“Verizon said it activated 4 million iPhones from Apple in its first quarter. The good news is that is 25% year-over-year growth,” Chris Ciaccia reports for TheStreet. “The bad news is that people are still flocking to older phones.”
“On a conference call Thursday, Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said Verizon sold 2 million iPhone 5s units during the quarter, with the other 2 million being 3G devices (read iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S),” Ciaccia reports. “It’s important to note that the market still wants Apple products, but they are not seeing any major difference between the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 in terms of added benefits that would make them upgrade.”
Ciaccia reports, “This may also be another sign that Apple needs to come up with a cheaper iPhone, unless it can demonstrate major innovations to the devices. People want to own Apple products, but they are not willing to pay for them if there isn’t a perceived reason to do so.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We don’t get it, but perhaps we’re too close. After all, we know everything there is to know about each iPhone model.
To us, the speed of LTE, the lightweight design (iPhone 5 is 20 percent lighter and 18 percent thinner than iPhone 4S!), the markedly larger screen, the noticeably faster A6 processor, the dual-band Wi-Fi, the improved front camera, the improved video stabilization, the ability to take still photos while recording video, the included, much superior Apple EarPods, the rear microphone, etc. add up to easily make the iPhone 5 a no-brainer, especially considering that, with a two year contract, what you spend upfront on the phone averages out to only a few bucks difference per month.
A 16GB iPhone 5 costs $199 with a two-year contract. A 16GB iPhone 4S costs $99. An 8GB iPhone 4 (no Siri, just an A4, etc.) costs $0. Over the 24-month life of the contract, the iPhone 5, with all of the improvements it offers, costs just $4.16 per month more than an iPhone 4S and just $8.29 per month more than a lowly iPhone 4! Of course, the longer you go past the initial two-year contract, choosing the superior-in-every-way iPhone 5 will cost you even less per month.
Listen, if $8.29 or less per month is a meaningful amount to you, then you can’t afford a smartphone.
As anyone who owns an iPhone 5 can tell you, it makes all other phones, including older iPhones, seem thick, heavy, unrefined, and slow by comparison.
Are people just unable to make simple value judgements and/or have Apple and/or the carriers failed to explain why iPhone 5 is the blatantly obvious choice?
Sounds about right I bought iphone 5 but advised my brother to buy iphone 4. Unless you are a avid iphone gamer, which I am, or really care about HD video iphone 4 is enough for most people.
The 5 is marginally better in every way, but the jump in cost can only be justified if you desperately need a particular feature. Also disagree about 4G which is basically an excuse for the telcos you rip your face off, 4g only makes sense if you can get non-capped data, otherwise Netflix is an expensive habit.
Aside from price sensitivity, part of the problem may be the sales people at Verizon. When I got my old iPhone 5 at the local Sprint store, the sales people were not just unenthusiastic, they practically tried to discourage me from going with Apple. They had issues with the fact that many customers don’t understand that Apple handles customer support.
They were not going to sway such a determined Applehead, but a less informed customer could have been more easily dissuaded. That lack of enthusiasm, plus the conflict of interest that carriers have because of representing competing brands, often means customers are not energetically urged upwards from the 4/4S to the iPhone 5.
Personally, I don’t really like the iPhone 5 form factor as much as my iPhone 4. And I actually prefer the design and weight of the 4 too, call me old fashioned but it feels like its worth the amount you paid for it. I don’t get that same feeling of quality with the iPhone 5.
The camera on my iPhone 4 is actually better in some ways than even the iPhone 5, if you don’t believe me do a low light comparison. Overall obviously the 5 camera is better, but in certain situations it is inferior.
Extra length make a big difference, as by the time you have the keyboard up or title bars your usable/visible screen can become tiny. In such situations the iPhone 5s screen has massive impact on useful screen. Also the same for touch games, now playing FIFA I can see footballers running about, rather than watching my thumbs move around.
I think a lot of the reason falls on the carriers and their staff. One of the biggest things with the iPhone 5 is 4G LTE that most carriers have not built out to the point where it is everywhere (like where I live for instance). The other is the staff at the stores. They push everyone who comes in to a free android phone because they make more money on it. So after being shown a barrage of crappy free android phones the smart customer still wants apple but now has a hard time justifying the $200 price.
Isn’t this saying what everyone is saying? Apple doesn’t need a cheap iPhone, this is proof of why. If they want a cheaper iPhone they can buy a 4 or a 4s.
Not everyone wants the newest tech, they might just want something that is easy to use and good on them. For example my grandma wants a new phone, will I tell her to get the newest and best once she does, no. She’s 88 and wants it for the ease of use not the fancy tech.
No one complains when people bought Macbooks insted of MacBook Pros so why is this different?
For a lot of people, any iPhone will do everything they want in a phone. The 5 may be better, thinner, lighter… …but contacts, mail, web, camera, music and apps, with Apple’s ecosystem work well enough on the 4 and 4s. (heck i still use a 3G). Also, for many of these buyers this is their first iPhone (Apple is still increasing market share in the US) and even the 4 is a huge advance for anyone coming from a feature phone or an old Android device. I have a friend who is considering buying an iPhone. She has an ancient, tiny, plastic Samsung feature phone which she rarely uses. She is retired, doesn’t use social media and has both a windows laptop and an iPad. The tiny plastic phone fits in her smallest purse and the size of even the iPhone 4 is a potential nuisance. She has a $10/mth plan which is more than adequate. She is considering an iPhone because she loves her iPad, but…
For this reason, and others, Apple’s strategy of offering the 4 and 4s at lower prices makes sense. Users who don’t see the benefit of the 5 nevertheless enter the Apple ecosystem and learn about the iPhone and discover uses they never imagined. Some, perhaps many, of these new Apple users will upgrade to the latest iPhone next time around.
Simple, there is no huge difference between a free phone (iPhone 4) a $100 phone (iPhone 4s) and a $200 phone (iPhone 5) *on contract*
So, if selling old devices was such a bad thing for Apple, why are they selling them? The people who are buying those phones are the EXACT reason Apple still makes and sells its older models. Everyone who was clammoring for a low-cost iPhone model neglects to see these phone options, but they’ve been there all along. Now that people are buying them, this is somehow a bad thing for Apple? I’ll never understand the press. Damed if they do; damned if they don’t. Meanwhile, they just keep making money hand over fist. Whatever.
I have a handful of MacBook Pros, MacBook Air, couple of iMacs, so I think I could afford an iPhone 5 if needed – but my 4 is doing everything I want. I do not feel any inclination to get the 5. My 4’s contract expired, and I was going to get the 5, but thought I would wait for the large-screen iPhone 6.
I also haven’t yet bought an iPad because I need devices to get real work done. Sure, there are many, many, many businesses that use iPads – but the iPad shines for business-activities that rely on display, e.g. showing a presentation on the go, or quick simple communication like emails on the run.
Whereas I do lots of heavy duty writing and working on different client matters, and there is no way that the iPad’s mickey mouse filing system suffices for real office use.
I am advocating that iOS has an option to switch between village-idiot-mode and expert-mode.
Rather than not having a Finder, the iOS could be on village-idiot-mode by default. Then, a more advanced user can turn on the expert mode to reveal a Finder. In this way, in the idiot-mode, the Finder is only storing files within its app area — but the expert mode can allow normal Finder storage.
Then you link that iOS Finder to the Mac’s desktop via iCloud like Dropbox.
That’s how Apple could treat its users as having some intelligence while also catering for the village idiots that are needed to grow its stash of cash.
Instead of all of you talking down on people and their financial decisions they make or that a smaller screen is best, try thinking from the regular Joe’s situation. They had a dumb phone or an Android but liked Apples Ecosystem. They finally saved some money or was time for an upgrade or they were using prepaid plans. They decide it’s time to get an iPhone, so they walk into the wireless carrier of their choice but their credit makes the iPhone’s upfront cost more, so they buy an iPhone 4S or 4 at the lover rate until they can afford a newer model. I know several people that stated this to me in person.
To me it seems that these facts Mac Daily News are presenting here should be printed out on a sheet and sent to all stores that sell iPhones by Apple.
I had actually no idea about the feature of taking pictures when recording video. I must have missed something in the presentation.
I remember a while back when the iPhone 5 was new I had a conversation with my uncle. He had been to a store to look at the device and asked the sales rep a few questions a out the device. He later asked me what was “better” with the new device. I paused for like 10 seconds while thinking and my uncle said: Yea, that’s what the sales rep did too…
I tried to explain that my pause was not because ther wasn’t any significantly new with the iPhone 5 but rather I was thinking about what would really matter to a “normal” person, like my mom or something. I mean, it got the A6 instead of the A5 ok how would that really matter to my mom. Here App to check the buss schedule loads 0,5 seconds faster? More memory, ok that is good but does not make the world of difference. Faster connectivity, ok but no one can notice the difference between 3G with 42 Mbit and 4G with 80 Mbit it’s all theoretical anyway. Faster WiFi its good but nothing that will everyone needs. A larger screen is the biggest feature people will notice but its not much bigger so its more a small upgrade. It’s not that I personally don’t think the iPhone 5 has a sea of improvements but that for me and everyone else that really cares about technology. These are all good improvements and significant technogy advancements but A5/A6 for most people it does not matter to the. Sadly. That’s why I believe the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S still attracts allot of people since they are being discounted. Apple might have to explain even better why people should buy the iPhone 5, 5S or 6.