Apple iPhone 14 weekly sales down by a third in China year over year – Jeffries

Apple’s latest iPhone family is down in China, the world’s biggest smartphone market, where its most recent weekly sales were down by a third compared with last year, according to Jefferies.

Apple's iPhone 14 series
Apple’s iPhone 14 series (left to right: flagship iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14)

Vlad Savov for Bloomberg News:

China sales of the four iPhone 14 models over their first 38 days on the market are down by 28% compared to the iPhone 13 family of products, with the most recent data showing that deteriorating to 33%, according to a note Friday by analysts led by Edison Lee. The pricier Pro variants, which had proven more resilient this year, also lost steam.

While domestic Chinese brands have already weathered the bulk of their sales declines with big drops earlier in the year, Apple’s lineup maintained its appeal and increased sales by 5.7% in the three months to September, according to an earlier Jefferies analysis.

MacDailyNews Take: Note that weekly sales for iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are not described by a number, which would seem to be an important bit of data, but, rather, by the phrase “also lost steam.”

So, does that mean down by a lot or a little or a very little? In a down smartphone market, a 1% YoY compare for iPhone 14 Pro vs. iPhone 13 Pro would be a big win.

We’ve found that fomenters tend to accentuate the negative – everyone knows iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus demand is lower than demand for iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, as they are very different classes of iPhone – and ignore or obfuscate the positive.

The tell that gives the game away in this report is that iPhone 14/Plus get actual estimated percentages, but iPhone 14 Pro/Max get “lost steam” without quantifier.

Even if iPhone 14 Pro supply is affected (and how could it not be if the main factory is locked down for any significant period of time), how much are they affected? 1%? 5%? 10% or more?

Also, keep in mind that Jeffries is talking only about China, where the CCP is locking down cities in a quixotic quest for “zero-COVID.” Lockdowns depress commerce. Sales of everything are affected, not just iPhones.

The ruse is that all of these reports use just “iPhone 14” in the headline, so that less savvy or only-headline readers conflate that with all models of the iPhone 14 family instead of realizing that there are a bunch of iPhone 14 models. It’s the mix that matters: iPhone 14 and 14 Plus sales can be lower year over year while iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max sales can be higher, flat, or even slightly lower and Apple will bring in more iPhone revenue YoY.

Told ya so:

Apple iPhone mix is easily going to be the strongest ever. Do not be surprised with the reports that Apple has “cut iPhone 14 orders,” meaning iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. The company will likely be increasing iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max orders to reflect the strong mix which bodes very well, of course for Apple’s iPhone average selling price (ASP).MacDailyNews, September 14, 2022

Read the all “news” with a critical eye. Watch how widely this half-truth piece of FUD is regurgitated throughout the media and used to drive Apple stock price lower.

Extrapolate this to all types of “news.”

Use FUD* and fomenting to your advantage. As FUD is designed to depress share price, it can lead to nice entry points. Don’t get mad, get rich.

*FUD – Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.

See also:
• Apple’s focus on elevating, differentiating iPhone Pro models is paying off – September 27, 2022
• Apple’s iPhone 14 ASP trending ‘ahead of iPhone 13’ – analyst – September 27, 2022
• Apple needs to significantly increase iPhone 14 Pro production to have enough for Christmas – analyst – September 20, 2022
• Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple is upping production of iPhone 14 Pro models due to strong demand – September 19, 2022
• iPhone 14 pre-order demand is ‘robust,’ tracking ahead of expectations – Wedbush – September 12, 2022

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21 Comments

  1. Speaking of crooked biased “news:”

    87% of Networks’ Coverage of GOP Is Negative — Kari Lake Scores 100%

    A new Media Research Center study covering Sept. 1 to Oct. 26 found that midterm election news in CBS, ABC, and NBC’s evening broadcasts is about as negative on Republicans as it was during the Trump presidency (88% in 2018). But while that 87% number is already appalling, Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake scored a perfect 100% negative coverage.

    MRC found that “dominant topics” in the networks’ campaign coverage “perfectly match the topmost items in Democrats’ campaign playbook.” So, for instance, the networks spent 54 minutes, or one-fourth of midterm coverage, on abortion or abortion-related accusations against Georgia GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker. But a September Gallup poll showed only four percent of voters listed abortion as the “most important problem” facing America. That same poll said 38% of voters named “an economic issue” as their top concern, yet “the economy was only the fifth-most cited issue within these midterm stories.”Catherine Salgado, November 3, 2022

    Imagine living in a country where real journalists simply reported the facts without bias and allowed the voters — even those on the left side of the IQ bell curve (half of the population, by definition) — to judge political candidates without the hinderance of slanted propaganda?

    Of course, then no Democrat would ever get elected.

    Even with this corrupted mainstream media, America is about to unleash the first wave of the MAGA Tsunami in just 84 hours. The second wave crashes ashore in November 2024.

    1. You know, this is where people come to for Apple News. You should take your uber worship of the orange man over to Fox News where you can hang and pick your nose with all your hyper-racist reactionary brothers and sisters. Oh wait, even Fox News has begun to ignore Trump and his wacko spewing. Guess you are homeless.

        1. All politicians are deceivers and biased. I spit on all of their houses. Brother Yahoo First Then, it has been made quite clear, worships the MAGA god. That’s his right, just take it off an Apple News site.

      1. I didn’t mention Ooompa Loompas in my comment, but I do heartily recommend the classic film “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” (1971).

        I fully DO NOT recommend the disaster mess called “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005).

      1. See you on November 8th! 🍾🥂

        (You and your slimy ilk won’t be able to illegally stuff enough unmonitored drop boxes to thwart the will of the people this time!)

        1. GeoB, I’m genuinely curious as to why FirstThen posted two completely irrelevant links to the topic of iPhone sales slowing in China. Can you explain the correlation?

  2. Apple trying to diversify away from China? The leftists there will hurt Apple for that, in many ways. Still worth it, but the lockdowns and reduced sales are a warning to companies doing business in China.

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