own money but I can see why certain people do.
I would like better cavity on sshd for the iMac
Capacity
have your say