Apple To Post First Quarterly Revenue Decline Since 2003

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According to this article, Apple is expected to post its first quarterly revenue decline since 2003. Obviously everyone is blaming poor iPhone sales but, to be honest, the company has just been stuck in a rut lately. That whole iPhone SE thing probably didn't help either.

The culprit: Shrinking iPhone sales, which generate the bulk of Apple’s revenue. Analysts expect the company to report March-quarter iPhone shipments of around 50 million to 52 million, down from 61 million a year ago. (That specific quarter had an unusual boost: iPhone 6 supply constraints had pushed more sales past the holiday period. So in this case, the iPhone business has an even tougher than usual record to beat.) For what it’s worth, iPhone sales are expected to pick up again later this year.
 
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It's not like Ray Charles could not see this day coming....

Apple stepped in and innovated part of the mobile phone industry. And for the past 9 years has been reaping the benefits. Now they are failing to innovate, and falling behind like companies did years ago (I am looking at you Blackberry).

Also they are following the same old Apple business plan. Find something people like. Spend more on advertising than R&D, convincing sheeple to buy said product thinking they are some how going to have some status.... eventually even the sheeple get tired of buying the same old re cooked designs and hardware "refresh", which generally is not innovation at all.

Apple started this at a time when people did know or understand phone specs. They just had to have a iPhone 3g because their friends and neighbors had one. But now consumers are MUCH more in the know about phone specs and performance numbers. The wool has been lifted, and Apple has seen this coming no doubt.

AAAAAAndddd, for the .001% of Apple customers who are going to say.... well I buy it for the "ecosystem", this announcement will not bother you. You will continue to buy anything with an Apple logo on it.
 
bound to happen... I sorta chuckle at the "Stock markets" they demand more and more all the time. A good consistent profit is almost worthless unless you are an old skool fuddy duddy what believes in building wealth the "slow" way.

Mobile hardware has imo hit its zenith. New hardware just does not produce the noticeable performance and usability gains that previous upgrades had (for most people). Thus upgrades won't be needed every 2 years... thus less sales.

PCs hit the very same thing about 5-7 years ago (or longer depending on who you ask). Laptops still have battery efficiency and size to improve but that too is slowing down.
 
dandirk said:
bound to happen... I sorta chuckle at the "Stock markets" they demand more and more all the time. A good consistent profit is almost worthless unless you are an old skool fuddy duddy what believes in building wealth the "slow" way.
Click to expand...

Hehehe, yeah constantly increasing sales just to stay at the same level is unsustainable for any company, that's understood by everyone. For the stock market you need movement, up, down, doesn't matter but it just has to move to be profitable.

Doesn't have to be logical, just profitable.
 
Rav3n said:
It's not like Ray Charles could not see this day coming....

Apple stepped in and innovated part of the mobile phone industry. And for the past 9 years has been reaping the benefits. Now they are failing to innovate, and falling behind like companies did years ago (I am looking at you Blackberry).

Also they are following the same old Apple business plan. Find something people like. Spend more on advertising than R&D, convincing sheeple to buy said product thinking they are some how going to have some status.... eventually even the sheeple get tired of buying the same old re cooked designs and hardware "refresh", which generally is not innovation at all.

Apple started this at a time when people did know or understand phone specs. They just had to have a iPhone 3g because their friends and neighbors had one. But now consumers are MUCH more in the know about phone specs and performance numbers. The wool has been lifted, and Apple has seen this coming no doubt.

AAAAAAndddd, for the .001% of Apple customers who are going to say.... well I buy it for the "ecosystem", this announcement will not bother you. You will continue to buy anything with an Apple logo on it.
Click to expand...

While I essentially agree with you... I would disagree on spending more on advertising than R&D (though technically it might be true, I don't know)... That makes them sound like a snake oil salesman and I don't believe that in the least. As much as I don't like their methods nor would I buy their products, I still respect them for their one major innovation that pretty much started with the ipod... That is to view and design their products as the average consumer.

They made the simple decision to make their products like a VCR/DVD player/console... simple and works. To this day I see technology designed by engineers that make sense to engineers, and even as an engineer I can see the usefulness and I "get it" but can easily see how normal people wouldn't. Apple focuses on the core functionality and makes sure that works before moving to more advanced features. While it sucks for power users, it great for everyone else (aka the 90%).
 
Inb4 all the "Apple is Dead, Doomed, Dying, whatever" posts we've been seeing for the last 3 decades that never come true.
 
Agree, I like iphones, but they pretty much do the same thing they did 6ish years ago. Bigger screen is nice, better camera is good, better battery life is nice, and fingerprint scanner is actually kind of useful and non gimmicky. 4 notable "things" across 6 phone generations (iphone4 to 6s+)? Something everyone else has done (and they've arguably done more)

Apple's sales has to slow down - there just isn't any reason to upgrade phones every iteration. I went from an iphone 4 to a 5, then to a 6s+ only because of damage to my existing phones. I expect to carry around my 6s+ until it dies an accidental death :) Then who knows what I'll get.

I also had a macbook early 2010 15" model. It was nice hardware (physically), but using it sucked IMO. I don't understand the "it just works" mentality. That's not true at all. Windows and linux are both far easier to navigate, and they do what you tell them to, not what the OS thinks should be done.

And as far as new products go - I'm not seeing anything. My phone does everything an ipad can and is more portable. I replaced a watch with my phone - why would I want another device to tell time, I have my phone. I wouldn't buy another mac after my first experience.

/shrug as expected I guess

What I'd really like to see from some phone manufacturer is a truly open way to connect and run my phone (and any app on it) from a remote screen. Like my car's navigation sucks - let me install a deck with a touchscreen that mirrors my phones screen and I can run google maps. That kind of stuff would be hot. Everything so far is some gimped version with lots of restrictions. Just... duplicate my screen right there and let me have at it.
 
well its gets to a time when a certain tech gets to a plateau, theres not much variation between products. seems that's close on smart phones.
 
Yakk said:
Hehehe, yeah constantly increasing sales just to stay at the same level is unsustainable for any company, that's understood by everyone. For the stock market you need movement, up, down, doesn't matter but it just has to move to be profitable.

Doesn't have to be logical, just profitable.
Click to expand...

The rub is stock price influences so much
Kongar said:
Agree, I like iphones, but they pretty much do the same thing they did 6ish years ago. Bigger screen is nice, better camera is good, better battery life is nice, and fingerprint scanner is actually kind of useful and non gimmicky. 4 notable "things" across 6 phone generations (iphone4 to 6s+)? Something everyone else has done (and they've arguably done more)

Apple's sales has to slow down - there just isn't any reason to upgrade phones every iteration. I went from an iphone 4 to a 5, then to a 6s+ only because of damage to my existing phones. I expect to carry around my 6s+ until it dies an accidental death :) Then who knows what I'll get.

I also had a macbook early 2010 15" model. It was nice hardware (physically), but using it sucked IMO. I don't understand the "it just works" mentality. That's not true at all. Windows and linux are both far easier to navigate, and they do what you tell them to, not what the OS thinks should be done.

And as far as new products go - I'm not seeing anything. My phone does everything an ipad can and is more portable. I replaced a watch with my phone - why would I want another device to tell time, I have my phone. I wouldn't buy another mac after my first experience.

/shrug as expected I guess

What I'd really like to see from some phone manufacturer is a truly open way to connect and run my phone (and any app on it) from a remote screen. Like my car's navigation sucks - let me install a deck with a touchscreen that mirrors my phones screen and I can run google maps. That kind of stuff would be hot. Everything so far is some gimped version with lots of restrictions. Just... duplicate my screen right there and let me have at it.
Click to expand...

I have thought about a watch type device... but mainly for notifications. Instead of pulling my phone out at a meeting, can quickly check my wrist... but that is a very small use case and costs don't seem to justify it to me yet.

Agree completely with the gps/IoT connectivity, at least as an option. Its frustrating to have so many different looks/views/capabilities but everyone wants a piece of the pie, they don't want to just give it to another company. As an example, there was an article about how Apple and a car company are having a problem negotiating access to user data in the car...
 
Oh boy... I sense some strongly worded retorts from the Apple peeps are incoming. :ROFLMAO:
 
Smartphones have peaked. Wealthy nations are not really a growth market - most people already own a smartphone. Getting them to buy the latest gadget is not so easy. The growth markets have less money to spend - Apple has traditionally not been willing to make a low cost device.
Apple is not alone in the slow down. Samsung, HTC, etc have all been struggling for the sales numbers they have had in the past.
When the iPhone 7 comes out, Apple will probably have a decent quarter or two assuming they don't have production issues.
 
me in 2012 said:
Apple just recycles their old successful ideas and pushes them out with minor updates. This always catches up with them. It is a tried and repeated cycle.
Click to expand...

I hate to tell ya so, but "TOLD YA!"
 
Steve said:
That whole iPhone SE thing probably didn't help either.
Click to expand...

The SE is actually doing much better than expected. The demand is much higher than available inventory.
(my SE delivery date is the second week of May...been waiting since the second week of April)

The drop comes from weak 6S and 6S Plus sales, which is the larger share of the iPhone family.
 
ir0nw0lf said:
Oh boy... I sense some strongly worded retorts from the Apple peeps are incoming. :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...

Where are those two!?

Not a whole lot of Apple peeps anymore.

I'm switching from my Windows Phone to an iPhone 6S Plus. Love Windows Phone, but it's just being put on the back burner by Microsoft and Verizon (At least MSFT is pushing Windows 10 Mobile on it, which is nice). iPhone has a lot more support, which is why more people go to it. Want an app? It's probably on iPhone.
 
Xrave said:
The SE is actually doing much better than expected. The demand is much higher than available inventory.
(my SE delivery date is the second week of May...been waiting since the second week of April)

The drop comes from weak 6S and 6S Plus sales, which is the larger share of the iPhone family.
Click to expand...
I read that the SE is not even part of this quarters earnings. It was only available for 5 days. You are right, the demand was higher than expected.
It has a lot people will like: small form factor, NFC, TouchID, lower price.
 
LightningCrash said:
ikr, the iphone was just a minor update of the Newton.
Click to expand...

Newton had several iterations. It really wasn't successful.

But I was referring to the G3 macs and other apple "Just change it a little and claim it's a magical, miraculous updates" BS. After a while it become fodder for late night TV show host. Apple has done this to several of their product lines from servers to iPods. (The G3 macs being the worst offenders in my humble opinion.) And each time it eventually bit Apple in the tail as that market became saturated and the innovation was no longer there.

They need to find their next market. And if they think it will be the TV, or Streaming Music, or Car they are in deep doo-doo. Apple Car play is a possibility, but many people are sensitive to the bottom line on large ticket items. And they have to compete with the low entry cost of Microsoft's windows (Ford) and Google's new interface. So Apple maybe stuck to limited high end brands like BMW. (In the long run if sales of the interface do not pan out.)
 
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What new devices can even come about at this point? The only thing that even pops into my head are those super thin like wallpaper (OLED?) TV's. Maybe Apple needs to make an iFlyingDevice, iBrainChip, or an iPlanet. That's it, they should buy Mars and rename it iMars and make it look like an Apple store does in local malls and charge people to live there.
 
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Part of the reason they are having the issues they are is that people of the "Technical" mind are seeing the quality of hardware across the board go up. My latest Dell Inspirion laptop is a direct competitor of Apples macbook pro 15 inch and is comperable in many areas and better than a few. It FEELS solid and is well designed. Oh and costs about a grand less than Apple's top of the line that it directly competes with.

As the market adjusts to competition it only makes sense that Apple will float a bit over the next few quarters. Private companies like Dell are making solid headway, and Apple is either sitting on, or lacks the tools to compete.

I want to see Apple continue to innovate. Another generation of Power PC chips and workhorse workstations isn't what apple needs. They need to take that workhorse mentality and cross the bridge into well designed and highly useable. (Like the Microsoft newish Surface Book laptop thing. I love that device. It looks AMAZING and promises high functionality.)
 
As much as I dislike Apple, I think this is just a temporary setback. They have really done as much as they can do with the iPhone, and they really need to grow in a different direction in order to keep making money. I'm guessing that they might have to move into IoT and such, and when they do they'll probably make something like a toaster or washing machine that requires you to have an iOS app, and people will start going with iPhones just because they need them to use their comparatively cheap Apple toaster. Rope people in with cheap devices, and then make them shell out to stay inside the Apple ecosystem in order to use said devices. Sounds like a classic Apple move to me, and I bet consumers are dumb enough to fall for it. They'll get no pity from me when they do.
 
Tough to say the next market they move into. VR is probably too early - and who knows if that will be successful long term or if it will be the next 3D tv.
AppleTV has been a dud (at least to me). I refer my Roku3 to it. The next iPhone (7) will probably sell reasonable well. But, it will likely not but a dramatic change - I predict a better camera, faster CPU, better GPU. What else is there?
Apple Car? Oh man, I can't see this being a real thing but what do I know.
 
ir0nw0lf said:
Oh boy... I sense some strongly worded retorts from the Apple peeps are incoming. :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...

Will they be stronger then what most of the people in here have said so far?

Most of what has been said in here so far is laughably blind. But it's the same shit they say every time they get a chance. Let 'em feel important.
 
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