“New data surrounding the iPhone’s dominance has been release[d], and while the ‘super cycle’ didn’t come in volume, my goodness, it has come in terms of dollars,” Ophir Gottlieb writes for Seeking Alpha. “Apple did something very odd with its iPhone X super phone — it held it back. The company first released the iPhone 8, and delayed its release of the $1,000 phone.”
“That was hotly contested and it was a huge risk. Analysts still disagree about the outcome, even though the outcome is now an observable fact (we saw sales and earnings). The idea that consumers would pay up more than $1,000 for a phone was risky, and it was yet riskier to let people ‘opt out’ by just going with iPhone 8,” Gottlieb writes. “But, the real movement for Apple last quarter was the astonishing rise in its average selling price (ASP) per iPhone.”
“This cycle (quarter) saw a huge pop out of a pretty tight range. The big jump is because of the $999 super-premium iPhone X, which costs nearly $240 more than the iPhone 7 Plus, which was previously Apple’s most expensive phone. CEO Tim Cook said: ‘Honestly speaking, there’s no comparison in the revenue, it’s hugely different. In a positive way, obviously,'” Gottlieb writes. “For now, the arguments can stop — Apple had a super cycle — it was in revenue, and that led to the largest single quarter of earnings ever by a public company. Apple beat another mega cap’s record… Apple. And it also dethroned the number three spot, which was Apple.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “In a positive way, obviously.” 🙂
SEE ALSO:
Analyst: Apple well-positioned to generate a ‘Revenue Super Cycle’ this year – February 20, 2018
Apple smashes Street with biggest quarter in company history – February 1, 2018
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “BD” for the heads up.]
If one wants to “grow” in a market that approaches saturation, one can raise the price so revenue equals what it was, but sales are 20% less or more. By adding value one can reclaim the 20% and increase its revenue and profits without significant volume growth. One has to have a tremendous product to do that and it is rare (it is a model followed by some exclusive private schools who want to grow without increasing student enrollment beyond a certain number). Apple managed to do it while at the same time increasing sales. This sets the stage for an even more expensive X Plus this year. While absolute sales may increase only slightly, revenue (and profits) will likely grow at an unprecedented rate.
See also: The Smartphone Endgame: Who wins once shipment volumes peak?
https://goo.gl/PVuNM7
Also worth noting (though most here are probably aware): if you look at Apple’s quarterly performance on a weekly basis (ie eliminating the slight difference in reporting weeks between last year’s calendar Q4 and this years), Apple sold *more* iPhones per week and made *more* money per week than it did a year ago. Peak iPhone, amazingly, *still isn’t here yet.*
and how much does a Samsun S8 go for on the used market now?
S8: $280
Iphone8: $435
8plus: $470
X:?? ….$590
Hmmm….
Wall Street wants to see iPhone market share percentage improve by double digits every single quarter. If that doesn’t happen, the greedy big investors won’t be satisfied and Apple will be considered doomed. Big investors have a one-track mind and when a company doesn’t have the growth they expect, they avoid the company. Apple’s growing iPhone user base should be very important but Wall Street says it still isn’t enough. That’s why they keep bringing up this so-called super-cycle which was invented by some jackass analyst. Apple never said anything about a super-cycle. So when the super-cycle didn’t materialize, they figured that Apple was pretty much done for. The iPhone X was called a failure because it didn’t meet some analyst’s sales expectations after they all complained and ranted how $1000 was too much to charge for an iPhone. These people make me want to puke with their greed and expectations.
“the largest single quarter of earnings ever by a public company.”…..
And not a peep about it…. Seems like a big deal..