“For half a decade, the launch of an Apple iPhone triggered the same kind of global hysteria once reserved for beloved music groups — customers camping for days in front of a store, often in Apple-themed costumes,” Jefferson Graham reports for USA Today.
“That may be changing,” Graham reports. “Low expectations for major changes to the next upgrade, and data showing consumers are holding onto their smartphones longer, suggest the Apple buzz is fading.”
“Apple historically introduces new iPhones shortly after Labor Day, and if it follows past years’ patterns, it would launch a phone with a major redesign and upgrade, say the iPhone 7,” Graham reports. “This fall, however, some analysts including Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies expect Apple to hold off on a major upgrade, waiting for 2017 and the tenth anniversary of the phone instead. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if next year, Apple skips 8 and 9 and introduces the iPhone 10, for the anniversary,’ says Bajarin.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iPhone /Plus sales will surprise the naysayers.
At first you could only get a new iPhone the day it was launched by turning up at an Apple store and taking your turn.
The queues were often quite lengthy, inconvenienced nearby businesses and needed crowd control. In recent years Apple allows customers to pre-order so that they can be sure to get one delivered or collect one on the day, therefore there is no need to queue up any more on launch day in order to be first.
Smaller queues is not an indication of reducing interest unless you choose to believe that it is. There are other ways to get a new iPhone these days.
Continued declining sale reported by Apple which is also corroborated by their component suppliers of less than expected orders of components to make iPhones is an indication of reduced interest however…
Hence, there’s not much reason to go to the Apple Store except to lay hands on the new Mac which has been a GHOST for years. All the more reason that I’m STILL trying to figure out the article lauding the contribution of never to be seen Ahrendts whom MDN seems to think hung the moon. Hmmm….
The problem is I don’t NEED to change out my iPhone 6 Plus, almost 2 years old, for an iPhone 7 due to any problems with the phone, it’s speed, etc.. Phone processors, like with Macs, get fast enough to have staying power and that’s a problem for all phone manufacturers. It’s other features I really desire with the camera and 4K video in the iP7. Not to mention the 256Gb storage.
I am keeping the old iPhone 6 Plus to use with an Ikan Wireless Follow Focus system. Currently I’m using an iPod Touch with it but the iPhone 6 Plus is a lot bigger and certainly up to the job. So it will be repurposed.
http://ikancorp.com/productdetail.php?id=1290&categoryname=follow-focus&model=pd3-p1
How will apple surprise the naysayers?. Just curious. No one I know is going to buy a phone that looks exactly the same as the phone they currently own, just because it has a few new features. Seems a huge miscalculation.
By your logic then no one would have bout the 3GS, 4s, 5s, or 6s. Anecdotal evidence is not indicative of the greater population.
When I’m looking for a new iPhone, there are a number of features that might make me buy one. Things like faster processor, better screen, new capabilities, more storage etc. Looking different to the last model doesn’t even appear on my list of desirable features. I’m only interested in what it does, not how it looks different.
That is illogical… If they put a new shell on top with no new hardware or features would people then buy them? Cars stay the same looking year after year within that specific aesthetic generation (usually lasting 5 to 7 years) however people still buy them without the false sentiment of “well if it looks like last years model I won’t buy one”, why? Because what’s new is EVERYTHING on the inside – new dash cluster, new interior, new or greatly improved infotainment, better gas milage, more safety features etc… Same with the new iPhones. Every year they come out and regardless of the look (S cycle or non-S cycle) they change pretty significantly with the chips and silicon inside. If you want to be real specific, the S cycle phone have the most technology changes in them by far than the non-S cycle phones – with the non-S cycle phones having minimal actual technology advances and feature advances but it “LOOKS” totally different so people get excited. This is backwards and illogical to me. Those should be the years where people pause and think “If it just looks different but there is great new performance technology advancements then I won’t buy it” Not the other way around.
You must know a lot of rich people.. I don’t personally know one person that ‘upgrades’ their car to a new one (bought not leased). in just a few years.. Usually 10+ years is the average I see which would make the “look” a good portion of the consideration in the new car purchase.
And just how different do you think a mobile phone can look? I for one don’t want an equivalent “Homer” model. The big differences will nearly always be with the internals and software. And someday the entire face will be a display.
There’s nothing wrong with maturing an already great design. Now if they could put the same size screens in a smaller case – I’m all for it.
MDN, I hope you’ve iCaled your own comments for the end of September. IMO, the only way Apple is going to exceed last years opening week sales is if they launch in more countries than last year. That is the only way they broke their record last year. Let’s be honest and compare apples to apples.
I’m hoping for better battery life, fast wireless charging and it would be a nice perk if it has the OLED display which everybody is saying will NOT be there until next year for the anniversary. My wishes though are for really the basics that other phones have had for some time. Otherwise, the internals of my 6S Plus FAR surpass any other phone. And by the way, I’m thinking of going with the standard sized phone and getting the battery pack case rather than the Plus size this year. The protruding camera TOTALLY gets on my nerves.
Eventually the new features will slow down and high end smart phones will become a “ho-hum,” but we are not there yet.
That is where we differ. I think we are arriving there right now.
I would be down with Apple coming out with a fancy new flip phone.
My 6S works fine, I’ll skip until we have OLED display and better battery life, maybe the 8 will have this? Who knows for sure, only Cook.